Sue Foley Releases New Single ‘Maybelle’s Guitar’

Sue Foley Releases New Single ‘Maybelle’s Guitar’

Internationally acclaimed blues guitarist, singer and songwriter Sue Foley releases her new single “Maybelle’s Guitar” from her forthcoming album One Guitar Woman out March 29th on Stony Plain Records.

One Guitar Woman, an all-acoustic album, is a moving tribute to the female pioneers of guitar, the women whose music and lives paved the way for those that followed. Foley writes in her liner notes, “They were massively talented, and they all possessed courage and vision which transformed both their cultures and the story of the guitar.”

True to the album title, Sue performs all these songs with one guitar. While many of Sue’s fans are used to seeing her playing “Pinky,” her pink paisley Fender Telecaster through her Fender Bassman amp, for this album she chose a nylon-string acoustic guitar, a flamenco Blanca made by master luthier Salvadore Castillo, purchased by Sue on a 2022 excursion to Paracho, Mexico.

One Guitar Woman honors icons including Elizabeth Cotten, Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, French classical guitarist Ida Presti, Southern blues women Geeshie Wiley and Elvie Thomas, Tejano sensation Lydia Mendoza, Charo, and for the second single, country music matriarch Maybelle Carter.

While Foley honors the other artists by performing their songs, for Maybelle Carter Sue created an original song, “Maybelle’s Guitar.” Utilizing Carter’s distinctive guitar style, she tells the story of the enormous influence the Carter Family’s music had across the country and beyond. Even during hard times like the Great Depression, Maybelle’s guitar and uplifting songs like “Can the Circle Be Unbroken” and “Wildwood Flower” raised people’s spirits.

“Maybelle’s Guitar”

 
As Sue sings, “It launched a million dreams, it saved a million souls.” Carter’s innovative technique, called the “Carter scratch” consisted of using her thumb to play melodies on the bass strings while her index finger strummed the rhythm, and is often credited with guitar’s transition from rhythm to lead instrument. Sue notes, “Of all the guitar styles that I studied for this album, I found the Carter scratch to be the most challenging. To play it accurately, one must keep a rock steady rhythm while strumming the lead guitar parts in between the beats. It’s like rubbing one’s head and patting one’s belly simultaneously.”

Sue will soon be debuting her One Guitar Woman show, a solo show which will celebrate the lives, stories and music of the female pioneers of guitar. It will incorporate multimedia elements and present some great music as well as uplifting, provocative stories of brave, trailblazing women. This show will be presented in theaters on select dates through 2025.

For Sue Foley Tour Dates See Here