Ruthie Foster
with Shake Johnson

Like the old spoonful-of-sugar-helps-the-medicine-go-down trick, Ruthie Foster's voice is so full of hallelujah, you sometimes have to listen to her songs two or three times before you realize she's singing the blues....(her music is) not so much a happy union of gospel and blues as a riveting tug-of-war between the two, with Foster's powerhouse voice caught in the middle as the prize. Self-penned tunes prove that Foster can hold her own as a songwriter, but it's as a singer that she truly dazzles.