They originally played together in the band Saldo Kreek, which dissolved in 2002. Johnson and Bieritz resumed their musical partnership in 2019.
Johnson, a St. Charles singer-songwriter, has his own publishing company, Soon To Be Famous Publishing
LLC, and is responsible for all distribution and promotion of his work.
He makes music out of his home studio in St. Charles.
I had the chance to talk to Johnson about the new album. We spoke last year about their album "Appealing To Angels."
Q –You just released "Other Times And Other Places" in August and I understand you're already working on your next album. Is that because you have so many songs brewing?
Ray Johnson
Yeah, it basically is that. We really don't ever take a break with the writing.
Either we are finishing songs for an album or writing new material immediately afterwards for the next album.
Q – And that's another way to keep your name out there too.
It is. Your chances are better at creating and keeping an audience through doing that.
Everything has an expiration date to some degree.
Q – It seems like there is a story behind the album's name.
There's an instrumental song on the album called "Other Times And Other Places." There was just something that rang true in my head about the title being "Other Times And Other Places."
And the music itself is reflective of things gone by in a style that kind of reflects '60s jangle pop that is also heavy on the storytelling and songwriting of the songwriters from the '70s, which is my biggest inspiration.
Dave Bieritz
So that's kind of where the title came from. It's a mesh between the two, history and the future.
Q – Do you have any favorite songs on the album?
One of my favorite songs on there is "Words We Didn't Say (Friday Afternoon)." The song is almost 7 minutes long.
"Coffee And Trust" and "Ocean Blue," the first two singles off Ray Johnson's latest album, "Appealing To Angels," are earning rave reviews in part because of Johnson's deeply introspective lyrics.
On the album, the St. Charles singer-songwriter teams up with Dave Bieritz from his former band Saldo Kreek, which dissolved in 2002. They resumed their musical partnership in 2019 and have released three albums together – "Groove," "2020" and "Appealing To Angels."
Johnson has his own publishing company, Soon To Be Famous Publishing LLC, and is responsible for all distribution and promotion of his work. He makes music out of his home studio in St. Charles.
I had the pleasure of talking to Johnson about his latest project and his musical vision.
Q – “Coffee And Toast,” the first single from “Appealing To Angels,” has received a lot of good press, which must make you happy.
It does, very much so. “Coffee And Toast” is one of those songs that is starting to show the writing style moving from that poppy three and a half minute song to something more orchestrated and with more depth to the song.
The music is really taking on a life of its own. And that’s really, really exciting.
Q – Do you think “Coffee And Toast” has a visual element to it, that people can visualize something listening to the song?
Yes. The music moves you.
It leaves everything wide open to interpretation. You can find your own little space in it.
With the lyrics I’m writing now, they’ve become much more astute. They're becoming more something that everyone can relate to.
Q – Would you say that musically, you are on top of your game these days? It seems like you have tried to progress in your songwriting. I was just wondering if you feel more comfortable as a songwriter these days.
I feel like I am completely in step with what I’m doing and how to reach it inside of me and tap into it and bring it out and work with it like clay.
Q – What do you think changed? Are you just feeling more comfortable in your own skin?
Yeah, I definitely feel more comfortable in my skin. But I also feel that I have more direction.
I actually feel that I have more of a purpose with my music than I ever have.
Q – How long have you been writing songs?
I wrote my first song when I was 16 and I’ve got a 45 RPM vinyl record to prove it. I actually cut a 45 my sophomore year at Geneva High School.
Q – Are you looking to take these new songs on the road?
The short answer is, probably not. I haven’t performed since 2001.
Neither Dave nor I really have a desire to perform live, although we haven’t ruled it out. And we may very well do it, but it’s just not as easy to go about it as it used to be.
It would be an undertaking all on its own to do it. We probably would enjoy it a lot.
If the time is right to do something like that, I’m sure we won’t miss the boat on it. Q – Are you working on new material?
We’re close to halfway through our fourth release. We’re hoping to have it finished by the end of the year.
More information about Johnson's music can be found on his website, ray-johnson.com.
Chicago Blues Hall of Fame inductees, Liz Mandeville, left, and Buddy Guy, right.
By ERIC SCHELKOPF
Blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, record label owner, author, speaker, painter - Liz Mandeville is a true renaissance woman and a fervent promoter of the blues.
