Ruthie Foster: Healing Time
Twenty-five years after releasing her debut, Ruthie Foster continues to make albums for our times. File this under contemporary blues, or classic soul, or don’t slot it into a category at all if you prefer. What matters is how the music lands when you hear it, and these songs will put you right. Healing Time is not a random title—we can all use some of that right now, and Foster, along with her collaborators, is here to help. “All the noise and all these voices with never nothing good to say,” she sings in “Paradise,” a midtempo number embedded with an uplifting swing rhythm. “I’m not afraid to make mistakes, not afraid to chase ‘em all away/ Now’s the time to free my mind,” she continues, concluding that her best course of action is “taking back the day” (and who could disagree with that?). From the opener, “Soul Searching,” wherein she reconsiders a fractured personal relationship, Foster keeps things in forward motion, accentuating the positive and focusing on solutions. By the time she gets to the title track, just past midway, she’s ready for a belter: “Don’t you think it’s time to let it go, and leave it all behind?” she inquires aloud about those feelings that drag you down, and you know how this one’s gonna end—the only way it can: “No more time for sorrow, ‘cause I know a better tomorrow is shining like the sun to heal me.” Produced by Daniel Barrett and Mark Howard in Texas, Healing Time brings out both the power and the glory of Foster’s ever-impassioned delivery. It’s feel-good music, but more important, it’s honest and real-good music. Jeff Tamarkin
