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With a naturally expressive voice that has drawn comparisons to greats like Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald, Texas-based singer and songwriter Ruthie Foster mixes a wide palette of American song forms, from gospel and blues to jazz, folk, and soul into her music, and her live performances are powerfully transfiguring. Foster grew up in Gause, TX, a small town in the Brazos Valley southeast of Dallas, and even as a child she was fascinated by music, and she listened to everything she could, hearing and absorbing not just gospel and blues, but also the country and pop songs she heard on the radio. By the age of 14 she was a soloist in a local choir and was certain that her future would revolve around music. When she moved to Waco to attend community college, her studies concentrated around music and audio engineering, and she began fronting a blues band, learning how to command a stage in the rough bars of Texas. Hoping to travel and gain a wider world perspective, Foster joined the ...