With her painted fingernails, Sue Foley strokes, strums, shakes, and shimmies a six-string, unleashing a tone that doubles as her voice, loud, proud, and true. Undistorted by pedals and multi-effects, her pure and clearcut sound reflects a cascade of sparkling notes and intricate chord changes that bedazzle like diamonds, whether on the fretboard of her signature pink paisley Fender Telecaster or on her handmade Mexican flamenco guitar. 

There’s polish and a poet’s sense of the profound in the execution, rising from a technical excellence rooted in powerhouse electric blues guitar and — more recently — soulful nylon-string acoustic playing, inclusive of Piedmont finger-picking and other traditional styles. Transparent bell sounds commingle with grit and grease on the 13 albums she has put out since her 1992 debut, Young Girl Blues.