Sue Foley One Guitar Woman Stony Plain Records

I am in awe of the project that Sue Foley undertook with her latest album, One Guitar Woman (Stony Plain). It's not for me to say that she came out of her comfort zone with this collection of a dozen guitar classics all done originally by woman artists, because I'm sure she's been playing these songs on her own for many years.

The title comes from the fact that she used just one guitar for the entire album instead of her regular pink paisley Fender Telecaster. The one guitar was a nylon-string acoustic guitar, a flamenco Blanca made by master luthier Salvadore Castillo in Mexico.

Produced by Mike Flanigin, One Guitar Woman crosses many boundaries, not just sticking to  traditional blues, but the songs here blend seamlessly. What's also notable is Foley's voice; I've always considered her a guitar slinger first with just enough voice to sound good, but on this album her voice is confident on each cut regardless of the style of music she's covering. Needless to say, her guitar work is wonderful throughout.

Foley covers two Elizabeth Cotten classics, "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie," the first single that was released, and the iconic "Freight Train." Her fingerpicking is both simple and complex at the same time, with Foley having to make some accommodations to best replicate Cotten's upside down, left-handed method of playing the guitar. I especially like her enthusiastic singing on the oft-covered "Freight Train." She just plain nailed it.

The music of Memphis Minnie has been getting re-introduced lately to younger blues audiences, most notably by the recent album by soul singer Candice Ivory (reviewed here). Foley covers two of Minnie's songs, the slow blues "In My Girlish Days," and the autobiographical "Nothing In Rambling," capturing the sass that Minnie displayed in her days as THE woman blues pioneer.

Mother Maybelle Carter, regarded as the matriarch of country music, is represented here by "Lonesome Homesick Blues" and "Maybelle's Guitar," the latter a Foley original in which she combines chords from the Carter classic "Wildwood Flower" while singing about Maybelle's career and influence.

Foley changes styles in covering "Mal Hombre" by Lydia Mendoza, the mother of Tejano music. She sings part of the song in Spanish, sounding just fine to these monolingual ears, and I especially like the understated guitar work. Foley notes that she did "Mal Hombre" in a lower key, shifting the main character of the song from a young girl to a mature woman reflecting on the past.

I was more familiar with the country blues standard "Motherless Child Blues" than I was with the names of the two performers, Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley. This mournful song along with their other contribution, "Last Kind Words Blues," were done originally a century ago, but Foley revitalizes them with her incredibly bluesy vocals.

A tribute to women guitarists wouldn't be complete without a contribution from gospel artist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, who was known as the Godmother of Rock and Roll after crossing over into popular music, having influenced many of the pioneers of rock with her stage presence and rhythmic body gyrations. "My Journey To The Sky" is a pleasant gospel number in which Foley shows plenty of emotion in her voice.

Moving on to music from lesser-known but equally influential guitarists, we hear an instrumental, "Romance in A Minor," from French classical guitarist Ida Presti, a mostly slow number but changing tempos throughout. I hear chords that likely influenced both Spanish and gypsy guitarists. Hailed as the one of the greatest guitarists ever in her time, I'm intrigued enough to do more research on her life and music.

Finally, we have "La Malagueña" from Spanish-American entertainer Charo, whose real name was Maria Rosario Pilar Martinez Molina Baeza and was known for her appearances on TV shows Laugh-In and The Tonight Show. Charo's flamenco guitar style was fast and furious, and Foley does a good job of replicating the sound, especially moving her fingers quickly across the fretboard.

I should have stated this fact up-front, but here we go. One Guitar Woman is a stunningly beautiful album, one to be cherished and listened to frequently. I respect Ms. Foley for taking on this project and introducing us to these artists and their music. The CD package includes liner notes with Foley's explanation of each artist and how she replicated their sound, so skip the online download and buy the physical disc.

Highly recommended, especially for any guitar aficionados and fledging students of the instrument.

--- Bill Mitchell