Let\u2019s face it.\u00a0 When it comes to routing for concert tours, Houston sometimes gets the short end of the stick. \u00a0Some acts skip Houston in favor of Dallas or Austin, failing to make that trip just a bit further south to visit fans in H-Town. \u00a0Part of the reason has to do with simple logistics \u2013 time, distance, money etc.\u00a0 But beyond that, there is a sneaking suspicion in some quarters that many musicians would rather play in Texas cities that are considered\u2026well\u2026 hipper. But not Sue Foley.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, Foley, who has maintained her position a queen on the Austin blues scene for years, possesses a soft spot for the Bayou City, where she will perform two shows on Thursday, February 26, at the Mucky Duck.\u00a0 \u201cIt may be my favorite live music town, believe it or not,\u201d Foley says via Zoom.\u00a0 \u201cWe go a lot of places, but man, we love Houston.\u00a0 Love Houston!\u201d<\/p>\n
Foley\u2019s upcoming local engagement will be a treat for longtime fans, who have watched (and listened) as Foley has blossomed from a young blues phenom known for her command of a pink paisley Telecaster to a performer and scholar who has continued to explore and investigate.\u00a0 For her gig at the Duck, Foley is bringing her full band, but she will also devote part of the evening to her flamenco playing, a relatively recent pursuit that was featured on her 2024 album One Guitar Woman.<\/p>\n
In Foley\u2019s case, it\u2019s not a matter of leaving the blues behind or even changing her focus on the guitar but adding a new dimension to her artistry.\u00a0 \u201cI enjoy both [electric and flamenco guitar] so much,\u201d Foley says.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re really different instruments, especially the nylon string, it\u2019s so unique.\u00a0 I love my nylon-string guitar.\u00a0 I love the whole vibe of it and the way it feels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, I\u2019ve been a dedicated electric guitar player for so long.\u00a0 I feel that I can express myself differently on both of them.\u00a0 I think that, with electric, you can be a little more visceral.\u00a0 You know, a little ballsier, a little more rock-y.\u00a0 And on acoustic, you can show not only the softer side of your playing, but some of the intricacies of right-hand technique and things that I\u2019ve learned working on my flamenco guitar. I just love both.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though flamenco has only been a part of Foley\u2019s stage show for a few years, the genre\u2019s influence has been part of her musical persona since she was a child.\u00a0 \u201cI think Charo was the first female guitar player I ever saw,\u201d Foley recalls.\u00a0 \u201cFor my whole life, I\u2019ve loved Spanish guitar\u2026and I\u2019ve always wanted to get my hands on one.\u00a0 And when I finally did, it just sort of took over.\u00a0 I think the sound of it is so beautiful, and they\u2019re softer-sounding than a steel string, but they are also very flexible so far as what you\u2019re able to do on them.\u00a0 Especially with a flamenco rather than a classical, because flamencos are a little more resilient, a little less pristine in a way.\u00a0 You can be more percussive with them\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI recorded all of One Guitar Woman on one flamenco guitar, and on that album, I\u2019m switching from blues to Piedmont [a ragtime style] to folk to classical to Spanish to some gutbucket stuff.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a very versatile guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not that finding such an instrument was easy.\u00a0 For Foley, it required more than a trip to Guitar Center.\u00a0 \u201cI actually went down to Paracho, Mexico, where it\u2019s a guitar building town.\u00a0 So, a great place to go to get a handmade classical or flamenco guitar, because they build them in the Spanish tradition.\u00a0 They were all trained by Spanish luthiers, and now it\u2019s going down through generations of families, so it\u2019s such a great place.\u201d<\/p>\n
As mentioned, Foley has long been associated with a pink paisley Telecaster which she named \u201cPinky.\u201d\u00a0 How is Pinky these days?\u00a0 \u201cWell, I have four Pinkies,\u201d Foley explains.\u00a0 \u201cPinky I, the original, that I got in 1988 I guess, maybe \u201986, I got her in Vancouver.\u00a0 She\u2019s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame right now, an exhibition on blues, so she\u2019s hanging out with Howlin\u2019 Wolf and Muddy Waters.\u00a0 It\u2019s great!\u00a0 I\u2019ve got Pinky II, Pinky III and Pinky IV, and they kind of rotate and come out on the road with me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Within the next couple of months, Foley can add \u201cpublished author\u201d to her substantial resume, which already includes a doctorate in musicology.\u00a0 The forthcoming book, Guitar Women: Conversations and Life Lessons with Six-String Heroines, is a project that Foley has been working on for some time, a collection of interviews that she has conducted with artists like Bonnie Raitt, Nancy Wilson (Heart), Suzi Quatro and Joan Armatrading.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c[The book] came out of my curiosity and the fact that I had researched, and there was no book of its kind. And I thought, well, that\u2019s not OK that there is no book on women guitar players out there,\u201d Foley says.<\/p>\n
As someone who has been interviewed hundreds of times over the years, what was it like to flip the script and be the interviewer rather than the interviewee?\u00a0 \u201cI really liked it,\u201d Foley says.\u00a0 \u201cI really liked it a lot.\u00a0 I do interviews, but I\u2019m not super fond of talking about myself.\u00a0 So being able to listen and really [focus] on somebody else was a pleasure.\u00a0 All these women that I interviewed were so interesting.\u00a0 And I feel like, as a player, I could pull some stuff out of them that maybe the average \u00a0wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy favorite interview was with Etta Baker.\u00a0 I loved all my interviews, and I\u2019m so excited that I got to interview so many guitar icons.\u00a0 Etta Baker, she was 91 when I talked to her \u2013 she\u2019s passed on now, of course \u2013 but I got to go to her house, and there was something really, truly special about that experience.\u00a0 A lot of the interviews that I did were on the phone, and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.\u00a0 But I did go to her house, and we sat down and jammed.\u00a0 People that age, there\u2019s just a grace about them.\u00a0 She just had this beautiful aura.\u00a0 Being in her presence really moved me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always loved older musicians.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always felt like there was so much wisdom and so much to learn from them.\u00a0 It also gives you hope as an artist, like, \u2018Hey, there\u2019s somewhere to go!\u2019\u00a0 It\u2019s not the end of the world to get older.\u00a0 It\u2019s a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sue Foley will perform at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, February 26, at McGonigel\u2019s Mucky Duck, 2425 Norfolk.\u00a0 For more information, call 281-357-9478 or visit mcgonigels.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n