When you hear Ruthie Foster open her mouth, it’s hard to believe the little girl who started out playing guitar in church in Texas was more than content “…to be the person who backed up incredible singers because I was really, really shy.”
But 10 studio albums in, Foster has developed a rich voice that lives at the crossroads of gospel, blues, soul and country and will be on full display at Landmark on Main Street on Oct. 24.
The native Texan’s talents have earned her six Grammy nominations, with the most recent being a win for Best Contemporary Blues Album by way of 2024’s “Mileage.” For the Lone Star native who grew up taping sermons and regularly attending services in the small town of Gause, she’s just as surprised to see where she wound up.
“I thought I wanted to be part of a group that could really move people,” she recalled. “I wanted to be a support, because I didn’t want to be up front. Little did I know that I had a knack for being up front because I had studied so many incredible players and singers in the church. Great guitar players—rhythm guitar players and incredible soloists, including my mother putting on Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers, young Aretha [Franklin] and Dorothy Norwood, who was a great gospel songwriter. All of these songwriters wrote gospel. I was introduced to all of that first.”
While sacred sounds lit the fuse, Foster was quick to embrace secular music once she focused her efforts on studying music and audio engineering at Waco’s McLennan Community College. It was here that she transitioned from playing in Black and White Churches to widening her musical palette while getting a real-time education in the blues.
“I went to school for music, so I was surrounded by blues, which didn’t move me as much,” she admitted. “Later on, when you have something to say, you realize that the blues says it all. The first time I really experienced the blues was when Stevie [Ray] and Jimmie Vaughan were playing Waco. We got a chance to open for The Fabulous Thunderbirds when Jimmie was with them, so I got a chance to watch the band and make eyes at Jimmy down front. They would come through Waco at a time when my mostly Hispanic band was doing a lot of quinceañeras.”
With the Lone Star State contributing six-string playing native talents ranging from Freddie King and Albert Collins to the Vaughan and Winter brothers, it would only be natural for Foster to tap into that rich vein of blues inspiration. She was only too happy to share the fellow Texans who helped fuel her own heights of innovation and expressiveness.
Lightnin’ Hopkins (March 15, 1912 – Jan. 30, 1982)
“Lightnin’ Hopkins is definitely influential because I did get to know his music early on. As a guitar player, he was someone I could relate to, particularly in terms of how to pick and how to learn a particular style. His style was really where I wanted to go as a blues player and a blues picker more than anything.”
Mance Lipscomb (April 9, 1895 – Jan. 30, 1976)
“Mance Lipscomb would play slide once in a while and he played it really well. It was more about the musicianship and the fact that he was a really beautiful person. I knew people who knew him and I ended up playing the blues festival, which I don’t think they still do. It was held in Navasota, TX, where he was from. I was president of that festival for a few years to raise money for scholarships for kids to go to school or college.”
T-Bone Walker (May 28, 1919 – March 16, 1975)
“When I actually picked up the electric guitar, I leaned more towards the way he played. It left so much space. He wasn’t about a lot of notes. It was about the notes in between the notes. I don’t know if there’s another way to say that. He would make a statement and then pause. I love that. If and when I do play lead, I’ve been told that my style is closer to his. It’s more of a voice. He’s singing, and then he takes a break. He breathes.”
Ruthie Foster will be appearing on Oct. 24 at Landmark on Main Street, 223 Main St., Port Washington. For more information, visit www.landmarkonmainstreet.org or call 516-767-6444.
