UPDATE: Ruthie Foster won her first Grammy Award on Sunday, February 2025, capturing Best Contempary Blues Album category for Mileage.
Austin-based blues singer Ruthie Foster has slugged it out in the music business for the last 30 years. Now after ten studio albums (13 overall) and six Grammy nominations, she is moving into the A List of blues performers, traveling the world for major festivals and high-profile events. One of those events is the upcoming Blues Jam at Jazz at Lincoln Center on February 21 and 22. Guitar phenom Christone “Kingfish” Ingram heads a bill that includes Ledisi, Sherman Irby, Chester “CT” Thompson, Deshawn Alexander, Adam Deitch, Roosevelt Collier, Chris Bergson, and Pete Fallico.
Foster is no stranger to the big stage, having served as a backup singer for The Allman Brothers Band, Derek Trucks, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Warren Haynes. She was assisted by a couple of other notable friends on her current album Mileage, which was nominated for the 2025 Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy. Music power couple Rebecca Lovell (Larkin Poe) and Tyler Bryant (The Shakedown) provided songwriting, production, and playing on the strong effort. These songs of redemption and self-care are an appropriate tableau for Foster’s emotional and powerful vocals. The organ, horns, guitars, and backing vocals lend a southern soul/gospel feel to the record. The second single “Heartshine” has a timeless and epic quality, similar to Haynes’ “Soulshine” and should prove to be a setlist staple on Foster’s 2025 international tour. “That’s All Right” and “Done” provide a more intimate back-porch vibe. “See You When I See You” is a bittersweet coda.
In this career-spanning interview, Foster talks about growing up in a very small town (Gause, Texas), going to music school, singing in Navy bands, performing folk songs in Greenwich Village, eschewing a pop career at a major label, making independent records that moved her, touring the world with major acts, and now making the move to legendary Sun Records for the well-reviewed Mileage. One hopes for many miles to go.
Ruthie Foster “Mileage”:
Ruthie Foster “Heartshine”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jc3xUY9j_0
Ruthie Foster “Woke Up This Morning”:
Warren Haynes and Ruthie Foster “Grinnin’ in Your Face”:
