Like 2014's
Promise of a Brand New Day before it, the title of
Ruthie Foster's 2017 album
Joy Comes Back promises something optimistic.
Joy Comes Back does just that but from an entirely different angle. Between the two records,
Foster separated from a long-term partner, and she coped by settling down in her hometown of Austin, Texas, recording the new album with her friend, producer Daniel Barrett. A crew of sympathetic musicians -- including guitarist
Derek Trucks, drummer
Joe Vitale, and Warren Hood, among several others -- swung by the studios and helped
Foster record nine covers and an original.
Foster casts her net wide, dredging up classic blues from
Mississippi John Hurt ("Richland Woman Blues"), contemporary country from
Chris Stapleton ("What Are You Listening To?), and classic heavy metal from
Black Sabbath ("War Pigs"), but what unites the album is the warm, supple energy of the band and
Foster's aching ease. She may have been through the ringer recently, but she's choosing to be positive -- or, as she sings on
Shawnee Kilgore's "Abraham," "When I do good/I feel good" -- and that gives
Joy Comes Back a relaxed richness that's quite restorative. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine