Ruthie Foster – An Xperience Interview

Ruthie Foster – An Xperience Interview – by Liam Sweeny.

When you win a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, you get a little bit of bragging rights. But when you’ve grown up in Gospel, you might just leave the bragging behind. Ruthie Foster is easy to talk to, and on October 23^rd at Caffe Lena, she’ll be easy to listen to.

RRX: I read that you grew up with a lot of cousins, is that true?

RF: That is true.

RRX: You grew up with a lot of cousins and you also grew up with gospel, the gospel tradition. But outside of church, did you and your cousins ever put on performances, anything fun like that?

RF: Not really. Having that many relatives, most of us were in the same area, but not all. That was just when we were all together. But I think I may have been the only one that was actually touring as a kid and actually getting a chance to play in different communities, different churches.

RRX: Speaker 1 00:01:20
Do you mean touring through the church? Was that how it was when when you were growing up?

RF: Just touring independently. My mother was basically my first manager, I guess you could call it.

RRX: When did you start touring? How old were you?

RF: I had to be in my early teens. So maybe twelve. That was pretty small. I started playing at different churches. Oh

RRX: How far? Was it like regionally or did you go across the country?

RF: Yeah, it was definitely regional. Uh-huh.

RRX: When you first started, you kind of shied away from performing out in front of people. You were doing a lot of like writing songs and playing for other people, Was it a shyness that kept you from the spotlight, or was it something else? Have you ever thought about that, making that decision to start doing it for yourself?

RF: I was really just being shy. I was a quiet kid. Music was my way out of my shyness. That had a lot to do with why I only played for my family, for myself. Later on I got used to it. You get used to being in front of people. Yeah, I just kinda, I kinda took to it.

RRX: I know that playing myself, like I’ve cocooned sometimes and just kinda delved back into it and not really been around the music scene then. Have you had anything like that where you just, you just like kind of cocooned and kind of went away from uh from the spotlight for a little while, maybe just catch your bearings or whatever?

RF: Yeah, definitely. I have taken breaks from music along the way too. I took some time off from music when I joined the military. I didn’t really let too many people know that I actually sang and played. I just wanted to do something different. And I took another break later on. Uh, after I left New York, I took a break to help take care of my mom. And worked in a TV station for a while, worked in broadcasting.

RRX: Working in TV broadcasting, I can imagine if I was working in a TV station, if I had that knowledge of that area of life, and then I was also a musician having that knowledge and experience, I would be wanting to put music and television broadcasting together in all kinds of ways. Have you ever thought about video beyond just a video of you playing? Have you ever looked at trying to cross those two spheres of your life?

RF: I guess I have entertained that thought before. But I also know it’s a lot of work it’s enough work just being a performing artist. But yeah, I’ve thought a lot about that. They are very different. This is just something I never really felt I could sink my teeth into putting them together, but you know there’s still time maybe.

RRX: So you’ve been a deep songwriter. You’re very ensconced in the community of songwriters. This is a community that nobody knows about. Everybody knows about the people who are front of the stage singing, like a lot of pop stars, they’re singing songs that someone else wrote, and nobody knows who that is. So it’s kind of like this world that nobody knows really anything about. Are there a couple of people that you think are the Jimi Hendrixes of songwriters that you’ve come across, the ones that people should know about?

RF: I do come across people who folks should know about. One of them is Kyshona Armstrong. She lives in Nashville. She’s a beautiful songwriter and she tours all over. She tours in Europe quite frequently. I think she’s from North Carolina or something like that. She’s one. There are tons of people I run into, especially some of the openers, people that actually open for me once in a while. I run into people that I feel should be heard, I just can’t think of any names off the top of my head but Kyshona can survive.

RRX: You won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album, and you were nominated five times before that happened. This is also the first Grammy for Sun Records, right?

RF: It is, yeah, 1st, 1st Grammy.

RRX: So you’re winning this personal accomplishment, but it’s also an accomplishment in music history. Did you, and did Sun Records have any kind of like a party or any kind of celebration? Did you celebrate this together in any way?

RF: Not really. I run into these guys once in a while when I’m in Nashville. There’s another award they won shortly after that. We haven’t really; we celebrated a little bit together when I was in Nashville for the Americana Festival.

RRX: What did it feel like? Because you were nominated five times. Five times you’re thinking, oh my God, I’m going to get it, and then you didn’t, but now you got it. What did that feel like when you’re like, ‘wait a minute, OMG’?

RF: It was definitely uh unexpected, especially with um so many incredible names in that category and people who I call my friends like Shameka [Copeland]. She and I are very good friends and she was nominated in that category. Joe Bonamassa, we actually travel on his cruise. We have a cruise with him coming up in March of next year. And Steve Cropper. I’ve opened for Steve on several occasions. So just to have my name in, I’ll say, pretty good company. It was enough for me.

RRX: Has everybody been very supportive, even the people that are competing against each other, seeing as how you guys all play together? Like you’re all together anyways.

RF: Yeah, we see each other at least once a year somewhere.

RRX: Do you guys ever joke about winning Grammys, maybe just friendly, joking kind of competition?

RF: Sometimes, especially with Shameka. She and I go, ‘well, OK, if I don’t get it, you better get it.’

RRX: I listened to you sing Rosetta Tharpe at the 2022 Crescent City Blues and Barbecue. I saw that video. It was just amazing. I was blown away. So a lot of blues is like bringing up the music and the lyrics of people from long past. And we put that into our music, into our words. When you’re going to sing Rosetta Tharpe, Do you have to prepare to sing Rosetta Tharpe, or is it just natural to you at this point?

RF: Oh, that’s, that’s just natural. I do my best to put my own voice to the song, but I love singing her songs. I grew up singing her songs, so. Yeah,

RRX: What is in your, what’s in your current and what’s in your future, like your near future?

RF: In the future, rest. This has been a big year for obvious reasons. But we’re about to wrap up a lot of touring in a few weeks, and I’ll have a couple of Texas shows coming up next month. But after that, I’m gonna take some time down off the road and I’m actually going back up to Nashville to write another, write for another album, another project.

RRX: Any sneak, um, news about that project, or are you gonna keep it under your hat?

RF: I’m keeping that in my hat for now.

RRX: You’re coming to Cafe Lena here in um pretty soon actually, in, in uh Saratoga, in New York.

RF: Yes, I am.

RRX: Have you, have you been here before?

RF: I have. I’ve been there before and I remember having a great time. It’s a small room. And I think that’s what I really like about it. It’s very intimate and folks is there to listen, but really. And I remember everyone being really quiet, but it turns out that just listening to the music, I, I appreciate that.

RRX: Very passionate music listeners over at Lena. Is there anything you’d love to tell people here before you come up?

RF: I usually try to remind people is just try to come out and prepare yourself for a hallelujah time.

 

 

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