Ho ho ho! We're running a contest through the holidays where you can enter to win a trip to Los Angeles and kick it "Carefree Style" if you buy a copy of the record before 1/11/10.

Hay-lo! Having a mellow night at home in my kimono robe, listening to KCRW radio right now... it sounds like an early Spearhead track but Ive never heard it... hmmm... must look into this pronto...

Talkin' bout Spearhead, it warms my fuzzy little heart to see Michael Franti and crew (SF Represent!) getting so much deserved validation recently!! It's amazing what one happy simple song ("say hey") can do. Like a tipping point, or a snowball... only to reflect what has already been created. So congratulations to you, Michael, you were a big inspiration for me this past year.

We just did this photo shoot the other day in the insanely surreal backdrop of Malibu Creek State Park and I had a moment of "whoa"-ness. Not for the mid-air hawk & sparrow throwdown I witnessed which was also pretty intense, but for the realization that i had standing out there, sun setting, surrounded by the creative people who came together to help make this whole thing so special-- the photographer, Briz, Marek holding the reflector light and making me feel beautiful. I think that sometimes i take it for granted, and that pursuing music gives me the opportunity to work with creative people daily.. i am so lucky. i forget that sometimes.

So thank you for being there, and supporting, and encouraging, and gifting me with the opportunity to share my music with you. From the people behind the scenes to the people to the people who i have yet to meet, listening to the songs on myspace, coming to the shows, reading my (i think they're funny:) tweets. Can't wait to meet you in person and give you a hug.

Ok ok, enough with the sappy stuff, Samantha...onto other matters! we''re putting together a bunch of cool ideas for the release, which in in NOVEMBER!! 10th to be exact so if you're anywhere in the LA area this day... you're coming to my party!! Equator in Venice.. we'll be hosting a celebration there for the music, for the fans, & for the friendships. I can't wait. Also check the calendar because i will be doing some acoustic events & listening parties around the US in support of "Carefree"-- lets meet!

We're also throwing a fun little contest for people who buy a certain amount of merch... winners get to come to CALi and be "Carefree" with me.. We can surf, ride bikes, eat burritos and do all the things that a lazy california girl like me likes to do for fun. Bring your 50 SPF :) Details coming soon...

So in the meantime, stay in touch, support independent music and the artists who create it, and keep it real as i know you do. Tons of love to you tonight. 
i just checked.. it was actually Soul II Soul from '90... close!

G'nite,
xoxo,
Samantha

Ok.
So i just did an ENTIRE recap of my trip to Europe and my computer crashed on me. That is hilarious. I mean, I really went deep on the descriptive this time... I guess when these things happen you have to sit back and laugh... and know that maybe some things are better left unsaid... ?

To keep things on the semi-short side (and to avoid carpel tunnel)... I just got back from an insane month, i STILL haven't unpacked yet (yeah, yeah, Ive heard it all before... I mean, at the end of the day, who really thinks unpacking is FUN? i can think of about 1 million and 7 better things to do than unpack and do laundry :) and I'm just feeling back to my normal Tasmanian Samantha self here in overcast LA. It's good to be back!

Last month I took me, my wheeley suitcase & my trusty acoustic, met up with my manager and best friend Jennifer (for those who know her & im sure you do... it's Briz!) in New York and hopped an Irish airline to London. I was totally stressing the entire flight over because we didn't have work permits and i was envisioning myself spending the night in Heathrow JAIL!...  but who knew that our 3 hour layover in Ireland would give us an open border free pass through customs! Sweet. Not that i had massive amounts of merch or huge shows.. but still. I cave under authority.

We had a string of solo shows lined up around mainland Europe and (as usual, and can bring the best stories:) did everything Guerilla-Style.. which means we had the freedom to really explore each city and get into the cultures a little more in between the shows. juuuuuust the way i like it... :)

Jeff Trott came over and played the London shows which RIPPED! If you can rip with only electric and acoustic and why, YES, you can :) and then we were off to Dublin (missed the U2 concert by a day... daaang! The plight of the Irish!) Barcelona, Spain (one of the most beautiful and architecturally ingenius cities I've ever been to) and Portugal (difficult to get the language but ended up making friends for life.. isn't that the way it always goes??)

I've never been over to Europe with my music before, and honestly i've never bounced around like that, from country to country, so i was pretty excited to be right in the moment-- which means we CHARGED for 3 weeks straight. And when i say "charged" i  mean CHARGED. Sleep till 10am and then leave the flat, hotel, friends house, what have you, and we wouldn't return till at least 1AM that following night. I felt like a hybrid of Ernest Hemingway and Lance Armstrong, and from now on whenever i Travel i am ALWAYS going to do it with Bike. You see so much more of the city that way!! (And you can ride off that glass of Sagres beer you had at lunch:)  When there was a show id rally back to grab the guitar and carry it around the rest of the night. It was insane. Because, really, how often do you get to go to Europe with that type of freedom?

