This is a good day for the online column “Piazza Navona”. We are lucky to have with us Ruthie Foster, the famous Blues lady, that Rolling Stone considered pure magic to listen to and hear.
I am so proud to give space here to Ruthie Foster talking about her and her Music. Before starting this exclusive interview with this extraordinary artist, I would like to introduce her to the online column “Piazza Navona“’s readers.
Ruthie Foster is from Central Texas and comes from a gospel family. She loves singing from her childhood and she sings in her hometown choir and in blues band. Ruthie joines the Navy and her talent is very appreciated. After this period in the Navy she becomes a “real” performer and begins her amazing career. She works on TV as a camera operator and production assistant, too but Music is her life.
So, after her mother’s death in 1997, she realize her first album Full Circle followed by her other works titled Crossover, Runaway Soul, Heal Yourself, The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster, The Truth According to Ruthie Foster (earning a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album), Let It Burn (earning a second Grammy Award nomination for Best Blues Album), Promise of a Brand New Day (earning her third Grammy Award nomination for Best Blues Album).
Her last album is Joy Comes Back with the record label Blue Corn Music.
Now let’s start this interview!
Enjoy the reading… and long life Music!
- When did you discover Music? What does Blues mean for you?
A lot of it is gospel, because I grew up in central Texas, and I grew up in a gospel family, and that’s something that never goes away. The blues and soul comes from my dad, because he listened to the blues all the time – artists like Lightnin’ Hopkins – and he also listened to soul. He loved Ike and Tina Turner, and went to see them play when they were on the Chitlin Circuit.
Eventually, I found a way to blend it all together to create my own style, and some of that came through learning how to play guitar with James Taylor and Beatles song books. I worked on a helicopter as as a mechanic in the armed forces, where I worked with guys who would listen to rock ‘n’ roll all night long who schooled me on rock, and I schooled them on the blues.
- Rolling Stone described you as “pure magic to listen to and hear”. What is your relation to your vocal and natural instrument?
My desire is to share my personal experiences through music, in hopes that someone may relate and be touched in a way that is refreshing to their soul. My voice is the means through which I relate to those around me, and my performances feel much more about love and healing than about setlists, the next city, and hotel rooms.
- Could you tell me about your last album Joy Comes Back? What did you want to tell through it?
This album is about transition and my own journey in that. I did write a lot of songs, but the reason there are a lot of covers is that I found songs that really said what I wanted to say. And with this record being a couple years in the making from beginning to end, that’s a long time to be in a lot of different places, and that’s what you’re seeing in the compilation of this album. I wanted to sit and bleed all over the microphone and the tape, and I did that in my own personal way.
Musically, I wanted to be able to say what I need to say and stay in my lane when it came to the music and really put my best foot forward with songs that were already there that really needed my mark on them. And that’s what I did with these tunes. Also – when I sit down on the floor with my six-year-old daughter, Maya, I find joy. She teaches me about joy. I get joy from singing. My family. My home in Texas. And there’s something to be said for having tried and true friends.
- I live in Italy, in Rome. Do you like my Country? And when we will have the chance to listen to your wonderful and powerful voice?
I love Italy! I had a great tour through Italy in July of 2016 and look forward to making my way back there soon.
- What is the song of your life, of your heart?
Phenomenal Woman because it’s an empowering song for women in particular and I believe a healing message for those of us who may feel less than in these times.
I want to say “thanks” to Ruthie Foster and I hope she will come back very soon to our… online column “Piazza Navona”.
