Review: Greg Phillips. Photos: Jason Rosewarne.
Memo Music Hall in St. Kilda has become somewhat of a spiritual home for Australian Musician over the last few years, we just always seem to be there. And why not … it provides quality acts, great sound, amiable staff and the stage is viewable from all points of the venue.
Tonight supporting Grammy-winning American blues, soul and gospel artist Ruthie Foster, Melbourne guitar stalwart Phil Para and his son Denzil warmed the stage with a quality set of blues inspired acoustic tunes. Forged out of time together during the covid lockdowns, the father and son duo have developed into an engaging act with their fluid guitar licks and innate musical synchronicity.
The psychology of opening a set has always intrigued me. Some artists take to the stage and launch straight into several tunes before acknowledging the audience. Ruthie Foster however is a talker and she tells us so! Ruthie and her keyboard player accomplice Scotty Miller emerge and she immediately enquires as to our well-being like an old friend who’s come to visit for the night. She then begins to tell a story about being raised by her grandparents and relates her experiences as a youngster, singing in church and being inspired later to write a song about it before easing into Brand New Day from her 2014 album Promise of a Brand New Day.
Next story (soon to be accompanied by a song) is about her recent experience at an airport transit lounge, where wi-fi allowed Ruthie and her tour manger to dial into the 2025 Grammy Awards livestream, just in time to hear her name called out as the winner in the Best Contemporary Blues category for her album Mileage. Opportunely they were sitting at the airport bar, so were able to celebrate before boarding their next flight. It’s a story Ruthie related to Australian Musician in our zoom interview a few weeks ago. (You can watch it HERE). It was a perfect introduction to playing Mileage for us, the fabulous title song from the album.
Ruthie spoke about living in New Jersey as a songwriter and pitching a song to the recently departed Roberta Flack, who rejected it because she couldn’t sing it like the vocalist on the demo. Foster rightly so took that as a great compliment. Then speaking about learning the guitar growing up, she tells us that she was inspired by Lightnin’ Hopkins, T Bone Burnett and Mississippi John Hurt. This led to Ruthie pointing out that she was tonight playing a beautiful Australian made Cole Clark True Hybrid guitar, which Australian Musician is very familiar with having documented the guitar’s journey from its inception. The Cole Clark provided Ruthie with crystal clear acoustic sounds when needed and gritty electric vibes when called upon too. In tribute to Mississippi John Hurt, Foster performed Richland Women Blues accompanied by Scotty Miller on mandolin.
Continuing to pay tribute to her musical roots, Ruthie and Scotty performed a smooth version of Smalltown Blues, followed by That’s Alright Mama in Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup style as opposed to the Elvis version we all know. She tells us that “blues is a witness to your life” and is always there when you need it.
Anyone who was witnessed a Ruthie Foster show will know that her stories are as intoxicating as her songs. A tale about being in Latvia as part a navy big band and being mistaken for Tracy Chapman in a hotel bar was hilarious. That late night in Latvia resulted in the writing of a beautiful tune called 4am, which Ruthie performed for us with heart and soul.
The highlight of tonight’s concert however was Ruthie’s performance of Phenomenal Woman, a song written by Canadian singer, songwriter Amy Sky based on the Maya Angelou poem. The song was set up perfectly, preceded by a stunning gospel keyboard solo by Scotty Miller, taking us on an emotional high and preparing us for a stunning, powerful vocal performance from Ruthie Foster.
A soulful Up Above My Head concluded a thoroughly entertaining evening of passionate blues, soul, and gospel music and delightful story telling that only the great Ruthie Foster could deliver.
