On the Remembrance Day weekend, blueswoman Sue Foley put on an excellent concert at the newly-renovated Corktown Pub and Fare in Hamilton, but the attendance at it was minimal. It didn�t help that the PA system was a bit too loud for the somewhat genteel clientele (and that�s really a job for the sound technician to adjust), so only us die-hard blues lovers (mostly men) were still there halfway through the second dynamic set. I know that a lot of the former customers feel this venue�s �legendary� status has now been obliterated, but true legends are not created from stagnation, but rather from the ability to grow and change through history and into the future. Dress up a bit and act civilly (silly?) for a change � it�s not fatal and can really be a lot of fun.
Despite being repeatedly honoured by international and Canadian blues authorities (winning a Juno, as well), Sue Foley still appears to be an unknown entity in many music-loving households, so I�d like to tell you a bit about her.
She is a few inches over five feet tall, a slim, attractive strawberry-blonde Ottawa native, who seemed to me, at first encounter, a bit standoffish. I found out later she�s a divorced mother, so it could have been just fatigue (I can relate). She�s in her late 30s and has that curious kind of voice reminiscent of a few early female blues singers � a bit thin, tonally, but when she puts her heart into the lyrics, especially her own, it�s quite appealing.
Speaking of songwriting, I think she�s one of the best in the business. She�s not a ranting or raunchy feminist, but she�s very much in tune with the modern woman � independent, sometimes vulnerable, but able to rock the joint like the best of her male contemporaries. As a bonus, she�s an extraordinarily talented guitarist with a unique playing style.
I�m ashamed to admit I wasn�t familiar with most of Sue�s recordings (all ten albums of them!). She thoughtfully delivered onstage samplings of her old, newer and even untested material, as well as covers of material by Memphis Minnie, Nina Simone and Jimmy Reed. There weren�t too many I didn�t like and numerous ones I really loved.
Unfortunately, the audience wasn�t overly enthusiastic (despite the inclusion of naturally-gifted Hamilton pianist Jesse O�Brien sitting in with her for the evening, in addition to an above-average electric and acoustic bassist whose name I didn�t hear properly), despite Sue's best efforts to rile them up. I�d be willing to bet she�s much more fun in front of a larger, less sedate crowd � she�s got too much Irish in her not to be. As her drummer, Tom Bona (who's also with fellow Ottawa-area musicians Raoul Bhaneja and, more recently, Roxanne Potvin), said, �I can�t believe Sue�s not a superstar.� I wonder if Bonnie Raitt had this much difficulty establishing herself as such.
Check out this inspirational Canadian blueswoman at www.suefoley.com, where you�ll discover, among other things, that she�s also in the process of writing a book called �Guitar Woman�, chronicling the history of her favourite female guitarists from around the world.
