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See Samantha Crain’s Amazing ‘Never Going Back,’ a Folk Flip Book Made for Film

Samantha Crain Never Going Back Video LAMAR+NIK Kid Face Album

In the remarkable video for Samantha Crain’s “Never Going Back,” the Oklahoma-born Americana artist comes to life in a most unusual way. Directors LAMAR+NIK began by shooting a normal video against a plain white backdrop, with Crain and her hirsute fiddle player doing what they do best: charming the camera with raw ability and gorgeous melody. But then the guys in charge of the shoot did a very strange thing: they printed out all 3,800-plus frames of the video they’d made, painstakingly hand-cut each one, then laid them all out in a row — a track, essentially, that the camera would follow for one long take so that the final product would be something like a flip book made for film. The final shot was later sped up to match the music, so that Crain’s lips indeed match the words coming out of them. 

“In essence, the video is basically a 3D version of a film strip laid out on the ground,” L+N said via statement. “In a way, it reflects Samantha’s classical charm. We felt that taking a simple concept and making it great would be the best way to accentuate the music. Although the task was laborious, we’re pretty pleased with the end result.” As well they should be.

And for the record, Crain’s “Never Going Back,” which hails from her February 19 album Kid Face, more than earns such treatment — the song is a tightly constructed package of purty folk complimented by those rustic strings and her lovely pipes, which sport just enough grit to match her tale of moving on to greener pastures.

Samantha Crain tour dates: 

January 23 – Raleigh, NC @ Berkeley Cafe
January 24 – Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox
January 25 –  Pembroke, NC @ River People Music and Culture Fest
January 26 – Pembroke, NC @ River People Music and Culture Fest
February 11 – New York, NY @ The Living Room
February 12 – Clinton, NY @ Hamilton College (with Josh Ritter)
February 15 – Tulsa, OK @ Fassler Hall
February 16 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Blue Door
February 19 – St. Louis, MO @ The Gramophone
February 20 – Nashville, TN @ Music City Roots Live From The Loveless Cafe
February 21 – Memphis, TN @ Otherlands (with the Memphis Dawls)
February 22 – Little Rock, AR @ White Water Tavern
February 23 – Dallas, TX @ Prophet Bar
February 24 – Austin, TX @ The Scoot Inn