A noteworthy show on Saturday November 13 takes place in Asbury Park, NJ and that is Samantha Fish with River Kittens at The Stone Pony. Recently, Mattie Schell of River Kittens spoke about the upcoming show and the interesting partnerships this duo has formed.
Based out of the mid-west, these two ladies have hit the road hard in 2021 in support of a new EP titled “Soaking Wet” and as they continue their journey things are nowhere near drying up. Schell explains how the duo met and the make-up of their current line-up.
“We live in St. Louis, Mo; Allie actually grew up in Arkansas and I grew up in Illinois right on the Mississippi River; I think she may have grown up on the Arkansas River. Allie came up with the name when she was young and stuck with it even after she met me. We met because she had moved to St. Louis when she was around 19 or 20 and I had gone to school and had moved around to other places around the country and had kind of just moved back. I’m a little older than Allie and I was bartending and one day she came in for brunch and that’s how we met; we had kind of a neighborhood jam on her back porch and she asked me to be in her band that day.”
“Well, it’s me and Allie Vogler; it has been several different outfits but Allie and I are the core of it. I guess we consider ourselves an Americana/Roots type of group; folk with a little bit of soul and some bluegrass thrown in there but mostly we’re just fun. Right now it is just the two of us but on this Samantha Fish tour we’re going to have a guitar player, our friend Jacob Baxter and a bass player, my partner Nate Gilbert.”
How does a duo from St. Louis happen to get a gig/tour opening for Samantha Fish and The Allman Betts Band? Schell explains that it just kind of, “Happened.”
“We’re so excited; we just happened to get booked to Northstar Artists booking agency which she is also an artist of and so is Devon Allman who is our label exec. and he and Samantha have been friends for a long time; I guess they met from the blues scene, I’m not sure but that’s how I first met Sam. I think I met her in Jamaica, I’ve never played with her or sang with her; not that I think that will happen (laughs) but I hope that we could collaborate. I have met her before and have seen her perform before and she’s fantastic! So, we are really, really excited to go out with her; plus she’s number one on the charts,” she laughed. “We’ve been out on the road on and off since June mostly being opening support for The Allman Betts Band. We recorded a record this year at Sun Studios and Devon Allman produced that record; we’ve been promoting that basically all year long and we’ll be doing that on the Samantha Fish tour and the Allman Family Revival which she will also be on. We’ll be opening for the Allman Family Revival which includes Samantha, G. Love, Eric Gales and a bunch of other really incredible guests.”
Even though they have experience touring, they currently only have two EPs as a duo but Mattie says that will be changing next year.
“We had an album with our friend Martha when we were a trio and we put that out about six years ago and that has a few similar songs on it as this new record but the new record is kind of a new sound and it’s done as just a duo. So, there are just the two EPs right now but we plan on recording a full-length album in 2022.
This isn’t their first trip to The Garden State but it is their first time experiencing the legendary Stone Pony. So, what do they have in store for their audience?
“We have been to New Jersey before, several times,” reflected Schell. “We played in Vineland when on tour with Allman Betts Band and whenever we tour with Allman Betts we always have a little bit of Jersey with us because John Ginty is always on that tour so we have to give a shout out to John our Jersey boy who has played with everybody from The Dixie Chicks to Wu-Tang. We also filmed part of our video for “Atlantic City,” our cover version of the Springsteen song; we came and filmed part of the video in Atlantic City but we’ve never been to The Stone Pony so, we are super excited.”
“I really think, as I said earlier, first and foremost we are fun. We start the show out, we want to get you warmed up, we want to get you having a good time, we have a lot of energy. Jacob Baxter is an extremely talented guitar player and Nate is an incredible bassist so, we are very excited to have kind of a fuller band this time as opposed to just a duo; no drummer this time because all of our drummer friends have gigs (laughs). We will probably add a drummer next time around but for now if you’ve seen us before opening for Allman Betts they will be coming back and seeing something new so we are excited about that.”
Mattie says their website is www.riverkittens.com but their social media is the place to find them easiest. So, for more information, please visit https://www.facebook.com/riverkittens .
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
