Samoa Wilson & Jim Kweskin

Biography

Samoa Wilson is a vocalist with a distinctive voice described by the New York Times as "sweet, effortless, old-timey."[5] Raised in the riverbed of traditional North American folk music, she came up in the Boston scene under the mentorship of jug band and folk legend Jim Kweskin, beginning her musical journey at just 12 years old.[5] Wilson has developed a versatile repertoire spanning vintage folk, blues, and jazz standards, bringing honest emotion and sophisticated interpretation to classic material from the 1920s and 1930s.

Jim Kweskin (born July 18, 1940, in Stamford, Connecticut) is an American folk, jazz, and blues musician best known as the founder of the legendary Jim Kweskin Jug Band.[3] During the 1960s folk revival, Kweskin and his jug band—which included Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Fritz Richmond, and others—successfully modernized the sounds of pre-World War II rural music, performing at the Newport Folk Festival five years in a row from 1964-1968.[3] Kweskin is recognized for creating one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Boy Fuller while incorporating sophisticated jazz and blues elements.[2][3]

Since the 21st century, Kweskin and Wilson have maintained a long and productive musical association, collaborating on multiple projects that explore traditional folk, blues, and jazz with a sophisticated sensibility.[2][3] Their partnership exemplifies Kweskin's consistent musical vision of blending traditional folk and blues with the communal simplicity of folk music and the refined approach of jazz.[2] In 2024, Kweskin released Never Too Late: Duets with My Friends, and in 2025, he released Doing Things Right as part of The Berlin Hall Saturday Night Revue ensemble.[3]

Fun Facts

• Samoa Wilson's voice has been compared to that of Maria Muldaur, the legendary vocalist from Jim Kweskin's original 1960s jug band.[1]
• In 2018, Kweskin and co-producer Matthew Berlin decided to launch a new project with Samoa Wilson focused specifically on 1930s jazz recordings of a then-unknown Billie Holiday, when Holiday was singing with pianist Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra.[1]
• The ensemble recording I Just Want To Be Horizontal features a nine-piece ensemble and includes obscure and lesser-known tunes such as a 1930s Hawaiian pop tune called At Ebb Tide and an obscure Tony Bennett ballad titled Someone Turned The Moon Upside Down.[1]
• Jim Kweskin took a significant career break in the 1980s to devote himself to building houses as a founding partner and vice president of Fort Hill Construction, before resuming his music career in the 21st century.[3]

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Jim Kweskin - Samoa Wilson came up in the Boston scene under the wing of jug band and folk legend Jim Kweskin, who served as her primary mentor and guide in traditional North American folk music (Multiple collaborative albums and performances) [Since age 12 through present]

Key Collaborators

• Jim Kweskin - Primary musical partner and collaborator; they have recorded and performed together extensively in the 21st century (Now and Again (2003), Live The Life (2004), I Just Want To Be Horizontal (2018)) [2003-present]
• Matthew Berlin - Co-producer and bassist who collaborated with Kweskin and Wilson on jazz projects (I Just Want To Be Horizontal (2018)) [2018]
• Titus Vollmer - Guitarist performing Hawaiian slide guitar, ukulele, and other guitars in ensemble settings (I Just Want To Be Horizontal) [2018]
• Mike Davis - Trumpet and cornet player in the ensemble (I Just Want To Be Horizontal) [2018]
• Paloma Ohm - Alto saxophone player in the ensemble (I Just Want To Be Horizontal) [2018]
• Dennis Lichtman - Multi-instrumentalist on clarinet, fiddle, mandolin, and alto saxophone (I Just Want To Be Horizontal) [2018]
• Sonny Barbato - Pianist and accordionist in the ensemble (I Just Want To Be Horizontal) [2018]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia