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Grammy Nominee Sue Foley brings her One Guitar Woman concert to Red Deer! Tickets are on sale now!
Sue Foley
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Red Deer Elks Lodge, 6315 Horn Street
General Admission
Doors 7/Music at 8 pm
Prepare for a captivating musical journey with ONE GUITAR WOMAN, Sue Foley’s new solo acoustic tribute to female pioneers of guitar. Foley’s much-anticipated album on Stony Plain Records was released on March 29, 2024.
ONE GUITAR WOMAN is more than a tribute. Foley doesn’t merely cover these artists’ songs; she absorbs their style and inhabits the soul of the music. Her guitar work is so deep and natural that it seems to rise from the same roots that gave birth to the originals, while her vibrant vocals bring new life to the lyrics and make the songs her own.
Esteemed music writer Hal Horowitz notes in Rock & Blues Muse, “The often spellbinding One Guitar Woman … is an enlightening look into her remarkable talents, filtered through the lens of a more intimate expression of the blues.”
SUE FOLEY is an acclaimed guitarist, singer/songwriter and writer who began her professional career in her teens. She’s released thirteen albums and has garnered several awards, including four time Blues Music award winner. (2020/22/23/24).
And this just in: last week Sue was nominated for a Grammy Award for One Guitar Woman!
Sue Foley One Guitar Woman – Artist Statement
I started playing the guitar at thirteen, mainly influenced by my father and my three older brothers. Being the youngest girl in the family, I was always curious when I saw a woman play the instrument. Now, what seems commonplace, at that time, was anomalous. You see, I didn’t just want to strum the instrument, I wanted to really play it, like the guitar heroes of the day; Hendrix, Clapton, Page, and Beck.
Whenever I saw woman really play, whether it was flamenco guitarist, Charo, or classical musician, Liona Boyd, or Heart’s Nancy Wilson, I was not only curious, I was filled with excitement that there were female guitar heroes too. These were women that I could look to for guidance.
As I ventured on my career path as a professional guitarist, I always kept track when I saw other females on the scene. In 2001, I began reaching out and contacting many of my sisters in guitar. In an eight-year span, I logged over 100 interviews with players as diverse as Bonnie Raitt, Sharon Isbin, Joan Armatrading and even my early heroes, Nancy Wilson and Charo. Some of these interviews have been published in Guitar Player Magazine, and the rest are being featured in my book, Guitar Woman. (Release TBD)
Because I had a natural passion for researching, I pursued my PhD in Music with my dissertation focused on the work of pioneering female guitarists. These are the women who were expressing themselves through the instrument as far back as the 1920’s, at the inception of radio and recorded music. Players like Maybelle Carter, Memphis Minnie, Mary Osborne, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and more. I have developed this passion for research and for honouring these players with a one woman show.
Sue Foley’s “One Guitar Woman” - is a show devoted to the female pioneers of guitar--to celebrate women of excellence, passion, and accomplishment. It’s an evening of varied guitar styles and musical genres interspersed with history and stories, all tied together with my own personal narrative.