Event Info
An Evening with blues/gospel/folk powerhouse.....: Ruthie Foster & Cyd Cassone
An Evening with blues/gospel/folk powerhouse.....
Ruthie Foster
Sat. Feb. 24, ...
7:30pm - 10:00pm Doors at: 7:00pm
$23 Advance / $26 Door
Event Description
An Evening with blues/gospel/folk powerhouse.....
Ruthie Foster
Sat. Feb. 24, 2007
Alix Goolden Hall, Victoria
Doors 7pm - Showtime 7:30pm
Tickets: $23 Advance / $26 Door
Available at: Lyle's Place (cash only) 770 Yates St. 250-382-8422 & ONLINE at www.
hightideconcerts.net
Ruthie's Website: www.ruthiefoster.com
Ruthie Foster’s songs are a remarkable hybrid of blues, gospel, roots and folk music
rich with honest spirituality and emotion. Her simply amazing vocal abilities have
critics comparing her to Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin. Ruthie’s passionate
songs and scintillating live performances attract both the young and old for an
uplifting experience of dancing, listening, laughing and even some crying; especially
when Ruthie rounds out the joyous occasion with her versions of show-stopping
gospel standards.
Ruthie’s new international release “Stages” on Blue Corn Music is a collection of 14
songs recorded live in Austin, TX with Will Taylor and String’s Attached chamber
ensemble at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Anderson Fair in Houston, TX and Club
Passim in Boston, MA. The live performances include old favorites like “Crossover,”
“Another Rain Song,” and “Real Love” as well as roof raising gospel standards
“Death Came a Knockin’ (Travelin’ Shoes)” and “Walk On.” The CD finishes with the
title cut to her breakthrough CD “Runaway Soul.”
Ruthie’s performance highlights include PBS syndicated Austin City Limits, which
has aired in 2003 and 2004; a 2004 tour of UK theaters with Eric Bibb; The
Strawberry Music Festival in California, the Vancouver Folk Festival, the Willie
Nelson Picnic, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, Folks Fest in Lyons, Colorado, Bass
Concert Hall, the Waterfront Blues Festival in Oregon, the Tonder Festival in
Denmark, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, the Austin City Limits Festival, and many
others too numerous to mention.
Neither Ruthie nor the Blue Corn Music label and their distributor were prepared for
the initial and sustaining demand for “Runaway Soul” since its release. CDs were
flying off the shelves and in particular the stage. While on tour they sell an average of
100 CDs a night. “We spent a lot of time chasing down the Fed Ex truck while on tour
trying to get our merch. It’s a good problem to have,” laughs the good natured and
lovely Ruthie. While touring the Canadian Folk Festival circuit in the summer of 2002,
Ruthie sold 1000 CDs in a day breaking a long-time record held by Ani DiFranco
Raised in Gause, Texas, a small town 180 miles southeast of Dallas, Ruthie grew up
surrounded by the rich, soulful sounds of gospel and blues. Her outstanding voice
and superb original music have many influences including Sam Cooke, Mahalia
Jackson, Sister Rosetta Thorpe, Sarah Vaughn, Etta James, and Lightnin’ Hopkins,
although perhaps no one has influenced Ruthie like her mother, Shirley Jones, who
urged her to “Open your mouth and sing, girl!”
Foster’s musical journey has taken her from McClennan Community College in
Waco, Texas and a degree in commercial music to a four-year tour with the U. S.
Navy Band “Pride”, to New York City and a contract with Atlantic Records. During
her stay in New York, Ruthie appeared at many of the top venues in town opening
and performing with artists such as Josh White, Jr., Matt “Guitar” Murphy, the
Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Paul Schaffer.
In November of 1993, Ruthie received word from home that her mother, who had
been quite ill, needed her. She left New York, Atlantic and her career in music behind
and came home to College Station, Texas. She took a job working as a
cameraperson and production assistant at the local TV station and spent her off
hours caring for her mother.
During this time, Ruthie began singing and playing for some of the elderly people
that she had met with her mother, and thus began a heartfelt dedication to giving
back to the community that continues to this day.
Quotes:
"Like the old spoonful-of-sugar-helps-the-medicine-go-down trick, Ruthie Foster's
voice is so full of hallelujah, you sometimes have to listen to her songs two or three
times before you realize she's singing the blues. 'I believe my soul's found a happy
home,' she declares on the title track to her third album, quickly following it with the
kicker, 'and left me waiting here to suffer on my own.' That's Runaway Soul in a
nutshell: not so much a happy union of gospel and blues as a riveting toug-of-war
between the two, with Foster's powerhouse voice caught in the middle as the prize.
Self-penned tunes prove that Foster, a Gause native who's been working the folk
circuit for more than a decade, can hold her own as a songwriter, but it's as a singer
that she truly dazzles..."
-Richard Skanse, Texas Music Magazine
"If music that sounds as if it were naturally fermented from the bayous, cricks and
back porches of rural America is what you seek, then look no further than Ruthie
Foster's Runaway Soul. Save a spot for this disc by the Bryan-College Station
resident on the year-end list of stellar local recordings. As the opening line of the title
track suggests, Foster's soul has found a happy home, and the listener is invited to
come on over and try out Grampa's wooden rocker. Foster is equally comfortable
singing gutsy gospel, folk or don't mess-with-Mama R&B."
-Greg Barr, Houston Press
"Whether singing blues or gospel, Ruthie Foster is a singer with a powerful, soul-
stirring delivery that is easy to give yourself over to."
-Mike Regenstreif, Montreal Gazzette
In-Person Event
Sat. February 24th 2007 + Add to Calendar
Alix Goolden Performance Hall
