Sue Foley
Here's the deal; I was born March 29 1968. I am the youngest of five children from an Irish working class family and a neighborhood called Mechanicsville/Hintonburgh in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
My father sang and played Celtic folk songs and was my first musical influence. Music was a huge part of the Foley household, as was fighting and drinking. My three older brothers also played music but they were heavily into hard rock of the 1970's. I was raised on Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, and all the rock and roll music from the radio (back when there was music on the radio).
I knew from a very young age that I would be a musician, I always sang songs with my father and when I turned thirteen I asked for a guitar. It was my saving grace. I sat in my room and practiced my guitar for hours, days, months…. years. I surfaced at around sixteen when I began to gig professionally around the Ottawa blues clubs. I played in Ottawa until I was eighteen and then I high-tailed it out of my home town and moved as far away as I could (long story) to Vancouver BC.
I arrived in Vancouver with not much more than a small suitcase and my guitar. It was there that I formed the first incarnation of the Sue Foley Band. We got off to a small start playing in every dive in Vancouver and then started to get some attention and got bigger and better offers for gigs. We then started touring across Canada. I had no CD out then, just good old cassette demos that I would send to club owners. At the time I booked myself, managed my career, led the band, played the lead guitar, wrote and learned the songs, roadied etc…etc..I was like the Little Red Hen from the children's story, and I still am a lot like that now.
My band and I got hired by Bay Area harmonica whiz Mark Hummel and started touring in the US. We backed up Mark for about a year and then I got an offer to go to Austin Texas to play and record on the Antone's label. Needless to say I was gone in a matter of seconds. Going to Austin had been a dream of mine and it turned out to be everything and more, the most formative years of my musical training. I was so inspired by living and breathing the air there that I stayed for close to seven years and recorded four albums for Antone's Records. My band and I spent most of those years on the road. It was then that I learned how to play and perform and take care of business. A lot of lessons learned in those years. We had the honor of touring around and opening for artists like Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, Earl King, Jimmy Rogers, Pinetop Perkins, George Thorogood etc….Not to mention all the great cats from Austin like Lou Ann Barton, Marcia Ball, Angela Strehli, Derek O'Brien, Kim Wilson, Jimmy Vaughan….I wouldn't trade those years for anything I couldn't have asked for a better learning ground.
I left Austin (sadly) in 1997. I was pregnant with my son Joe, (who is now 9 years old) and it was time for me to go home. I moved back to Ottawa to be close to my family. I got married and got off the road for awhile. I signed to Shanachie records, out of New York and started recording for them. I stayed in Canada (where I remain to this day) and made three albums for Shanachie. I reconnected with my roots and friends and have been quite happy to be a part of the Canadian blues scene. I think there's a lot of great talent here and I feel pretty inspired where I am now.
Being a mother changed my life. No longer could I go in the road for months at a time, and not have a home. I needed to be grounded and find other ways to support myself and my son (oh, did I mention the marriage didn't work out?). Yes, as a single mother I have been forced to be a lot more resourceful and use my energy wisely. It was four years ago that I had the idea to write this book "Guitar Woman"(for more info, see www.guitarwoman.com). I have found that this Guitar Woman project is bigger than me and keeps me inspired every day. I know it will be a great thing to have accomplished finishing the book but for me the destination really is the journey. I am learning so much from all of it.
Besides working on the book and raising Joe (who's getting frightfully close to being a teenager) I am just finished my tenth CD called "New Used Car"…oh yeah, I signed with Ruf Records out of Germany and Justin Time Records in Canada about a year and a half ago for a two album deal (see Sue's Boutique for my full catalogue). The new CD is rockin', direct and energetic. I think it really shows where I am at emotionally and soulfully at this moment (which is strong and connected). Along with the release of "New Used Car" my band and I have made a live DVD "Sue Foley, Live In Germany" due out spring 2006. The live CD will follow some months later.
There you have it folks, you're all caught up.
