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Sue Foley is talking about songwriting and the things that move her to pick up pen and paper and guitar.
And despite her modest protestations, this Ottawa-born blues singer-songwriter has lived enough to provide inspiration for her next 10 albums.
A childhood prodigy, Foley hit the road in her late teens, touring the Canadian blues circuit from coast-to-coast before lighting out for Texas, where she recorded her first four full-length albums for the legendary Antone's label, run by Austin clubowner and blues maven Clifford Antone.
Though Foley was at first considered something of an anomaly -- how many blond, blue-eyed, female blues guitar players can you name? -- she earned respect as soon as people saw her play, heard her sing and realized how well-rooted she was in the themes and the sounds of the blues.
Recently relocated back to Ottawa, Foley is now considered a leading blues performer. She records for the prestigious Shanachie label -- and the demand for her to tour has not abated.
What has changed are the logistics of her life. Foley, now 32, is the single mother of a three-year-old son, but she says she draws inspiration from this situation, too. Much of the material she wrote for her newest album, Love Comin' Down, was informed by the breakup of her marriage.
"I can't just write about anything, I won't do that," she says from her Ottawa home. "This album in particular, you could say it's about divorce, but it's also about reclaiming yourself and exerting your power, too."
One of the stronger cuts on Love Comin' Down is an interpretation of Willie Dixon's Same Thing -- a standard made popular by Muddy Waters -- which takes the male point of view and stands it on its head.
Foley's easy, liquid drawl takes the tomcattin' lyric ("Why do men go crazy when a woman wears her dress so tight?") and turns it into a precocious, sexy vamp.
Elsewhere the album spans a litany of blues styles, from the Delta-influenced shout of Two Trains to the rollicking, juke-joint vibe of Let My Tears Fall Down -- there's even a Santana-like flamenco vibe on Mediterranean Breakfast.
As a whole, Love Comin' Down is Foley's most accomplished effort -- loose, easy and assured. Album producer Colin Linden gets credit from Foley for making the disc sound so good.
But most of the kudos belong to the woman herself -- on songs such as the roiling, Sun Studio-influenced Let Me Drive, she makes her point and underlines her album's theme with musical aplomb and lyrical clarity.
Clearly, hers has been an inspired life -- so far.
"I guess so," she says. "When I look back at myself when I first started, I look at myself as an amoeba. I had enough balls back then, but now I've definitely got a little more inner strength and life experience."