Blues Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Ruthie Foster Lifts Up Our Spirits

By John Roos

The power of that voice. Sam Cooke had it. So did Aretha Franklin. But when it comes to contemporary, gospel-inspired blues and soul, no one can stop you dead in your tracks quite like Ruthie Cecelia Foster.

During her fabulous performance last July at SF JAZZ, Foster’s a capella version of Son House’s “Grinnin’ in Your Face” was so emotionally charged and draining that by its ending, she asked the audience to give her a moment to collect herself before continuing. The Texas-based musician has revealed that when blues, gospel and soul singers testify, they will sometimes bleed onstage.

During a phone interview last month, I asked Foster if perhaps she bled some that very night.

“Oh yeah, every performance I show up with everything I’ve got, and I leave it right there,” she answered with a chuckle. “It’s a tough thing to do but I’ve always done that since I was singing in churches in my community. There are spiritual, and spirited, moments that form the essence of what I do, and sharing them with an audience is something I learned from listening to greats like Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.”

Just as essential to connect vocally with listeners is grasping when a song calls for nuance and subtlety, where pulling back on the throttle allows it the space needed to breathe. For example, the song “4 AM”—found on Foster’s brand new LP, Healing Time (Blue Corn Music)—is a tender ballad about feeling out of sorts in your hotel room as adulation can quickly turn into loneliness.

Sample lyric: Find yourself all alone/Waiting for your life to start/Until it’s 4 a.m. and you’re playing away the dark.

What has come to distinguish Foster since self-releasing her 1997 debut titled Full Circle is a remarkable voice that is equal parts roar and whisper. She can rattle your bones with an explosive anthem of female empowerment like 2007’s “Phenomenal Woman”—a tribute to Ruthie Deborah Johnson (“Big Mama”) with lyrics written by Maya Angelou -- or gently pull you in to a spacious, thought-provoking “Open Sky,” Foster’s original composition found on her 2017 release, Joy Comes Back.

“I’m a student of the voice, and phrasing is a huge part of it,” suggested Foster, who performs solo Friday at the Freight. “I have a voice coach that reminds me that singing is an instrument, and you can’t out-sing a brass section. It’s also important to be a messenger. I picked that up from others, like Pete Seeger and Odetta. Performing is not just a way of entertaining . . . it’s a way of being, of living your life, and sharing it with others.”

Foster’s roots sprang deep from the gospel world. She grew up in a family of gospel singers in Gause, Texas, a small town 90 minutes northeast of Austin where, as Foster has shared, there were more churches than schools. Her musical baptism began as a girl playing piano recitals at several local churches. Foster was inspired by gospel greats including Mavis Staples, Mahalia Jackson, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and the Reverend Dr. James Edward Cleveland. Curious to hear more secular music, she soon began to absorb the traditional blues styles she heard while listening to her stepfather’s Howlin’ Wolf and Lightnin’ Hopkins records.

Released November 18, Healing Time offers an appealing mix of Austin- and New Orleans-flavored production styles that bring sonic depth to songs featuring the slide guitar work of Sonny Landreth, the pedal steel playing of Robert Randolph, and the choir-like vocal harmonizing of Sheree Smith, Angela Miller, and Tamara Mack. Among the recording’s many highlights are the the guitar-driven, hard-core Chicago blues of “What Kind of Fool,” a stirring rendition of Joanna Jones’s “Feels Like Freedom,” and the Smokey Robinson-sounding "Don't Want to Give Up on You."

It is often Foster’s unpredictable cover songs that leave us captivated by just how much she makes them her very own. For instance, her reinvention of Black Sabbath’s scathing “War Pigs” (which is more relevant than ever, by the way) into a bottleneck guitar- and harmonica-powered folk-blues anthem is a beautiful thing to behold. And her unique interpretation of the classic, Johnny Cash-associated “Ring of Fire”—where Foster strips it back into a folksy, slow-burning, thoughtful lament—is pure genius. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5b-C67GaiI8

“I don’t really decide what songs I want to cover, they choose me,” asserted Foster, who was inducted into the Texas Music Hall of Fame during the 2019 Austin Music Awards and is a 4-time Grammy award nominee. “That rendition of `Ring of Fire’ unfolded naturally and then just took on a life of its own. I like country music but not too many of my fans listen to much country so I figured I’d take a shot at exposing them to this classic while turning it into something a bit unusual.”

The need right now for healing, offered Foster, is both personal and political. Sometimes, the two merge into one. Since my phoner took place last month on midterm Election Day, I asked Foster if she agreed with me that we remain a nation divided, and worse yet, with our democracy at risk?

“I am hoping this is a pivotal moment for our country,” said Foster. “Voting just has to happen (in larger numbers.) Not a lot of the black community has gotten out there, frankly. I was just in east Texas visiting my dad for his birthday, and I got on him about how important it is for his voice to be heard.”

What lies at the heart of Foster’s talent is her authenticity, with personalized story-songs about human struggles, where one’s faith and optimism are challenged but can ultimately lead to redemption and possible salvation. Despite her own past heartaches, the resilient Foster remains a graceful beacon of light.

“I want my music to be a part of pulling people together,” she said. “Our differences do make us stronger, and we can—and should—respect those differences even when we disagree. Let’s continue having those conversations.”

*Ruthie Foster performs Friday, Dec. 16, at Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley; (510) 644-2020. 8 p.m. $32-$36. www.thefreight.org.