Oklahoma singer-songwriter Samantha Crain will be releasing Gumshoe, her first full-length album in five years. The 11-song collection follows Crain’s 2020 LP A Small Death and her subsequent 2021 EP I Guess We Live Here Now.
“Gumshoe is an album about my lifelong obsession with solving problems, uncovering mysteries, finding answers, observing people, discovering myself, and understanding difficulties,” Crain said in an accompanying statement. “If there is one instinct that has activated almost every decision and movement in my recalled life, it has been curiosity.”
The textured folk-rock Crain has carved out is well represented on her forthcoming LP, which is due May 2 on the indie label Real Kind, with an extensive tour to follow. The record marks some of the most sophisticated and affecting songwriting from her nearly two-decade career. Crain, 38, began previewing the album last year with two singles: the finger-picked mid-tempo folk-rocker “Ridin’ Out the Storm” and the moody, Wilco-conjuring “Dragonfly.” But the latest offering from the album, “Dart,” out Thursday, is the catchiest track to date: “And is it any wonder I’ve become preoccupied,” Crain sings over a bouncy bassline in the song’s chorus, “And is it any wonder I loved you more all the time?”
Over the past few years, Crain’s music has found new platforms on TV and film, including Reservation Dogs and the Lily Gladstone film Fancy Dance.
Crain has been pushing Nashville boundaries since the late 2000s to notable acclaim. Rolling Stone featured her as an “Artist to Watch” back in 2013, following the release of her breakthrough record Kid Face, which was produced with longtime collaborator John Vanderslice.
“My inclinations towards research, that gumshoe in me, is the reason why I keep writing songs,” said Crain. “That gumshoe in me is the reason I can find my emotive side, my imaginative side, my musical side.”