Ruthie Foster: Mileage Review

Two years after the release of her ninth studio album Healing Time, Ruthie Foster has returned with Mileage, a new 10-track collection that shows the singer known for blending folk, blues and gospel creating material with support from a new songwriting team. In collaboration with producer and co-writer Tyler Bryant of Tyler Bryant & the Shakedown and fellow co-writer Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe, Foster has made an album that feels simultaneously confident and vulnerable, an incredibly personal project with authenticity at its core.

Out now via Sun Records, Mileage begins with its title track, a mission statement of sorts on which Foster sings of the experience she’s accumulated over the course of her career and her pride in the journey. The full-bodied sound mixed with Foster’s declarative lyrics kick the album off on a celebratory note, one that continues on the self-assured “Rainbow.” Serving as the album’s first single, “Rainbow” embraces a soulful tone as Foster sings of the certainty that comes to those who are lucky in love and the importance of trusting that feeling.

Foster leans into her early gospel influences in the uplifting “Good for My Soul,” a track initially written with Bryant’s band in mind before it was discovered to be a better fit for Foster, and “Heartshine,” the album’s second single. The album’s pace ironically picks up on “Slow Down,” a speedy rocker with an irresistible rhythm and lyrics that anyone with a tendency of biting off more than they can chew will find relatable, before dipping back into the gospel well with “Six Mile Water,” a reflective song about mother-daughter relationships that lets Foster’s vocals shine as a powerful organ and horn section punctuate her lyrics.

The album’s seventh track is a delightful nod to Sun Records’ history as Foster gives new flavor to “That’s All Right,” the 1946 Arthur Crudup song that Elvis Presley made famous with his 1954 recording at Sam Phillips’ iconic studio in Memphis, Tenn. Foster follows that cover packed with decades of history with a new song of her own on “Done,” a track that she and Lovell recorded the vocals for in just one take. The haunting duet is one of the album’s most raw and powerful songs, a track that benefits further from having Lovell’s Larkin Poe bandmate and sister Megan fill in on lap steel guitar.

Mileage concludes with “Take It Easy” and “See You When I See You,” the first of which is a groovy partner of sorts to “Slow Down” while the short album closer puts the final spotlight on Foster’s vocals as she offers a fond farewell and a promise to “see you again.” Clocking in at about 35 minutes from start to end, Mileage feels like a pure expression of self as it seems to find Foster in a space of acceptance and appreciation for the experiences that have come with living life to the fullest. With its through-line of positivity, the album’s appeal only grows with repeated listenings and is also likely to be a pleasure to hear live.

The Review: 8/10

Can’t Miss Tracks

– Rainbow
– Slow Down
– That’s All Right
– Done

The Big Hit

– Rainbow