AUSTIN, Texas -- Singer, songwriter and guitarist Sue Foley, whose albums for the Antone's and Shanachie labels have met with the highest acclaim, reflects on her Texas roots with the imminent release of her album of unreleased material from her Austin years, 1990-96. The album, Back To The Blues is due in stores on November 7 on Antone's Records (a unit of Texas Music Group, distributed through Ryko Distribution.)

Signed to Antone's Records in 1990 at the ripe young age of 21, Foley recorded four critically hailed albums for the label, and presaged the emergence of such other young female blues guitarists as Susan Tedeschi, Shannon Curfman and Debbie Davies.

Now, with Back To The Blues, listeners can enjoy Foley in her prime element -- wailing on her guitar and belting out the blues. The CD draws 12 stunning, unreleased gems from the wealth of material Foley recorded during her years in Austin working with Antone's Records. Putting the accent firmly on Foley's deep blues roots, the set showcases the Sue Foley fans have come to admire: a masterful blueswoman whose command of the idiom includes sharp interpretations of material by musical legends like John Lee Hooker and Lazy Lester; red-hot guitar work-outs on two catchy instrumental tracks; and Foley's own authentic additions to the blues canon. She also captures a beautiful rendition of Bob Dylan's "Positively 4th Street," a potential radio single, and an alternate version of Foley's "Young Girl Blues."

"(Antone's) was the University of the Blues for me," Foley says now, living back in her native Canada, of the eight years she spent in Austin. "They were my university scholarship years." When she wasn't on the road, which a good share of the time, Foley was "at Antone's nightclub every night, sitting in with everyone in town, and all the people who would come down for the anniversaries." As she revisited her past on the tracks selected for Back To The Blues, Foley views her younger self with affection.

"I was trying out a whole bunch of stuff," she recalls. "I really like the energy I had back then. The thing that struck me on hearing these tracks again was that raw energy, which I was really happy to hear. I feel more refined now, which just naturally happens with time. But it was more raw, and you can also hear the Texas and Louisiana influences that were coming into my style right then, like Lazy Lester and Lightnin' Slim. I can remember vividly when I first got to Austin, and was really delving heavily into that stuff."

Hailed by Musician magazine for her "authoritative vocals and killer guitar," Foley left Austin three years ago to return to her native Ottawa, Ontario, where she has recorded a pair of albums for Shanachie Records, including her acclaimed new release "Love Comin' Down." Antone's Back To The Blues provides a satisfying journey through her formative years in Austin.

For more info visit
Antone's Records
Sue Foley's Website
Baker Northrop

Information provided by Baker Northrop

Delta Boogie Press Archive