This Week on Earthsongs: Samantha Crain

 Of Choctaw heritage from Shawnee, Oklahoma, singer-songwriter Samantha Crain started touring when she was 19 years old. Starting out with an interest in creative writing, she ended up teaching herself to play the guitar. Many of her short stories became songs, exploring themes of the common person in the tradition of folk rock. Following her third album, Kid Face, she continues with producer John Vanderslice and an analog recording style in the 2015 album Under Branch & Thorn & Tree. It features issues of social justice, with brooding melodies and lush instrumentation, from country to orchestral.