SUE FOLEY

PINKY'S BLUES

2021-10-31

On her first disc since 2018’s Ice Queen, Sue Foley lays down twelve tracks of hot-wired guitar blues. Joined by Jon Penner on bass and Chris Layton on drums this is a stripped-down affair that puts Foley’s guitar front and center on most tracks. The mix is raw and unadorned and has the feel of a live recording. Indeed, that is how it was recorded with mostly improvised performance laid down over the course of three days in the studio. You can almost see the stings being bent and Foley sweating over a complicated lead line. While Foley has always had impressive guitar chops her early efforts found her struggling to find the right vocal niche. Was she a blues belter? A semi-spoken word singer a la Bob Dylan? Something else? As on her last few discs those questions no longer come to mind- she’s found a comfortable spot with a voice in the mid-range and the ability to cover the likes of Angela Strehli, "Two bit Texas Town" and "Say It’s Not So", and Lavelle White, "Stop These Teardrops", without the same level of deep soul but with decent effect nevertheless. That said, most blues fans find their way to Foley through her prowess on guitar and she shines brightest when she lets the guitar do the talking as on the title track or Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown’s "Okie Doke Stomp". For those looking for a blues disc without studio sugar and efforts to cross over to the blues rock crowd, Pinky’s Blues fills the prescription. SMITTY

review by Mark