Sue Foley, New Used Car

It’s not every day you randomly run across a noted female blues/roots artist, especially one who has several albums with the Austin-based Antone’s label. Being a Texas gal myself, I’m automatically wary when non-Southerners attempt to play the blues (Foley’s Canadian — eh). Luckily for me, though, I’m also a huge fan of females kicking musical ass, so I was excited to hear Sue Foley’s tenth album, New Used Car.

Unfortunately, that excitement waned considerably as I listened to the album. While I can’t say anything about her first nine musical releases, I can tell you that New Used Car fell considerably short in the originality department. The title is quite apt, because that’s exactly what the tone of the album felt like: a new used car.

I searched desperately for the intensity of feeling and heartfelt lyrics that are essential to creating a good blues album, but I never found them. What I found instead were uninspired, trite lyrics and, honestly, boredom. I was forcing myself to listen to each song in the hopes that midway through one of them I’d be blown away by some subconscious passion that had lain dormant and was itching to let itself out in these songs. Never happened. Even the artist herself didn’t sound convinced of her own words.

As a result of the lackluster lyrics, the musical aspect of the album was completely lost. I tried to listen past the words and focus on the music, but it wasn’t possible. The integrity of the album was completely compromised by the utter lack of feeling. It doesn’t take a musical genius or even a blues lover to recognize that raw emotion and life experience are key ingredients for good blues. I’ve discovered that with age comes intense wisdom and understanding. Thus, logically speaking, one would assume the body of work that a blues musician creates would become more rich and fulfilling with every year. Sadly, New Used Car defies such logic and leaves the listener with nothing more than the intense feeling of sleepiness.