SUE
FOLEY
CHANGES
Sue Foley makes her fourth appearance as part of the TBS Women's Blues Revue at historic Massey Hall on Saturday, November 27. She will be sharing the stage at that time with Rita Chiarelli, Ndidi Onukwulu, Dawn Tyler Watson, Jackie and Serena Ryder backed by the popular Women's Blues Revue Band - Lily Sazz (band leader, keyboards), Suzie Vinnick (bass), Margaret Stowe (guitar), Michelle Josef (drums), Sarah McElcheran (trumpet), Carrie Chesnutt (sax), Colleen Allen (sax).
Change, indeed.
Although Sue Foley's new recording, Change (Ruf/Justin Time), is her ninth, it marks two significant changes: it is both her first live recording, and her first acoustic album.
As she states in the liner notes, "this CD took one night to make. There are no overdubs or re-dos. What you hear is what it was like that winter's night at Hugh's Room in Toronto. We did it on the fly with no rehearsing. I was playing from memory and trying out songs I'd just written, and the songs I love to play at home. This was the best time I've ever had making a CD because I didn't really know I was making one. The band and I were just having fun. And ain't that what it's supposed to be about anyway?"
Her live shows for Change feature both acoustic and electric sets. For all of the gearheads who need to know - while Sue plays her trademark pink paisley Telecaster for the electric portions of the show, acoustically she plays Martin D35, which she describes as "a smaller body acoustic with light strings". For the Martin, she uses an Ultrasound amp: "made by a small company in the U.S., it keeps the sound right by your body, rather than relying on monitors. It sounds good."
Although it's been two years since her last outing, Where the Action Is, won a record number of Maple Blues Awards, Sue has been busy.
For starters, there was her trip to Memphis to attend the W.C. Handy Awards: She was one of five women nominated for Contemporary Female Artist of the year, which represented another first: the first Canadian woman nominated for this American blues award. Sue felt that "it was a great honour to be nominated, and it was fun to go down there and see everyone in one room. It was a good time". She's also the past recipient of a Juno, and of two international awards for musical excellence in the blues.
Next, Sue "toured steadily for Where the Action Is". With her band of bassist Mike Turenne, drummer Tom Bona, and Graham Guest on keyboards, Sue toured Europe, and most of the festivals in the U.S. and Canada, from California to Yellowknife.
They also opened for Joe Cocker from Newfoundland to Toronto, and for Tom Petty in Montana - flying in on a six-seater charter plane from Calgary, the day after playing to more than 10,000 at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
"With Change, I've toured in Germany for a press tour, and Alberta, Ottawa, and Toronto. In November we're touring the Northeastern states, and we're going down to Texas in December." It's been a while since Sue lived in Austin, honing her musical chops at Antone's.
Of course, on November 27 Sue will also be performing as one of six featured vocalists in the Toronto Blues Society's 18th Annual Women's Blues Revue - her fourth appearance at this event, although this year will be the first at historic Massey Hall.
While she'll perform one solo acoustic song - specifically her original composition, the lovely title track from Change - her additional two selections will be performed with the full Women's Blues Revue Band, including a Memphis Minnie tune - her favourite artist to cover - and "Absolution", a slow blues that I wrote and haven't released yet", although it was a finalist in last year's International Songwriting Competition.
There have been additional changes, as well. Sue has moved from her native Ottawa to outlying Perth, and, now that her son Joe is 7 years of age, and in full time school for more than one year, she has gained extra time for other projects in addition to composing and performance.
One of those projects is Guitar Woman, a book which Sue describes as "a historical and biographical account of woman guitarists throughout the world and from different styles of music. It's a series of interviews I've conducted with these guitarists, meeting other people with different styles. The book will be mostly in the words of the players. The interviews focus on the stories, psychology, and philosophy of these women guitarists. Their lives are unique and inspiring."
"Tim Duffy of Music Makers introduced me to a lot of the older women from the southeastern U.S. - Etta Baker in North Carolina, Cora Mae Bryant from the Atlanta area, Precious Baker in Georgia ^ she was one of my favourite interviews, she's wild! (The Music Maker Relief Foundation is a charitable organization that raises funds for older musicians in southern blues and other styles", www.musicmaker.org.)
"I also attended the World Guitar Conference in Baltimore, and interviewed players there — Jennifer Batten was there (Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck), Sharon Isben, a flamenco player ^ it was very diverse."
"We're also organizing some Guitar Woman shows to bring some of these players together live". A first show has already occurred, in Edmonton, featuring Sue as well as Moe LaFave, a jazzy player, and Rachelle van Zanten, the slide player from Painting Daisies. A documentary is planned as well.
To keep abreast of all Sue's changes, visit www.suefoley.com and www.guitarwoman.com.
- Julie Hill