Sue Foley gave a strong performance Sunday evening, Feb. 22, at the Stettler Performing Arts Centre, showing why she is considered one of Canada’s top blues musicians. A five-time Blues Music Award winner in the Traditional Blues Female category and a Juno winner, Foley is known for her energetic Texas blues style as well as her smooth acoustic playing. Her current project, One Guitar Woman, honours early female guitar players and highlights her own skill and control on the instrument.

During a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Foley has performed with blues greats such as B.B. King and Buddy Guy. She has built a strong international reputation for powerful guitar solos and thoughtful songwriting. Sunday’s show mixed high-energy electric blues with quieter acoustic songs, reminding the audience why she continues to stand out in traditional blues music.

Foley drew from a rich legacy of early American roots music in her Sunday set, spotlighting classics that helped shape the guitar tradition. She delivered a heartfelt rendition of Elizabeth Cotten’s timeless “Freight Train,” the rolling folk-blues tune Cotten wrote as a young teenager that became an enduring standard in folk circles.  Foley also honoured the pioneering work of Sister Rosetta Tharpe with the stirring “My Journey to the Sky,” a piece that reflects Tharpe’s groundbreaking blend of gospel fervour and guitar drive and wove in material associated with Maybelle Carter, whose stylish guitar work helped define early country and folk styles.