Ruthie Foster -- lauded singer and songwriter (including three Grammy nominations), and ambassador for the history of black blues, folk and Gospel music -- brings her soulful sound to the Faulkner Performing Arts Center at the University of Arkansas and to the Walton Arts Center this week.
Though her Jan. 31 show at the WAC is sold out, Foster's performance Jan. 29 featuring the University's Inspirational Chorale as part of the Black Music Symposium Week still has a few seats available.
FAQ
Ruthie Foster
WHEN & WHERE — 7:30 p.m. Jan 29 at Faulkner Performing Arts Center in Fayetteville; 7:30 p.m. Jan. 31 at Walton Arts Center is sold out.
COST — $10-$20
INFO — 575-5387, faulkner.uark.edu
FYI
Ruthie Foster will lead two free workshops, open to the public, on Jan. 30 at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center.
1-2 p.m. — “Evolution of Black Folk Music in the United States,” followed by open Q&A
5-5:45 p.m. — “Finding Your Own Style While Maintaining Integrity of the Roots in Black Folk Music”
Foster says she always looks forward to seeing how the multitude of voices open her songs up when she has the chance to do collaborations. She's also looking forward to giving Fayetteville audiences a taste of her Texas home, just for a while.
"One of the things I try to do before I go into one of my tunes is I talk about the experience of being a 10-year-old sitting in the church and just observing the sisters in the 'Amen corner' -- what they're wearing, their mannerisms," she shares. "I talk about that [and] I'm giving people the picture of where this song comes from. So they're sitting right there in the pews with me watching these sisters be who they are.
"Honestly, I do a lot of that just for me, too, because it grounds me," Foster muses. "Because I'm out here doing this every week to a different audience, in who knows what part of the country, sometimes other countries. And being that that's where I grew up, it's a way to ground myself just to make myself feel like [I have] a little bit of home."
As part of her inclusion in the symposium, Foster will host two workshops at the Faulkner Center. "Evolution of Black Folk Music in the United States" and "Finding Your Own Style While Maintaining Integrity of the Roots in Black Folk Music" are both open to the public and afford Foster the rare opportunity to dig into two important topics that have shaped her career.
"Making room for it in my music has served me well in so many ways," Foster says. "To be recognized and validated for allowing so many aspects of the history of music and the culture of blues and Gospel and soul to come into my own writing, I think it's important to do that. To me, it's just relevant. You can't ignore it.
"And it kind of happened organically for me, weaving [that history] into my own songwriting," she adds. "Some days it's hard to even get away from it, to try to think contemporary when it comes time to write a song. But thank the universe that there are people who still appreciate that element of writing, where it's not just truth, but it's old-school truth."
NAN What's Up on 01/27/2019