Samantha Fish is having a banner year, and she’s playing Wichita this weekend

To say Samantha Fish has been on a roll lately would be putting it mildly.

The blues-guitar sensation, born and raised in Kansas City, has been moving from one career highlight to another this year.

In February, she and collaborator Jesse Dayton were nominated for the Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy for their record “Death Wish Blues.”

In July, she joined the S.E.R.P.E.N.T. Festival tour with Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, along with well-known blues players Warren Haynes and Eric Gales. Those dates were preceded by an appearance on the cover of Guitar World magazine, posing alongside Slash.

In September, she’ll join the Experience Hendrix Tour along with guitarists Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Zakk Wylde.

And as if all of that wasn’t enough, she opened for the Rolling Stones in Ridgedale, Missouri, on July 21, the final date of the Stones’ North America “Hackney Diamonds” tour.

Fish’s current rocket ship ride will slow down long enough to make a stop at Wichita’s Cotillion Ballroom this Friday.

But make no mistake, Samantha Fish is no overnight sensation.

A guitar player since age 15, Fish was a regular at Kansas City’s famed Knuckleheads Saloon as a teenager to watch well-known blues guitarists pass through. Before long, she was joining them onstage. She recorded a live album in 2009 and has basically been touring and recording ever since.

“I really filled up my calendar around Kansas City when I got started,” Fish said.

“When I got that first band together, it was my first band ever, and they were really good musicians — and I knew that if I wanted to keep them, I had to keep them busy,” she said.

“So I just worked to fill my calendar as full as I could get it. I was working sometimes six, seven days a week, you know, just to keep it going.”

Fish’s star rose steadily for the next decade, but like all musicians, she hit a hard stop when the pandemic hit.

“I think everybody sort of felt when the pandemic hit, there was this trajectory happening, and then all of a sudden, everything just stopped and went away,” Fish said.

“And ever since then, I feel like we’ve just been pushing and chipping away at this thing to, like, get it rolling again, you know? And it finally feels like it’s rolling, and it’s a good feeling.”

Fish’s recent momentum hasn’t been lost on her. She’s grateful that a decade of hard work is paying off in ways she could have only dreamed of.

“It’s been a long, long journey to get to this point,” Fish said.

“I’m a worker, you know. I think that’s a Midwestern thing. Where we come from, it’s really practical and just like, one foot in front of the other, you know? Just keep at it. And I think that that kind of mentality has really helped me to get here.”

Fish says she’s trying her best to take the time to enjoy all the recent successes, but that Midwestern worker mentality isn’t going away anytime soon.

“I’m just trying to enjoy it.” Fish said

“But there’s a lot of work in front of me, so I’m just committed to doing the work and doing the best job I can.”