Sue Foley: One Guitar Woman Review

Sue Foley’s new album One Guitar Woman is released on Stony Plain Records March 29th as a solo performance like the title suggests. Foley ditches her pink paisley Fender Telecaster for a nylon-string acoustic guitar that was made by a master flamenco guitar luthier by the name of Salvadore Castillo. Over the decades there have been female solo artists like Joan Baez, Carol King, and Joni Mitchell that could captivate an audience as a solo performer because of their superior musical ability and unique delivery. The “Ice Queen” does just that with her powerful interpretation of some of the seminal blues songs performed by female artists during the first half of the twentieth century. Her 17th studio album includes a total of twelve cuts featuring eleven covers of some early female blues artists that include Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter, and Memphis Minnie plus one original composition.

The first cut on One Guitar Woman is “Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie” by Elizabeth Cotten and was pre-released as a preview for the upcoming album in February. It’s a perfect interpretation of the original version by Cotten first released in 1958 both musically and lyrically. The song is about the age old battle between the truth and gossip disseminated by old busy bodies.

“One old women Lord in this town

Keeps a-telling her lies on me

“In My Girlish Days” comes from a traditional song that was adapted by Ernest Lawler for his wife Memphis Minnie. Minnie was born as Lizzie Douglas in 1897 in Mississippi and became a street performer by the age of 13. The song was originally released as a 78 rpm single in 1935 and later appeared on compilation albums. Foley’s version on this cut is an accurate interpretation of the original recording without personal embellishments. “Lonesome Homesick Blues” follows, which is a Maybelle Carter composition, who is the most influential female Country music artist of the twentieth century. The original is a three part harmony while Foley’s version is singular but true to the original including Maybelle Carter’s “Scratch” technique on guitar.

“I’ve got the lonesome homesick blues

I’ve got them bad babe down in my shoes”

“Mal Hombre” (Evil Man) was originally adopted, arranged and recorded by 12 old old “Tejano” (Texan) singing legend Lydia Mendoza in 1928 and it became her signature song. Foley performs it at a slower tempo than Mendoza’s version and alternates verses between English and Spanish. Song number five is “Motherless Child Blues,” a traditional blues song adapted by Elvie Thomas, an African-American blues musician from Texas. Thomas’ version was recorded in the 1930s, and her recorded performance is a depressing heartfelt ode. Sue brightens her version up with an upbeat guitar tempo and minus the recording defects of the early one her voice is less tortured sounding in spite of the lyrics.

“My mother told me just before she died

Oh, Daughter, Daughter, please don’t be like me”

“Romance In A Minor” is an instrumental classical composition by Niccolo Paganini that was originally written for the violin. Since the mid 19^th century when Paganini first performed it on violin, it has been transcribed and adapted for guitar. Classical guitarists like Andres Segovia and Sharon Isbin have performed and recorded it. Sue Foley’s interpretation is delicately beautiful as she plays soaring melodies passionately with intricate virtuosity. “My Journey To the Sky” follows which is a gospel classic inspired by Thomas A. Dorsey that was penned and performed by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight as a duet with the Sam Price Trio backing them. Foley’s version is a more reverent interpretation of Tharpe’s boisterously jubilant one.

“There’s only one thing I long for

When I reach that heavenly land

To see my Jesus in his glory”

“Nothing In Rambling” was first written and recorded by Memphis Minnie in 1940. Foley’s interpretation is close to the original style without variation and gives her the opportunity to combine her stellar vocal talent with the dynamic tempo of her guitar accompaniment. “Maybelle’s Guitar” is an original composition written for the album about Maybelle Carter, who is considered to be the mother of Country music. Her unique guitar playing technique was called the “Carter Scratch” and was instrumental in the transition of it being elevated from a rhythm instrument to lead guitar. Foley’s version is reminiscent of Carter’s “Wildwood Flower” and it was the second single from One Guitar Woman.

“In the darkest time it was a burning light

Bright as the North star

Few things burn as bright as Maybelle’s guitar”

“Freight Train” is another Elizabeth Cotten composition where Foley uses the Piedmont finger-picking technique that Cotten popularized. Cotten was a domestic worker who didn’t record until late in her life after she was encouraged to do so by the Seeger family whom she was employed by at the time. Her debut album titled Folksongs and Instrumentals With Guitar was released in 1958 and included her signature song “Freight Train.” Geeshie Wiley wrote and performed “Last Kind Words Blues” in 1930 for “Paramount Records.” She was an important early blues musician from the Mississippi Delta region who had her own intricate guitar technique that accompanied her singing. The song is a touching tale about love, loss, despair, and mortality possibly inspired by World War I. Foley once again performs an impeccable rendition of the tune.

“Lord, the last kind word I heard my daddy say

If I die. If I die in the German war

I want you to send my body, send it to my mother, Lord”

The final cut on the album is “La Malaguena,” an instrumental by Cuban composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona, which was popularized by Charo in the 1970s. It’s a classic Spanish song composed in 1928 capturing the essence of Andalusian music from southern Spain. Over the decades it has been adapted to different instruments including the Flamenco guitar which Foley deftly performs the intricate melody with its distinctive rhythm.

One Guitar Woman is an impressive display of Sue Foley’s dexterous finger-picking ability which she demonstrates by precisely interpreting and duplicating nearly a dozen different styles on her guitar. The ten songs that Sue sings with her bright and vibrant vocals are powerfully sung with a soulful voice on ballads and down and dirty on gritty blues. The album is a tribute to female artists and even when men wrote the songs, it was women who recorded and popularized them.

The Review 9/10

– Oh Babe It Ain’t No Lie
– Mal Hombre
– Motherless Child Blues
– My Journey to the Sky
– Maybelle’s Guitar

The Big Hit

– My Journey to the Sky