So it is not surprising that Mandeville, www.lizmandeville.com, was recently inducted in the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. The power that she creates on stage will be in full display when Mandeville and the Blue Points perform from noon to 1 p.m. June 8 on the Front Porch Stage at the Chicago Blues Festival in Grant Park in Chicago. A full festival schedule is at www.cityofchicago.org.
I had the chance to talk to Mandeville about her recent honor.
Q - Congratulations on being inducted in the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame. How does it feel being inducted, especially at the same time as blues legends like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy?
Thank you! I was surprised and deeply honored to be inducted. Muddy Waters is probably the biggest influence on me.
His was the first blues record I ever bought. His vocal interpretation, the way he inflected and colored his words and the licks he sang were what informed me as a blues singer. Willie Dixon wrote a lot of the material my idols, Muddy, Koko Taylor and other Chess Recording artists recorded.
He also influenced me as to what was a blues song and how do you write one that’s really authentic. Buddy Guy, it goes without saying, is my hero, a living legend.
I’m so proud to be in regular rotation at his club. His songs “Bluebird On My Shoulder” inspired several of my own compositions and my vocal on “Juice Head Man” is a direct nod to that song. He’s a great interpreter and an amazing musician.
Q- Who do you see being inducted 20 years from now?
I could not begin to guess.
Q - Speaking of blues legends, the late Willie "Big Eyes" Smith urged you to start your own music label and the last recordings of Smith on both harp and drum are captured on "Clarksdale," your first CD on your music label, Blue Kitty Music. How was it working with Smith on that CD and how did he influence you over the years?
Willie Smith was always very professional. He was “on time and in the pocket”, the greatest compliment you can pay a blues drummer! He was a pleasure to work with throughout my knowing him.
From ’94- ’99 I had a regular weekly gig at Blue Chicago with Aron Burton’s Band, young Kenny Smith was our drummer but he was still in high school. So when he couldn’t make the gig he sent his dad and that’s how I started playing with Willie Smith!
But that’s not how I met him. Back in the early 90’s my first husband, Willie Greeson, left my band to play with the Legendary Blues Band. That was the Muddy Waters Band without Muddy.
Calvin “Fuzz” Jones on bass, Pinetop Perkins on keys, Madison Slim on harp and Willie Smith, who played drums, was the band leader. It was my then husband’s dream job for which he’d left his home in Dalton, Georgia, and played all those dates on the road with me in our band.
The timing couldn’t have been worse! When he got the call to play with the LBB, I’d just sunk every dime I had in the world into a recording project, and booked us for a tour to tighten up the originals we’d recorded and our overall show.
I’d also booked a showcase date at Legends to end the tour and invited every important person in the blues world to try to get us a label deal and they all showed! But, although I did all the writing and booking, Willie Greeson had been the band leader in our group, so when he left at this critical moment the whole band flew apart and I was left with nothing.
I had to put a band of hired guns together to honor the contracts I’d negotiated (something I’d never done on my own), figure out what keys I did the songs in, and since I had no experience leading a band, I could only get the guys to play the cover tunes.
It was a terrible career setback. Obviously I didn’t get the Rounder or Alligator deal, they weren’t interested in a white girl singing cover tunes.
But I met Willie Smith when I’d go to drop my Willie off at his place for their tours. I met the whole family then and ended up playing gigs with a then teenaged Kenny Smith, Willie’s son and an estimable drummer in his own right.
Then, over the next year, one by one the other Legendary’s left the band to pursue solo careers. Willie Smith found it very hard to book a Legendary Blues Band with only one legend in it, HIM!
His agent split and he got a new guy who was enthusiastic but had no connections. I sat down with him and gave him every lead I had in the U.S. and Canada. He never forgot that I’d done that.
I guess that’s why after all these years he decided to help me.
I’d gone to Rosa’s Lounge to celebrate the Joined At the Hip Grammy win. I said to Willie, “Man I been wanting to make a record with you since ’98!” and he’s like “What? 1998?” and I said “Yeah! I wanted to make a disc with you and Willie Kent and George Baze and Allen Batts” and he said, “Well, Allen moved to Arkansas and those other cats is dead!” “I know!” I said, but I still want to make that record!” and he said, “Book the time, Lizzie, book the time! And we ain't givin this record to none of them labels! You’re starting your own label and I’m gonna help you.”
So that’s how Blue Kitty Music got started, right there at Rosa’s Lounge that fateful February night. I did book the time and we were in the studio two weeks later laying down the first five tracks.
