Sue Foley Sharing The Blues With The Southland

By John Roos

Sue Foley’s blues influences run deep and true.

From the blues-based rock of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin to traditional bluesmen Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and Albert Collins to blues women Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey and Koko Taylor, the Ottawa-born, now Texas-based Foley reaches all the way back to the traditional Mississippi Delta and electric Chicago-and Texas-style blues. Her numerous awards—particularly Canada’s Juno and Maple Leaf awards—confirm recognition by her peers as the real deal.

Yet to label Foley a blues purist would be a huge faux pas. The singer-songwriter-guitarist’s stylistic diversity embraces country, folk, rock, soul, Latin, and even a touch of flamenco. What matters most to Foley since making her professional debut at age 16 is the authenticity behind whatever music one chooses to play.

“I’m all about putting something out there that rings true . . . that’s real and honest,” said Foley, now 50, by phone from a recent tour stop in Calgary. “The blues isn’t a rigid form of music. It’s fluid and evolves. The whole point is it has to feel free and flexible.... if it feels like the blues, then it is the blues.”

Foley, known for her pink paisley Fender Telecaster guitar, is currently on the road performing as a trio with the Toronto-based rhythm section of bassist Leo Valvassori and drummer Tom Bona. The tour includes three upcoming Southern California stops, including Saturday in Los Angeles (Hotel Café), Sunday in Long Beach (Malainey’s) and Monday in Tarzana (Maui Sugar Mill).

This tour offers a mix of acoustic and electric, the new and the old, plus a lengthy tribute to vintage blues artists such as Freddie King, Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, Coco Taylor and Memphis Minnie.

“The music has to resonate with where I’m at right now,” said Foley. “At my shows, people sometimes request some older material but if I can’t relate to it today, then I can’t pour myself into the song.”

“But the audiences are having fun, their response to the new songs has been fantastic. There are a lot more women coming to see my shows, too, and I think part of that is because they’re jazzed up about the newer material and the theme of the album (2017’s “The Ice Queen.”) I believe they’re also drawn to seeing a powerful woman playing lead guitar and fronting a band.”

The subject matter that Foley mines on “The Ice Queen” (Stony Plain Recordings) delves into standard blues fare including love, loss and betrayal. The female protagonists, however, are resilient and at times defiant. For example, the title-track suggests that women can be misperceived as icy or bitchy when in fact their hard shell forms only as a means of protection from pain, as Foley lashes out, “Before I compromise my love again/it will be a cold, damn day in hell.”

Foley’s first solo release since 2006, “The Ice Queen” features several Texas-based guest musicians, including guitarists Charlie Sexton, Jimmie Vaughan and Billy Gibbons from ZZ Top. “The Lucky Ones,” a duet featuring Foley and Vaughan, is a bouncy, jump-blues number that looks back with nostalgia at shared times of joy and innocence. (Foley relocated to Austin from Canada in 1990 and signed with the Antone’s record label, which released her first four albums starting with her smashing, critically-praised debut, “Young Girl Blues.”)

“Jimmie has such amazing personality and style in his playing . . . . each is something that I think he’s learned from the blues masters that came before him,” offered Foley. “He’s taught me about putting the right note in the right place at exactly the right time. It may sound easy but believe me, it is not.”

Not lost on Foley is the male-centric composition of blues guitar players. In the late-1990s, she started a project called Guitar Woman which included her interviewing dozens of the world’s leading female guitarists cutting across all genres. From 2001-2008, she wrote articles, organized and promoted concerts, and began work on a potential book to celebrate the work of great women guitar players. Foley was the driving force behind a double-CD compilation, “Blues Guitar Women” (2005, Ruf Records), that showcases a number of talented female blues guitarists past and present.

The project went dark when Foley became a mom and later pursued several musical collaborations and a graduate degree. Foley says the time is now right to resume Guitar Woman.

“I just got overloaded for a while but I have started working on it again,” she said. “I’ve been writing excerpts from the interviews in the “Foley Files” (a monthly column for GuitarPlayer magazine) to rev interest back up. Most of the women I talked to are tremendous musicians with diverse stories to tell. What really sticks with me is that almost all of them stay focused on the music—not stardom or personalities--and that it’s meant to transcend barriers not just of gender but race as well. There were no hard-luck stories, it was all very positive.” (For a sample interview featuring Debbie Davies, go to https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/the-foley-files).

“I think it’s important to know that women are represented and acknowledged for their skill and artistic accomplishments,” added Foley. “I love men and working with them but I would like to inspire more women to come out to see us play.”

*Sue Foley performs Saturday at the Hotel Café, 1623 1/2 N Cahuenga Blvd, Los Angeles; (323) 461-2040. 7 p.m. $24. www.hotelcafe.com; Sunday at Malainey’s, 168 N Marina Dr, Long Beach; (562) 598-9431. 4 p.m. $10-$50. https://pasadenablues.com; Monday at Maui’s Sugar Mill Saloon, 18389 Ventura Blvd, Tarzana; (818) 344-0034. 8 p.m. $10-$50. https://pasadenablues.com.

Photo taken by Alan Messer.