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Sue Foley will tell you about the unappreciated nature of female guitarists, about tough road trips away from her kid, about the hardships of being a woman and a professional.
But when it comes down to it, her burgeoning Guitar Women project - now a company, a book and a double CD - is at least in part about trying to set some more obvious problems straight.
"When you look at videos now and music, you wonder what happened. We're supposed to be respecting ourselves but the pop music being put out now - the stuff that's selling millions of copies - it's gross. It's shameful," says Foley, bearer of seven albums, a new disc in April and a global following. She plays Bonnie Doon hall tonight with guests Ellen McIlwaine and Rachel Van Zanten.
"It's all shameful and we need to get back to playing music that validates the artists, not just people singing about pimps and hos. I think it's damaging society. It's not only damaging to our children but to us, as well."
Foley isn't knocking the styles, or even the urban background of some of the artists that makes gang life a suitable subject. She recognizes, thanks to her nine-year-old son's CD collection, that there's good hip hop and R&B. But the industry is taking a tiny and dangerous segment of broader society - gang life - and making it the be-all and end-all.
"It's selling the message that everything in music and life is just a big party and that people don't have to care about anything or anyone, that they can be 'hos' and 'pimps.' But life isn't just a big party. There are things in it that are meaningful, and important, and special. I've got a nine-year-old kid to think about."
Lest anyone think Foley is an old fogie, she says to consider the message sent by Diana Krall and Michael Buble's success - selling millions of albums without much radio or video support. Adults are getting to the point where they've just had enough of being subservient to the kid market.
"Look at the Grammys. They've lost viewership consistently because people are just turned off by it all," she says. "And the really pathetic thing is that it's sold as rebellion to kids, that it's "rebellious" to say you're a "pimp." You know what's more rebellious? Not buying into this mass-market bullshit. And the industry knows this. They're laughing in our faces as they take our money."
Call it synchronicity, then, that the Guitar Women project is taking off at the particular time when she believes it's most needed. She's planning a tour showcasing the different women on the double disc, which was released last month. Tonight's show in Edmonton will serve as an unofficial kickoff of sorts. And she expects to complete the book by the end of next year.
It'll feature more than a few unfamiliar faces. "The first song off the disc, with Laura Chavez. I wasn't familiar with her until this project and was just so impressed with her abilities. She's only 21 years old but her guitar is really meaty and aggressive," says Foley.
"I think there's a few people who see this as a feminist thing or that I have some chip on my shoulder or am pissed off at men or something, when really what this is about is that there's literally no documentation out there of women guitar players."
To that end, the book will feature interviews dealing with more than just blues: aging, motherhood and cultural disparities are all worth looking into, she says.
"I was talking to Deborah Coleman yesterday, doing that interview for the book, and we were discussing what it's like to be over 30 and be a woman on the road," she says.
"Sometimes these interviews can be really cathartic because we're going through the same stuff, but we don't really get to talk about it with anyone. No one ever asks what it's like to have kids and have a music career and be on the road - a lot of time it's exhausting."
Still, change can be good. Foley has scaled back her playing and her touring schedule to accommodate motherhood, and admits that she hardly ever picks up a guitar at home any more. When she talks about her son, her voice warms and each word fairly resonates.
"I spend all my time at home when I'm actually back home and when I travel, sometimes I can bring Joe. I took him to Paris last week. And when I can't, he goes to school and we talk," she says.
"He knows this is what I love to do and he understands. We're very close."
And his taste in music? "Oh God, he likes hip hop and all that crap I hate. All the modern music that annoys me."