I trust you got through the eclipse over the weekend with no ill effects. I don’t know about you but it made for some spectacular pictures on the tube, ones that stop and make you think about the cosmos. Gotta wonder how the ancients processed all these occasional occurrences. Coming out the other end of one of these, when the sky gets dark, and then things return to normal, had to be cause for celebration and song. Just add music. There is something so cathartic about it, blues and gospel, especially. And there is no finer purveyor than Ruthie Foster, who has quietly, yet powerfully, captivated Austin and who is now impacting well beyond that. These last few years have been about coming into one’s own for Ruthie. Learning, exploring, growing, and keeping on. And what a fine place she is in. Her new album Let It Burn, was recorded in New Orleans and features some of its best and brightest lending a hand.
Ruthie’s trajectory has been an odyssey; from a start in an East Texas church choir, to a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy Band, to chasing the dream in New York City, and then a hiatus as she returned to Texas to care for her ailing mother. Ruthie resumed her music career in Austin, and she has been racking up the accolades since, at the Austin Music Awards, Best Folk Artist in 2004-05 and Best Female Vocalist in 2007-08; Ruthie was nominated for a GRAMMY®, Best Contemporary Blues Album for her last studio release - 2009’s The Truth According to Ruthie Foster; and then she won Blues Music Association awards for both Best Traditional and Best Contemporary Female Blues Artist in back-to-back years.
Here is Ruthie Foster with percussionist Samantha Banks and bassist Tanya Richardson performing a vocal rich version of "The Titanic," the original of which can be found on her new album Let It Burn. This was filmed during the Spring Music Fog Marathon at Threadgill’s in Austin this past March.
- Jessie Scott
