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 It's no secret to Texas that Ruthie Foster's been touched by the spirit of Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt, and one of these days, everybody else is going to know it too. Over the course of her short career, she's shown she can hold her own interpreting material by Son House, Lucinda Williams, John Prine or Curtis Mayfield, and just as convincingly move a listener to tears with a few bars of a spiritual.
Following a four-year hitch in a U.S. Navy band and dues paid playing in New York City clubs, Foster returned to her native roots in the '90s. She broke out with her 2002 effort, Runaway Soul, produced by Lloyd Maines. Its mix of folk, blues and gospel (in that order), helped her become a darling of the folk music festival circuit and a bona fide regional star. Its live follow-up, Stages, recorded primarily at St. David's Episcopal Church in Austin, proved that the hype was actually true.
Although at times Foster's folkie reputation precedes her, the majority of The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster can't be called anything but a classic Motown record. With the help of gifted producer Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne, the disc reveals Foster's growing confidence as a songwriter, and shows her stepping out on a creative ledge (see "Phenomenal Woman," a song set to a Maya Angelou poem). Furthering her explorations into soul and R&B — replete with hearty incantations of hope, faith and the search for the truth — Foster collaborated with jazz and blues guitarist Robben Ford, key men Jim Dickinson and Charles Hodges, and the Memphis Horns on 2009's The Truth According To Ruthie Foster, which was recorded in Memphis’ renowned Ardent Studios.
Provenance: Gause, Texas
Latest release: The Truth According To Ruthie Foster (2009)
© 2009 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
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