by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
Sue Foley just returned to the States from Germany when I called her last Monday afternoon at her home in Ottawa, Canada. Sue has been slugging away - touring and recording for twenty-three years. At 39, she is a veteran blues-rock artist who has expanded her horizons to include Europe and Asia, as well as extensive touring in America. Sue’s new record, New Used Car is her 9th album.
Sue’s early musical environment established her eclectic influences, having grown up in a musical household with her father playing Celtic music and her brothers in hard rock bands. Sue burst onto the Vancouvor music scene at 16 years old by forming the Sue Foley Band. This early incarnation of Sue’s band toured Canada.
Over the years, grinding out the gigs has hardened Sue to the rigors of touring, dealing with musicians, booking jobs, and the exhaustion that comes with being a gypsy road dog. Now, she’s writing a book titled Guitar Woman about female guitarists, which she expects to complete in the next year. After that, she hopes to film a documentary based on her book. Meanwhile, Sue is pressing on with her musical career, touring all over the world with 250 dates a year in Canada, the States, Europe, and Asia.
As a rising star, Sue was honored in her home country with her first Juno Award (Canada’s equivalent to America’s Grammy Award) for best Blues Album for her CD Love Comin’ Down in 2000. Since 1999, Sue has received a record-setting seventeen Maple Blues Awards and three Trochee De Blues in France. She was also nominated for a W.C. Handy Award for best contemporary female artist in 2002.
Since Sue has a dog, we began our conversation talking about the poison dog food scare, which Sue didn’t know anything about. Of course, she lives in Canada and they may not receive pet food from the United States. After I got her adrenaline up, we talked about her book and her music career.
“Since my touring schedule is so hectic, it’s difficult to work on the book, but I’ve managed to contact many of the female guitarists I wanted to interview via E-mail and telephone to gather research for Guitar Woman. I’ve also formed my own company, Guitar Woman, Inc. (www.guitarwoman.com). I’ve also been touring with the Blues Caravan www.rufrecords.de.”
“Two years ago I recorded a highly successful DVD of a live show in Germany. It turned out really well and it allows people to see me in concert doing what I do best–that’s kicking butt. Currently I’m going out with a trio-- bass, guitar, and drums, which makes everyone work harder, but I like the challenge. I like to play festivals and this is my first trip to George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival”. (I told her it was a great facility right on the ocean.) “Wow, I can’t wait to play there,” Sue said.
I then asked Sue about her planned set for George’s Music Springing the Blues Festival.
“I plan to play a retrospective of my body of work, and some tunes off the new album. I know the songs that work best to excite the crowd in a festival atmosphere. Playing large special events like your Springing the Blues is what I live for. My book and record company are side projects that have to take a backseat to my music career. But I’ve learned to use my time and energy efficiently by planning ahead, and using the Internet effectively,” Sue said.
Sue Foley goes on-stage at George’s Music Springing The Blues at 2:30 pm Saturday, April 7th. Get there early to catch the entire all-star lineup of the best blues talent in the world.
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