Blues guitarist and singer Sue Foley has some high-octane guests on her new record. Billy Gibbons, Jimmie Vaughan and Charlie Sexton all chip in on tracks.
Foley grew up listening to Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones, but she got touched by the blues, seeing James Cotton in a club setting, feeling the music’s electric charge. She grew up in Canada and eventually moved to Austin and then back to Canada.
Foley understands the intimacy and depth of the blues, the deceptive simplicity of the form, the power of acknowledging the dark side of life without giving in entirely to it. And she knows the punch that a single note can pack. She also embraces the challenge of channeling her own life and experience into her songs.
She says that it probably took a Canadian woman to write the title track on her new record, “The Ice Queen.” Foley gets a rich range of tones from her guitar, using thumb, fingertips, picks and full-handed percussive flourishes. She can go from delicate to aggressive within one extended solo.
Sue Foley performs at Bridge Street Live, 1 Bridge St., Collinsville, on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. $20 and $30. 41bridgestreet.com.