In a time when pop-music performers rely heavily on post-recording fix-ups and pre-recorded tracks onstage, it’s refreshing – even admirable – when someone takes the “honest road.” Singer/guitarist Sue Foley is one of the few.
While the Austin-by-way-of-Ottawa guitarist is known primarily as a blues artist, she’s also a skilled classical/flamenco player, as heard throughout the just-released One Guitar Woman, a compilation of tunes written and originally performed by pioneering females. It closely followed 2022’s Live in Austin Vol. 1.
Having issued albums since the early ’90s, Foley is also about to add “author” to her credentials, eyeing the release of her first book, Guitar Woman, in which she interviewed Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson, Charo, Joan Armatrading, and many others.
Foley spoke to Vintage Guitar about all three projects, her preferred gear, favorite tunes, and the state of blues music.
What was the inspiration behind One Guitar Woman?
Alot of things. It’s a culmination of years of study. I’m working on a book, which has been the biggest project; it’s based on interviews with women guitar players. I’ve always wanted to do a project based around learning the styles of some of my heroines, reaching back to the women who started the whole thing, and their stories. I became fascinated with female pioneers of guitar. I started nearly 20 years ago – got into reading about the Carter Family and Maybelle’s contributions.
I’ve always been a big Memphis Minnie fan; she’s my favorite artist and an icon for my own career as a blues musician. Her story has always fascinated me.
Over the years, I tracked all these women, studying their work and learning their styles, and it’s been so cool. All of their guitar styles are so singular, just like their stories. They’re really interesting people who did interesting things.
Given the expansive history you were exploring, how did you select songs?
I’ve been thinking about the theme, and some of the song choices were more based on their personal narrative. When you perform other people’s work – and being a traditional blues artist, I’ve been doing other people’s work my whole career – you study it. You need something inside their story that resonates with your own. I could have taken a lot of different approaches.
For instance, with Sister Rosetta Tharpe, I picked “My Journey to the Sky,” which barely has guitar in it – it’s piano-driven with Marie Knight when they were a duo. I’ve studied Sister Rosetta’s guitar style, with open tunings and the way she approached that, and she’s a very forceful, single-note lead player. But I picked that song because I love it. So, it was really songs that have fascinated me and resonate with me, personally.
Which guitars did you use for One Guitar Woman?
The other cool thing about this project is that it was all done on one guitar, which I got in Paracho, Mexico. Paracho was founded by Spanish luthiers, and whoever was in charge at the time decided it would be a guitar town – towns in that area of Mexico each have a specialty. One is silversmiths, one is leather works… this and that. Paracho was guitar, and it’s thriving.
I went because I wanted a guitar made in Paracho. The luthiers there are world class so it’s the same kind of flamenco or classical guitar you’d get in the south of Spain, and you can get in Paracho for a very good price. And you can meet the builders. On my Youtube channel is a video of me receiving this guitar.
I wanted a flamenco because you can beat them up a little bit more than classicals – classicals are very resonant and pristine, but a flamenco is a little more utilitarian. I needed something with a little more grit, and I decided on a beautiful Flamenca Negra from Salvador Castillo.
You recorded at Blue Rock Studios, in Austin’s Hill Country.
We wanted to be in a pristine room, and Blue Rock is a beautiful studio. It was produced by Mike Flanigin and recorded live in Atmos surround sound, so it’s top of the line. It was mixed at Abbey Road.
Which songs present your most-inspired playing?
I was really stoked to get “Romance in A Minor” under my belt. It’s by Niccolò Paganini and it’s from the 1700s. It’s not the most technically challenging classical piece, but I’m used to playing within a framework where I can improvise. So it took a certain amount of discipline, working on a scripted piece. It was a really interesting process because you have to find a way within it to express yourself. I found it to be very bluesy. It’s an old piece of music, but you can find the framework that resonates to popular music today and how we construct “pop” songs.
Another is “La Malagueña,” which always fascinates me and is always fun to play. Mine isn’t particularly impressive, but in the context of, “Hey, she’s playing Piedmont… she’s playing blues… she’s playing country.” Maybelle Carter’s “Carter scratch” was one of the most-challenging things I learned. I do some Carter scratch in my song, “Maybelle’s Guitar,” and I reference the “Wildwood Flower” melody within that song, which is one of the most-famous from the Carter Family.
