Ruthie Foster CD Release

@ Antone's Fri 02/24

Event Details

“Everybody ought to have a stone love”

So says Ruthie Foster on the opening cut of The Truth According to Ruthie Foster. And when Ruthie lays it down, you’d be well advised to listen.

This extraordinary songwriter/performer tackles life’s big issues throughout her sizzling new album. On it, Ruthie repeatedly testifies to her core message - that through all of the ups and downs of living, you must stay true to yourself. The pain as well as the joy of love, the strength it takes to weather life’s challenges, the hope that grows from seeds of faith and wisdom: All of this breathes inspiration and celebration into The Truth According to Ruthie Foster.

And the music brings it to life. Truth be told, Foster could sing the phone book, jam on a laundry list and send everyone home happy. But the combination on The Truth According to Ruthie Foster of uplifting lyric and electrifying vocals, backed by a band of world-class players bristling with soul, proves impossible to resist.

Even fans who have followed her trajectory from her self-released debut through the aptly-titled The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster in 2007 will find something different in The Truth According to Ruthie Foster - namely, the summing-up of the various influences in this artist’s growth.

The music of The Truth According to Ruthie Foster is in fact the soundtrack of a young but remarkable life. From her beginnings in the Brazos Valley of Central Texas, she was launched by a strong mother and a large supportive family down a path whose pitfalls Ruthie learned to avoid and whose destination she charted on her own, with talent, faith and determination lighting her way.

On her previous albums and gigs that have taken her from choir lofts to folk bistros and onto stages in Europe and Australia, Foster has raised the multiple flags of American music. There’s Southern blues in her groove, rock in her rhythm, a blend of gospel redemption, country poetry and jazz elegance in her singing. But not until The Truth According to Ruthie Foster have all the pieces fit into a picture this powerful.

For all the facets of this album, the heat of soul music burns at its core. That’s what drew her to Memphis, where she set up shop in the legendary Ardent Studios with a stunning assemblage of musicians. Symbolically, Ruthie began working on the very day of Hayes’ funeral - the same studio with many of the same musicians that Isaac Hayes often used. Once there they began working to convey the energy of Ruthie’s performances, cutting almost everything live, going for feeling above all else…and making their own kind of history.

Performing Artists

Ruthie Foster