That’s Willie Smith’s voice you hear at the beginning of "Clarksdale" on the track “Roadside Produce Stand." He and Darryl and I were working out an arrangement in the studio and we’d been joking around and it got on tape.
I decided to lead off the CD with it so that Willie’s voice, his exuberance and his spirit would live on. I had no idea when we recorded those tracks he’d be dead before the year was out.
He was SO alive, in his 70’s yet fit, youthful and handsome. I asked him, ‘Should I call you about the next session?” and he said “Just text me.”
Q - You are a prolific writer, writing all of your songs for your CDs. Do you ever find it hard to find inspiration? What do you like writing about?
I’ve been writing original songs since I can remember. I used to climb up on our neighbors' piano and play by ear till my grandma heard me and got us a piano.
I remember one time my mom was getting her hair done at Marshall Fields and they had a toy department outside the beauty salon. I was waiting for my mother, she’d told me, “Play with the toys and don’t get in trouble!”
They had this little four octave piano there so I sat down and started playing songs and singing all by ear. I actually drew a crowd and people were clapping, but when my mother came out of the salon she was not at all happy.
She gave me a whipping like I’d never had. I guess I wasn’t supposed to draw attention to myself, it was a week before I could sit down!
I thought I’d gotten some writers block while I was laid up after surgery in 2010, but then my friend came from Holland to visit and started asking me, “What have you written? Where are your new songs?” and I was like, “Well, I've been laying around not doing anything much” but he wouldn’t let it go and finally I said, “Well I wrote some songs but they’re not much…” and he insisted on hearing some of them so I played him one.
It turned out to be the song Eddie Shaw blows on "Clarksdale, " “Sweet Potatoe Pie” so I guess my idea of writers block is other people’s idea of prolific!
I get a lot of ideas when I’m out walking my dog, or trying to drive (I have more scribbled songs on deposit tickets in the back of my checkbook! I never seem to have paper when I’m driving). In fact, the title track of my fourth Earwig CD, "Red Top," was written on the highway while I was driving past Red Top, Georgia.
I also get lots of great lyrics while taking a shower, which can be very frustrating while I’m dripping all over the floor looking for a pen! I draw inspiration from everywhere, reading a book, looking at a piece of art, hearing someone tell me a story.
Right now, I’m working on some songs for Shirley Johnson’s next project. I went to her show and watched her sing, then she sat down with me and we talked and the next day one of her anecdotes had morphed itself into a song!
Q - Your song "Scratch the Kitty" held the number one spot for 22 weeks on the Cashbox Charts in 2010. Did you ever think that song would have such an impact? What do you think it was about that song that connected so well?
That song was inspired by an anecdote my brother in law, Alvin Holmes, told my husband. They’d been sitting around playing video games all afternoon and out of the blue Alvin looks over and says to my husband, “Carl, sometimes you have to scratch the kitty.”
Then he turns back to the game without another word. My husband comes home a few hours later and says to me, “Alvin said the strangest thing to me today.” And he related the whole episode and I said “Wait a minute…” and the whole song just came like that!
I’d always loved the theatre, I love word play and double entendre. I can’t stand a song that’s too blatant or obvious, but when I wrote that song I actually used my cat Frankie as a model.
My Frankie was one of those yellow tabby cats and one time a young girl was canvassing for Greenpeace and I asked her in because it was raining and I felt sorry for her. She had an English accent and she saw my cat and exclaimed “How precious! A Ginger Tabby!”
I never forgot that turn of phrase, so I used It in the song. I think people liked it because it’s entirely innocent and could be sung for children or a nanny, but if you’re a dirty minded so and so it’s as filthy as you want to make it. People like that!
Q - Your dad sang and played folk songs. Did he push you to become a musician? What drew you to the blues in the first place?
My dad was an artist and a cowboy and a dreamer, he never pushed me to do anything but be myself. He never gave me unsolicited advice, so when he talked, I listened.
He did record some of my original tunes when I was in high school and sent them off to Nashville, but they weren’t interested. I miss my dad every day!
No, the blues was stalking me all my life. I was in love with this hippie guy named Eric Burnhart. If Eric had said, “I have two tickets to hell, would you like to go?” I would have said, “What time should I be ready?”
Well, Eric took me to see Luther Allison live in a club in Oshkosh, Wis., and after the first note from Luther’s guitar I was so hooked it was sick.
I moved to Chicago shortly after, wandered into the first Kingston Mines and met my long term mentor, Aron Burton, who always gave me very good sound advice.