It was a blast. I was able to bring my music overseas and open up to new inspirations. I can't wait to release my full album and bring the band with me. Really. I am so thankful that I've been able to do this and be on this adventure. I will say that my suitcase still smell like sunscreen and has stray Euros sitting at the bottom of it and i think i may keep it that way for a few more days... :)

xoxooxoxSamantha

oh and PS-- I got back to the States (direct flight from Lisbon to Toronto... best flight EVER!! SATA Airlines all the way) and the next day opened for one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE singer songwriters Martin Sexton. Here is a pic of me and him in Buffalo... GO BILLS!! xoxoxo

Hey!! Im in a Noah's Bagels line in manhattan beach getting ready for my recording session this morning... sun dried tomato all the way, baby:) keeping' it real... We are doing an acoustic version of one of my favorite tunes, "icicles". Its been around a while but I feel like we need to carry it over to add to the dimension of the music.. Playing it in the set this summer over in Europe really was magical, so we'll see how it turns out. Jeff (Trott, my producer) puts some gorgeous mandolin on it so im excited to hear it in the actual studio environment, versus the live jam.

I haven't even had a chance to process my overseas experience, its been touchdown to la and go!...but will have some down time tomorrow to do some serious bloggage :)

I hope everyones having a killer summer and putting on that 50 SPF... talk lates! xoox Samantha

Check out this review of the Viper Room show and convo with Samantha...

http://www.jambase.com/Articles/18127/Samantha-Stollenwerck-05.14-L.A.

happy friday, y'all! just thought I would take this moment to reach out on myspace to say hello... I think it's tgif because nobodys calling me today... O' well at least I can pretend to be cool :) Listening to "Radio Bonnaroo" while i type this and thinking about how amazing it would be to see the Boss jamming Born to Run right now, outside in the middle of Tennessee with thousands of people ready to let it all go... if you are there have the time of your life! live it up! and if you see Lucinda, hopefully she plays "Cant Let Go" ... brills!!

I remember when I played Bonnaroo a few years back... it was in the beer tent and my set-- to be honest with you... jammed. I had a mish mosh of musicians onstage-- Jimmy Jazz from G Love and Special Sauce on the bass, part of Hot Buttered Rum string band sitting in on "Icicles" with their banjos, fiddles & impeccable harmonies; alongside other crazy antics... always a whirlwind when I try and rally the impossible... but somehow pulled it off! The best part about it was that the only other artist playing at the same time as my set was... Tom Petty. It was the first year he was back touring, so pretty much everyone was at his show... but I still had a good crowd for the people who needed to take a load off. I remember ending one of my songs and hearing that unforgettable melody "Free Falling" in the distance. I said on the mic... "honestly, I don't think this will ever happen again... playing my songs literally over Free Falling." Classic.

Anyway, I hope that everyone is poised for a great summer. I am ready to enjoy myself ... with my new tunes, some amazing travels and connecting with all of you in person and through my music. this past year has been one of the BEST of my entire life.. so much growth and grounding... I made a killer record and met some BADASS people throughout the process. i am so very thankful for all of it i can't even express that enough. I will be going over to Europe in July to play some shows and bring some of the Cali-Soul across the pond! Most importantly, it is a chance to get out of the States for a minute and expand my mind, get inspired and really fall on my face with my less-than-unacceptable Spanish (I can speak a little French and Italian, so mushed all together i kind of have my own Samantha Lingo... if you haven't noticed already through this undecipherable blogging grammar:)

Anyone who lives in London, Barcelona, Dublin or Lisbon get in touch and hopefully see you along the way!

I will be playing around SoCal and in New york as well, as we construct our plan for releasing the record! The songs are SO slamming, and I am just sitting here thinking how much you all are going to get them all stuck in your head. If you're looking to check stuff out on my Twitter or Facebook, here are the links--

twitter.com/samanthamusic

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Stollenwerck/23024019280?ref=ts

so go out and have a KILLER weekend, bump some tunes, play some rummy tile, be with the ones you love, laugh a lot, listen to your heart, and appreciate this amazing summertime vibe... & ill stay here, living vicariously...  :)

xoxox
samantha

http://vimeo.com/5025871

To everyone who came out and helped make the LA show a total success! Wow it was so incredible playing with such killer musicians, I hope everyone who made it enjoyed it as much as I did! Stay tuned for video footage and recaps.