Ruthie Foster

Singer/songwriter Ruthie Foster grew up in a family of gospel singers in Gause, Texas, where she was born in 1964.

Foster formed a blues band as a college student in Waco, performing in local bars, and then joined the U.S. Navy, and sang in its contemporary band, Pride. After her tour of duty, she landed in New York City, singing in folk venues.

Foster was offered a record deal with Atlantic Records, but a family emergency forced her to return to Texas. She self-released her first album, “Full Circle” (1997), and in 2002 started her long relationship with Blue Corn Music with “Runaway Soul.” Her most recent album is “Healing Time” (2022), which she began during the Covid lockdown.

Foster is a three-time Grammy nominee and an eight-time BMA winner, including the Koko Taylor Award in 2019 and Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year in 2023.

After Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Foster performed in a benefit concert with Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon and James Taylor, and she gave a concert at Carnegie Hall in February 2018.

Blues singer, harmonica player and guitarist Kevin Burt has proven that Iowa can produce great blues performers.

He gives concerts throughout the Midwest and beyond, and his style has been compared to Bill Withers and Aaron Neville.

In the 2018 International Blues Challenge, Burt took first place in the Solo/Duo category and won the Cigar Box Guitar Award for best solo/duo guitarist and the Lee Oskar Award for best harmonica player. Burt’s debut album, “Heartland and Soul” was nominated in 2019 for a BMA in the Best Emerging Artist Album category.

His 2020 album, “Stone Crazy,” on the Gulf Coast Records label, has nine original songs and a cover of Bill Withers’ “Better Off Dead.”