This extraordinary songwriter/performer
tackles life’s big issues throughout her sizzling new album. On it, Ruthie
repeatedly testifies to her core message – that through all of the ups and
downs of living, you must stay true to yourself. The pain as well as the joy of
love, the strength it takes to weather life’s challenges, the hope that grows
from seeds of faith and wisdom: All of this breathes inspiration and
celebration into The Truth According
to Ruthie Foster.
And the music brings it to life. Truth be
told, Foster could sing the phone book, jam on a laundry list and send everyone
home happy. But the combination on The
Truth According to Ruthie Foster of uplifting lyric and electrifying
vocals, backed by a band of world-class players bristling with soul, proves
impossible to resist.
Even fans who have followed her trajectory
from her self-released debut through the aptly-titled The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster in 2007 will find something different
in The Truth According to Ruthie
Foster – namely, the summing-up of the various influences in this
artist’s growth.
The music of The Truth According to Ruthie Foster is in fact the
soundtrack of a young but remarkable life. From her beginnings in the Brazos
Valley of Central Texas, she was launched by a strong mother and a large supportive
family down a path whose pitfalls Ruthie learned to avoid and whose destination
she charted on her own, with talent, faith and determination lighting her way.
On her previous albums and gigs that have
taken her from choir lofts to folk bistros and onto stages in Europe and Australia,
Foster has raised the multiple flags of American music. There’s Southern blues
in her groove, rock in her rhythm, a blend of gospel redemption, country poetry
and jazz elegance in her singing. But not until The Truth According to Ruthie Foster have all the pieces fit
into a picture this powerful.