After a string of singles released over the past few months, Samantha Crain's new album Gumshoe arrives on Friday.

The Oklahoma singer spoke with Variance ahead of the album release to talk about the new record, the followup to her 2020 full-length A Small Death and 2021's I Guess We Live Here Now EP.

"I always feel like there's such a long lapse of time between the time that you finish recording a record and the time it comes out," says Crain. "I'm excited and I'm also ready ... because I tend to—for whatever reason—I have, like, a psychological block until something is out in its fullest form, for some reason, I have a hard time moving on to my next creative project."

While it might seem as if time stood still in some aspects for the Choctaw songwriter, musician and producer, the reality is, she's been incredibly busy over the past few years, having contributed a breathtaking cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” for the Emmy-nominated FX series Reservation Dogs, and she also composed the score for Apple's Lily Gladstone-starring film Fancy Dance.

"[Reservation Dogs co-creator] Sterlin Harjo used a few of my songs over the seasons of it," recalls Crain. "I think maybe even in every season of it, if I'm remembering correctly. But I've known Sterlin since I was really young. And he's used my music in his movies and different projects before he ever got this great opportunity with FX. So we've always had, in some way, a collaborative relationship between our two art forms. He's always been very supportive."

For this new record, Crain says the quirky title was actually inspired by her love of the children's game show Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?, in which Lynne Thigpen, one of the show's stars, would regularly tell contestants, "Good work, gumshoe!" And that phrase was embedded in Crain's memory ever since.

"I was obsessed with the show," admits Crain with a laugh. "And I've just always liked that word for whatever reason. Gumshoe! And ever since I started writing songs, I've written that word down in probably every writing notebook I've ever had, trying to fit it into a song. But it's such a singular, weird sort of word that you can't just shove it in anywhere."

Instead, the album came about rather organically as she had already begun writing some of the new material for what would become the new record.

"There was this theme coming out as I was discovering this other area of the human experience, like how to be not a lone wolf," explains Crain. "I've always lived as such an independent, lone wolf type of person and I started on this journey of being in relationships with people and being vulnerable with other people and being a part of a community and helping people and letting them help me. And it felt like I was solving this mystery of a part of life that I didn't understand yet."

Ultimately, what began perhaps as a silly quest turned out to be a full-circle moment for Crain as she found much deeper meaning in the process.

"The songs were expressing themselves to me," she says. "It was like solving these mysteries of life and looking for answers to the human experience. And 'gumshoe' was like a cap on what the whole album means and what it's about. And I don't think any of it was what I was expecting it to be in the beginning."■ 

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Gumshoe is out Friday, May 2. And Samantha Crain will be hitting the road for a 42-date tour beginning next week in Tulsa.

Samantha Crain's tour dates:
May 9 - Tulsa, OK - Saint Cecilia's
May 10 - Oklahoma City, OK - Resonant Head
May 12 - Austin, TX - Mohawk Inside
May 13 - Dallas, TX - Ruins
May 19 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store
May 20 - London, UK - Neon194 (VENUE UPGRADE)
May 21 - Manchester, UK - Gullivers (SOLD OUT)
May 23 - Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli (Club 9)
May 25 - Berlin, Germany - Privatclub
May 28 - Paris, France - Le Pop-Up du Label
June 12 - Kansas City, MO - Record Bar
June 13 - Davenport, IA - Raccoon Motel
June 14 - Chicago, IL - Schubas
June 15 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry
June 17 - Omaha, NB - Reverb Lounge
June 18 - Denver, CO - Lost Lake
June 20 - Phoenix, AZ - Linger Longer Lounge
June 21 - Los Angeles, CA - Gold Diggers
June 22 - San Francisco, CA - Cafe Du Nord
June 24 - Healdsburg, CA - Little Saint
June 26 - Portland, OR - Showdown Saloon
June 27 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou's
June 29 - Boise, ID - Shrine Social Club
June 30 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court
July 2 - Colorado Springs, CO - Lulu's
July 9 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
July 10 - Nashville, TN - East Room
July 12 - Asheville, NC - The Grey Eagle
July 13 - Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle Back Room
July 15 - Washington, DC - Songbyrd's
July 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
July 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Baby's All Right
July 18 - Boston, MA - Warehouse XI
July 19 - Portsmouth, NH - The Press Room
July 20 - Northampton, MA - Parlor Room
July 22 - Beacon, NY - The Yard
July 23 - Buffalo, NY - 9th Ward
July 24 - Toronto, ON - Sound Garage
July 26 - Lake Orion, MI - 20 Front St
July 29 - Columbus, OH - Rumba Cafe
July 31 - Fayetteville, AR - George's Majestic