Ottowa-based blues artist Sue Foley is still being characterized as an up-and-coming star, even though Where the Action Is is her seventh album. This new CD should help Foley move up a notch in the estimation of fans and critics. Her songwriting is the most impressive facet of the album. She wrote nine of the 12 tunes, and she has quite a knack for penning lyrics that are as catchy as they are coherent. Her guitar work is long on style and short on pyrotechnics—Foley’s guitar tends to serve the song, which is always refreshing. She’s more of a rock singer than a blues diva, though she does lay down a spot-on vocal on the traditional nugget “Down the Big Road Blues.” School’s out for Foley; she needs to tour extensively behind this album.—PVV