Not long after that I met Willie Greeson, who was so addicted to the blues he’d traveled halfway across the country to make it his life’s work and he played me Jimmy Reed until I got hooked too.
That was that.
Q - Even though rock derives so much from the blues, it seems that the blues continues to take a back seat to rock. What will it take to get more people interested in blues music?
Blues music must be on TV. It must have its own station like VH1 or MTV.
It must have travel series and performance shows and concerts to get over. I was very hopeful that the movie "Cadillac Records" would turn on this generation like the Blues Brothers turned on a generation and Stevie Ray Vaughan turned on another, but it just didn’t ignite.
Oh well, if they had a reality TV camera following some of my people around, they’d start to say “Snookie who?” Believe me, we started it!
Q - You are also a painter. I understand that you view the visual arts as "food for the soul." Do you draw inspiration for your paintings from the same place as you do your songs? Do you need both music and art in your life?
Back in the day a guy named Albert Brooks made a movie called “The Muse” that starred him and Michelle Pfeiffer. See that movie and you’ll understand what it takes to be me!
My writing muse demands books, magazines, movies, plays, afternoons at great museums of the world, she wants to travel, she wants to spa, she wants to be entertained both by other writers, by other musicians, she wants to be read to by the original author, she needs me to do things to help other people or she won’t produce!
For a few years she needed to go to Paris every year, then one year it wasn’t enough. For the past few years it’s been Clarksdale, Miss., that has given her joy.
This has also been a great joy for me and I’ve made some wonderful friends all over the world thanks to her constant need for sensory input. Sometimes I can just take her to the Art Institute of Chicago for an afternoon, but sometimes she needs to go shopping at some extravagant little shop or on the Internet. It’s expensive!!
I need art, sculpture, paintings, I need books and lots of them, I need more than 300 channels of TV, and great food. I need stimulating conversation. I understand that all other people need is sex, that must be nice, and a lot less trouble.
Recently, I’ve discovered computer art and also started making jewelry as well as painting. I like to paint scenes from the blues life and views from the van, so my paintings are either very colorful and filled with people or they’re landscapes rushing by.
My dad was really helpful in my early artistic life. He bought me a set of acrylic paints which I took on the road with me to help pass the time while touring.
I realized awhile back that I’ve been painting for sport for as long as I’ve been a musician for hire. I’m fortunate to have such pastimes that give me so much pleasure of expression.
If I hit that lottery I’d like to make an endowment to put art and music teachers into all the Chicago Public Schools. I think that our culture suffers from lack of cultural education.
People need an understanding of art and music to be whole. We’re missing that.
Q - What goals do you have for Blue Kitty Music? Would you like to sign other artists to your label?
I’ve recently talked to a few artists about doing a compilation CD that would feature several of my favorite underappreciated people. I’d like to put out at least one disc a year and have four artists doing three songs each, or vice versa.
Then I’d like to mount a tour with these people featured on a series of concerts. It’s a lot of work and planning and I do it all myself out of my own pocket, so it all takes longer than I’d like, but yes, there will be more Blue Kitty Projects with other artists!
Writing for Shirley Johnson kind of opened my ears to hearing other voices from my pen. It’s wonderful to hear someone singing something you’ve written!
I love collaborating with other artists, trying new things, as long as we’re all having fun doing it. Life should be fun and art should make you joyful.
Life is too full of sadness and disappointment to be seeking other than to spread pleasure. My own experiences both in my childhood and early career were so difficult to overcome that I decided along the way that I only want to work with people I like, promote people who are good at heart and do things to make people laugh and feel better.
Even a song that I write that makes you cry in the end had let you release some pain, so it’s all good.
Last year I’d planned to do a Blue Kitty Christmas CD, but only got one track finished. That track featured my Dutch friend (the one who made me get on with it and record "Sweet Potatoe Pie") Peter Struijk on slide, Rockin Johnny Burgin on guitar and Martin Lange on harp.
We used it to raise money for the Red Cross Hurricane Sandy Relief. I’m planning another track for this year, also for the Red Cross. Who knows, in a few years we’ll have a whole disc!
I’m also working on remixing some of my material with some young, talented DJ’s and producers. I am not one of the crowd that loudly proclaims the death of the blues while holding a foot to its throat when it’ s trying to evolve! Art will change, music will change, it’s change or die, isn’t it? One of my favorite movie quotes is Clint Eastwood from "Heartbreak Ridge," as the tough Marine, Thomas “Gunny” Highway, says “Improvise, adapt and overcome!”
