L The Battalion
IFESTYLES
Wednesday • December
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Brazos Valley’s Own Queen of Blue*
Ruthie Foster celebrates the release of her album Full Circle
with a trip back to her roots in the B-CS community
By Rhonda Reinhart
Staff writer
T he blues queen of the Brazos Valley, Ruthie Foster, has added
a new album to her royal kingdom.The release party for Fos
ter’s debut album, Full Circle, was held at 3rd Floor Cantina Sat
urday night, and Foster said the turnout for the show was great.
“There were people everywhere,” she said. “It was the coolest
thing to see that back parking lot full. People really came out for
this thing.”
Foster, who grew up in Cause, a small town 180 miles southeast
of Dallas, said her hometown was a big inspiration for the album.
“This CD gave me the chance to play with a lot of great artists in
this area,” she said. “I wanted to keep this project local. To me, it be
longs to the Brazos Valley. That’s where I grew up.”
Even the cover of the album has a down-home feel. It features Fos
ter and her guitar in front of the house that belonged to her mother,
to whom Foster gives a special dedication on Full Circle.
The first track on the album, “Smalltown Blues,” is about Cause,
and Foster said that is probably why the song has a country, two-
step twang.
“I grew up listening to a lot of country,” she said. “I spent a lot of
Ruthie Foster
time in the country. I grew up in that cusp between country living
and city living.”
Foster said she can still remember when her grandmother first
got running water and a toilet and when families still killed hogs for
the winter.
Full Circle was recorded in Wheelock, Texas, on Foster’s own
M.O.D (My Own Damn) Records. Releasing the album on her own
label allowed her to have a little more control over its production,
unlike her stint with Atlantic Records.
“They (Atlantic Records) tried to push me as another Tracy Chap
man,” Foster said. “Then they tried to push me toward an Anita Bak
er thing. They didn’t know what to do with me.”
Foster’s eclectic sound incorporates elements of blues, rock,
gospel, country and folk, and she said she has always found it diffi
cult to categorize her music.
Her music career began when she was a young girl singing in
church. Later, she continued her music studies at McClennan Com
munity College in Waco, where she earned degrees in broadcasting
and commercial music. She took classes in music management and
music business and learned lessons about music theory that she still
uses today.
“Theory is a necessary evil in music,” she said. “In a lot of cases,
playing by ear isn’t going to help me. There comes a time when you
have to be able to read.”
In 1986, Foster joined the Navy, performing in the Navy band and
the Navy Commodores, the most elite band in the Navy.
After leaving the military, Foster’s musical goals brought her to
New York, where she signed with Atlantic Records and became a
part of the Greenwich Village music scene. She worked with song
writers who wrote for Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Bob
Dylan and worked on projects with Tracy Chapman, Bonnie Raitt
and Bette Midler.
Foster said she had a love-hate relationship with New York.
“It can be a rough place, and it can be beautiful all in the same
minute,” she said.
Foster returned to Texas in 1993 to care for her ailing mother, but
her music was not forgotten. She began playing at Java City in Bryan
and Kay’s Cabaret, a small club that was located in Post Oak Mall.
She now plays frequently at 3rd Floor Cantina, Fitzwilly’s and
Chelsea Street Pub, and Foster said her live shows are far from calm.
“On a good night, I’ll come down and dance with you right in the
middle of the song,” she said. “I’ve been doing this a long time, and
sometimes it feels like it. I plan on doing this until I just drop dead
onstage, which I hope never happens. My dream is to be appreciat
ed for the singer and songwriter I am.”
Foster has been with her current band for about a year, and she
said she is trying to work toward a tighter, more polished sound.
“I’ve been sort of rounded musically,” she said, “though my next
project I want to be more bluesy.”
Foster said her future goals include traveling through Europe with
just her and her guitar.
“That’s the ultimate,” she said. “Then I want to come back to
Texas. That’s definitely where I want to end up. Texas is home.”
Music Foster’s debutt
R t vi< T v soars with emoti
tel
Ruthie Foster
Full Circle
M.O.D. Records
★★★★ (out of five)
J ust like the roots of an oak tree pro
vide the basis for its strength,
Ruthie Foster’s deep roots in family
and home give strength to her powerful
debut album, Full Circle.
In the opening lines of the first
track, “Smalltown Blues,” Foster grabs
hold of her listeners and offers them a
glimpse of her soul.
The album takes its listeners on a
journey through heartache and home
sickness and makes them glad they
came along for the ride.
The most magnetic aspect of Full
Circle is Foster’s passionate, image-
evoking voice.
Gaus xas, native sings
ol dusty ..mail towns, dewberry pie and
the Brazos River running through her
veins on “Home," even those who have
never set foot on East Texas ground can
envision the slow-moving pace and
country sights of the Brazos Valley.
Through slow, silky ballads
“Rain From My Shoulders" and
rockin’ songs like “HealYourseS
ter reveals her amazing rangeo:
ability and variety of musicals?.
Though Foster’s voice is atrt
no musician’s sound is compleit
out the right mix of instrument
Foster’s band consists of fon.
lent musicians: Tony Walker one
David Feagan on percussion, Ml
Lopez on bass guitar and GregP:.
on lead guitar.
The group works well togethe:
provides an excellent backdrop!
ter’s vibrant vocals.
“Lost in the City,” a song Posit!
wrote one night when she waste
in New York City, features guesir
Ralph Moncivais with a beautiful
phone accompaniment.
Foster’s b I uesy- fo 1 ky- gospel s.
hard to pin down to one musi
but if record stores had a' Fromi.
Heart” section. Full Circle woul
nitely have a place on the shelf.
Foster’s music is full of deep-fet
emotion, and it is this feelingth®
makes songs like “Prayin’ For Hair,
likely candidates for theCDplaye
peat button.
Foster’s interest in musicw.
sparked at an early age, so itisnoi
prising her musical knowledgei'
As a young girl, her mother,Sir
Jones, advised her to, “Openyoui
mouth and sing, girl!” Fortunatef
ter obeyed, and she hasn’t stoppe:
singing yet.
Regardless of how successfulF:
becomes, 1 mpefully her sprawling
hometown roots will keep her tnif
her soulful, down-home sound.
!!u( il nn ouk tri e's rootscanfe
grounded no matter how high itgt
so can Ruthie Foster’s.
— By Rhonda Re:'
M I
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