Another is “Lonesome Homesick Blues,” which is also a Maybelle song. Maybelle was cool because she had that Carter scratch – her own style. But, Maybelle was a very curious musician who played a lot of styles – slide, open tunings, a little Mexican. It took me a while to figure out that “Lonesome Homesick Blues” was in open tuning, and I think she played it with a flat pick, which I didn’t know she sometimes did. In every video I’ve seen, she’s got metal fingerpicks and a thumb pick. A video by her daughter, Helen, talks about Maybelle’s guitar styles, and watching it, I had an “A-ha!” moment where I was like, “Okay, now I’ve got this song.”
Your live album from last year, Live in Austin Vol. 1. was recorded over two nights at the Continental Club.
The place was packed – a lot of energy. Austin’s a super-fun town and it’s the band I’ve been touring with for the last couple of years, so we’re pretty tight. It was really lively and fun.
It was recorded totally live?
Completely. My last two albums [The Ice Queen and Pinky’s Blues] were recorded almost the same way – live in the studio. There are no fixes. We couldn’t fix anything even if we wanted to (laughs).
Do you have a preference for playing live or recording?
It’s pretty much the same. I like playing with musicians in real time. I’m not huge on tracking. With blues especially, or jazz, we’re responding to each other in real time and getting ideas as they come about. Everybody’s feeding into it. So, I think it’s really important to keep that spontaneity, that energy.
From a guitar standpoint, do you have any favorite songs from the album?
I really like the opening track, “New Used Car,” because it’s really fresh and I love the riffs. For a rock-blues song, it’s fun, conceptually. At that point of the night, we were giving it. It was that moment where you’re like, “I’m just going for something, and if I get there, great. If I miss it, great.” But we actually got there (laughs) – hit all the spots.
I really love “Howlin’ for My Darlin’” because there’s some great interplay between me and Derek O’Brien – he was our special guest. Derek is an Austin institution: Antone’s, Austin, blues. He’s so understated, and it’s a classic Austin/Texas vibe. Texas guitar players… it’s not like they’re over the top; I mean, obviously, Stevie Ray was way over the top and did everything. But when you look at Stevie Ray compared to Jimmie Vaughan, Jimmie is all pulled back and restrained – really intentional about how he puts his notes. Derek comes from that school.
Judging from the album’s title, there will be other live recordings?
Definitely. We played more than three hours each night, to a packed house. So yeah, we have a lot of stuff. But I wanted to put out more of my catalog and not just repeat my last two albums, Pinky’s Blues and The Ice Queen.
What was your guitar setup?
My pink paisley Telecaster. I’ve got three of them now, all made in Japan.
Which amp do we hear?
My ’59 Bassman reissue 4×10, which is my favorite amp. On the road, I sometimes use a ’65 Twin reissue, and the only effects I use are a [Strymon] Reverb Tremolo and an Xotic RC Booster. I like to drive the amp pretty hard. I play loud, but mainly sort of clean, with the dirtiness that comes from the amp.
How did you start playing a Tele?
I got into the Tele after seeing Albert Collins – master of the Telecaster. There are certain players that changed the way I think about guitar and soloing, and Albert Collins was one of them because he would just play one note. You’d see all these guys come out and play 100 notes. Albert would play one and blow them away. I was like, “I want to learn how to do that – because that’s got power.”
Muddy Waters also played a Tele, Keith Richards. Everybody was buying Strats because of the Vaughan brothers, and I didn’t want to sound like everybody else, so I picked a Tele. It’s a pure guitar – so simple.
Is blues music alive and well today?
Yeah. Blues is having an interesting transformative rebirth. I think Kingfish [Christone Ingram, VG, January ’24] is fantastic – I love that he’s getting all the attention. There’s a lot of people infusing things into blues, but there are some wonderful young artists who are reaching into the tradition and re-expressing it. It’s great. I love Jontavious Willis, who is a traditional acoustic player. He can play his butt off and is into pre-war blues.
Do you have a preference for playing acoustic or electric?
I don’t. I love my Telecaster, but I feel really at home on both. I will say I love nylon-string – Spanish guitars. At home, I’m only playing my flamenco. I don’t practice on electric, but I love turning up an electric guitar.
How do you quantify the difference in playing each type?
Well, they’re completely different. The intricate right-hand techniques you use on a classical or a flamenco can be applied to the electric. They’re very simpatico that way. And if you can learn to play with an open hand rather than a flat pick, there’s so much you can do. I used to watch a lot of electric players like Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Albert Collins, and they never used a pick. I was always fascinated with the right hand. The personality of a player really comes out in the right hand – you can play with tones, you can play with colors, you can use technique. It really makes a difference.
So, I love both. And I love how I can apply things from classical and flamenco techniques on electric. It’s like, “Chef’s kiss, baby!” I love it!
This article originally appeared in VG’s March 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
