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| Photo by Danny Clinch |
By ERIC SCHELKOPF
Blues singer guitarist Sue Foley and her signature pink paisley Fender Telecaster continue to command attention.
At the 43rd annual Blues Music Awards ceremony in May in Memphis, the Canadian musician won in the category of Best Traditional Blues Album for her latest album, "Pinky's Blues," along with the Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist, repeating her 2020 win in the same category.
In June, Foley received additional honors when the Toronto Blues Society presented her with two Maple Blues Awards for Entertainer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year.
Foley will likely gain even more fans when she perform at 8 p.m. Friday at Evanston SPACE, 1245 Chicago Ave., Evanston.
Also on the bill is Eric Lugosch. Tickets are available at evanstonspace.com.
I had the chance to talk to Foley – who first took up the guitar at age 13 – about the impact that she has made in the music world.
Q – First of all, congratulations on your recent awards. As far as winning the two Maple Blues Awards for Entertainer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year from the Toronto Blues Society, does that hold special meaning for you because you are from Canada?
Oh, yeah, definitely. Those are all really nice to receive and it’s nice to be acknowledged.
And we also got the ones in Memphis, which actually really meant a lot because for Canadian blues artists to get acknowledged down in Memphis really validates what we do.
Q – Do you feel like you’re accepted now?
Totally. Absolutely.
Q – And of course, you released “Pinky’s Blues” last year, which references the name of your guitar. Why did you decide to do that?
Because I’ve had the guitar for so long and we wanted to make a guitar album. I’ve had the same guitar my entire career.
I’ve had her for 33 years and she’s literally been with me at every gig and on every album. Mike Flanigan, our producer, was like, ‘Let’s make a guitar album and let’s just have fun.’
It’s kind of unusual for a guitar player to stick with one instrument for that long. Most guitar players are all about playing a lot of guitars.
Q – I understand you began playing guitar at age 13 and that you played your first gig when you were 16. Do you see yourself as an inspiration, especially to young girls who are looking to play guitar?
I might. Sometimes I see them at my shows. I would like to be, yeah, for sure.
Hopefully I can be an inspiration if they dig what I do.
Q – Growing up, were there any female guitarists that you looked up to, or any guitarists in general?
I was influenced by a lot of blues guitarists, from Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson to Memphis Minnie and T-Bone Walker.
I really went through listening and studying all those players, from Chicago to Texas. And I really settled on the Texas style, so that’s kind of where my guitar style comes from.
I kind of honed in on that regional sound and especially the sound that was coming out of Austin at the time. In the ‘80s and ’90s was kind of when I started to hone in on this area.
And that’s kind of what you’re hearing on “Pinky’s Blues.” It’s sort of a tribute to that style of blues and that style of guitar playing that we kind of came up listening to and learning about.
Q – I read an interview you did recently where you talked about making it in the Austin blues scene and that you were especially proud of that, especially given the fact that you are Canadian.
And the fact that I was a young girl, that kind of made it all the more unusual. But I was very welcomed here and nurtured here and respected.
I feel like I got a really good music education down here and that’s why I came back.
Q – Clifford Antone brought you to Austin and signed you to your first record deal, as I understand.
Antone’s was our school basically, our school of the blues, and there were a lot of other young players down here doing it too. It wasn’t just me.
I was really welcomed and nurtured and I was given a great education. As soon as Stevie Ray Vaughan broke out and this whole scene got on the radar, everybody in blues freaked out.
The Chicago people freaked out and the California people freaked out. Everybody wanted to emulate Texas blues.
The thing about it, it was new. It was some fresh energy. It was a really new sound coming out.
It was a really exciting time.
Q – As far as what you are trying to do with your music, what are you trying to inject into the music scene?
I’m not trying to inject anything into any scene, per se, I’m just trying to be myself. If somebody hears an album of mine and says, ‘Hey, that’s Sue Foley,’ that’s pretty good, because they know that I kind of got a sound.
All I want to do is be myself.
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