That is my motto and should be the motto of every living blues artist that wants this music to continue. Even Willie Smith said, “I ain't trying to play the same stuff I was in the 1950’s. I ain't the same guy I was then, the music ain't the same. It couldn’t be the same if it wanted to be!”
Now, out of all the self proclaimed carriers of the blues torch I think Willie Smith is the guy I’m a be listening to!
Q - You've done so many things. Do you have any dream projects or collaborations?
When I was 20-something, I took classes at The School of Metaphysics. I don’t think it exists anymore, but one of the assignments was “write a list of all the things you want to accomplish.”
So I wrote down travel to Europe, get a college degree, learn to speak French, have a world class band, make a CD, own a building, be able to cook gourmet food, have friends on more than one continent, be respected by my musical peers, have a good touring vehicle, write award winning songs, make money from my music…”
There were about 20 things I wanted to do. Well, I guess I have to write a new list, because I did all those things and more. I’m always surprised to think I’ve done so many things, in fact, unless I’m looking at a list of things I’ve accomplished, it doesn’t seem to me like I’ve really done much! I have yet to win a Nobel Prize or to be asked to perform for the President or the Queen, I’ve never played Carnegie Hall or even the Pabst Theatre In Milwaukee where I grew up. Although I’ve won songwriting contests and been inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame, I have yet to be nominated for a Blues Music Award!
I’d love to play Milwaukee Summerfest, (I’d like a good agent so I wouldn’t have to also do the booking for everything!) I’d like to return to Europe to play music with my friends there. I’d love to play in the Orient and Australia sometime before the flight is too daunting to imagine.
By ERIC SCHELKOPF One probably wouldn't think that someone born and raised in a small rural town in Israel would be schooled in the blues.
Guy King has been a growing force on the Chicago blues scene. He served as the lead guitarist and band leader inWillie Kent’s band for six years, until Kent’s passing in 2006 and then started a solo career.
King will perform as part of the Blues on the Fox festival on June 16 and 17 at RiverEdge Park, 360 N. Broadway, Aurora.
Gates open at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. June 16, three-time Grammy nominee and international blues favorite Shemekia Copeland will take the stage, followed by Chicago’s own living legend, Mavis Staples, at 9 p.m.
Gates open at 2 p.m. for the second day of Blues on the Fox on June 17. "The Voice" veteran Nicholas David will take the stage at 3 p.m. He replaces Devon Allman, who has stepped away from touring in the wake of the passing of his father Gregg Allman. King will perform at 5 p.m., followed by Blues Hall of Famer, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy nominee Elvin Bishop at 7 p.m. and Jonny Lang at 9 p.m.
Tickets are $20 each per day. Children 12 and under are admitted free to Blues on the Fox, but must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older. For tickets and information, visit RiverEdgeAurora.com, call the RiverEdge box office, 630-896-6666, or stop by in person at RiverEdge’s satellite box office, the Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays.
The RiverEdge box office will also be open on-site both days for day of sales, beginning at noon. All tickets are general admission. Ticket fees are not included.
I had the chance to talk to King about the upcoming show.
Q - You are part of the bill at Blues on the Fox. As far as playing at a festival versus playing in a club, which do you prefer? Or do you like both experiences?
I like both, I have to admit. I think everyone that came up playing the regular way, the normal way or the old school way, played more in clubs in the beginning.
It's a great intimate feeling, [compared] to when you play a larger venue, like a theater or a hall or an outdoor stage. It's a different type of feeling, but I try to convey that intimacy that I experience playing at clubs with a larger outdoor audience.
Q - You do kind of have an unusual back story. You came from Israel, so do people ask you about your background and how you fell into the blues?
Yes, I get that asked a lot. I understand that it's not traditional, that it's a different story than your common one. I understand that. I respect that.
I was exposed to a lot of things on the radio. I remember hearing Michael Jackson and David Bowie. I was playing clarinet at a very young age, so I was exposed to classical music and big band.
And I picked up the guitar mostly by ear when I was 13 years old. Through my brother, I was exposed to musicians like Eric Clapton, which lead me to Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In Israel, it was very difficult to get a blues album back then. Like when I came here, I feel very fortunate that I was able to go to a store and pick up a T-Bone Walker album.
Q - Are the blues catching on in Israel?
I don't know. I don't know. The truth is, I haven't performed there much. I came here at a younger age.
I think there's more exposure now to the blues, and more knowledge than when I was growing up there. It's not to the point where it's being played nightly in the club.
Q - It's been a good year for you. Your latest album, "Truth," which was released in February 2016, is getting rave reviews, and was nominated for a 2017 Blues Music Award in the category of "best emerging artist album." You've been around for a while. Does it feel strange to be called an emerging artist?
A few people have asked me the same thing. But I understand how it goes. Sometimes the definition of emerging artist is not like this new artist. Maybe I was not traveling stateside that much, even when I was playing with Willie Kent. We were really performing a lot more in Chicago, and doing a few hit and run shows elsewhere in the United States.
Most of our travel was overseas, so I understand why I went unnoticed maybe a little bit. But I was very glad to receive this nomination. It's great to know that the album "Truth" did very well.
I'm still performing material from it, and I'm looking forward to performing it at Blues on the Fox as well. It was a great year, and I'm looking forward to hopefully an even better one.
Q - What were your goals for "Truth" and do you think you accomplished them?
I think we achieved what I wanted to do. Really, the goal was pretty simple - to stay focused around the feeling of the music and the way I sound and feel it right now.
Right now, meaning when we recorded it. I think the album reflects who I was then. So I was able to get my message across.
Most of the things I had done before were for my own independent label, and "Truth" was done for Delmark, so I hoped that we'd get more notoriety and more people noticing what I do, which it did, so we achieved that.
I kind of wanted them to know some of what I do, kind of like, 'Hello, I'm Guy King.' It's like a business card.
Q - Of course, "Truth" was your first album for Chicago's Delmark Records. Are you pleased that it made such an impact, seeing it was your first album for Delmark?
Yeah, very much, very much. I'm very glad of that. I was happy with the sonic quality of it. And then when people started responding to it, then of course I was happy about it.
Q - I've had the pleasure of interviewing Sarah Marie Young and I was wondering how you hooked up with her for the duet on "Truth."
Sarah is now my wife and the mother of our firstborn. We got married April 2, so it's fresh.
Even before that, we were already spending time together. I knew that Sarah was a wonderful vocalist and a great singer.
We talked, and she said she would love to sing background with my background singers on the album. And then I asked Sarah what she would think about doing a duet, to kind of break up [the album] a little bit and add a female voice.
She said it would be a pleasure and an honor. We were looking for a number, and I wrote this tune - "My Happiness" - originally for me to sing. We tried, at first with an acoustic guitar, just her and I, and it sounded great.
I came up with the arrangements for the horns, and it was quick and natural.
Q - So are you guys going to collaborate more, now that you are married?
Time will tell. We will probably, but there's no date as far as an album or any duet or any performance yet, but we do enjoy each other's work a lot and do enjoy performing together.
No promises, but I think I speak for the both of us when I say we would love to do more together.
Q - A person can't call you a strict blues player, because you kind of weave in and out of blues and jazz and big band as well. But it seems like you are comfortable in all those genres and it seems like you are trying to bring all those genres together.
The way I look at music is maybe a little bit different than as you say, "purists." When I play the blues, I think I play as bluesy as anybody who plays blues. My influences are probably some of the most wonderful blues players that ever lived - I'm talking about B.B. King, Albert King, Robert Johnson, Lightnin' Hopkins, T-Bone Walker or many others that I can name.
I listen to a lot of them and I appreciate and admire a lot of their work. Being self-taught mostly, I call them my teachers. But I also understood early on that the feeling of the music is what makes music great.
That feeling can be a part of what people call jazz, or a ballad, or standards or rhythm and blues. I'm always going to play bluesy because I believe in it.
It's a deep feeling, and I try to bring it to everything I sing or play. This is my goal.
Q - Of course, you were Willie Kent's lead guitarist and band leader for six years. As far as what you learned from him, what were the big lessons that he taught you?
He taught me a lot of stuff. We were playing a lot of blues, what people would call blues, but even Willie would throw in a rhythm and blues number, a soul number or some ballad.
He taught me that the feeling of the music is what gets the message across. I saw that on a nightly basis. He delivered. He sang with conviction and meant what he said and said what he meant on stage on a nightly basis.
I had to play my best behind him to try to keep up. I would like to think that I'm giving my listeners and my fans the same piece of my heart and my feelings when I perform.
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.
