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Texas Guitar Women


Are: Sue Foley Cindy Cashdollar Sarah Brown Lisa Pankratz Carolyn Wonderland

Sue Foley's Texas Guitar Woman are coming to Cincinnati at McAuley High School Theatre on Nov 21 at 8pm. The show is a powerful display of Texas blues and rock, a diverse musical experience from some of the finest female pickers and players in the Lone Star State. Texas Guitar Woman is a spinoff of Foley's critically acclaimed Guitar Woman series which has toured internationally.

Sue Foley is considered to be one of the finest blues/roots artists working today. Born in Canada Sue was signed to the legendary Texas blues record label Antone's when she was barely out of her teens. There she became a mainstay in the Austin music scene for many years as an accomplished guitarist, songwriter and vocalist. She has spent over eighteen years on the road as bandleader, lead guitar player and manager of her career. In addition to her own shows she has shared the stage and opened up for BB King, Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, George Thorogood, Tom Petty, Joe Cocker and many more. Sue has won dozens of awards for her work including the prestigious Juno Award (Canadian equivalent to the Grammy) for her CD "Love Coming Down". Since 2001 Sue has been researching and conducting interviews with the worlds finest female guitarists for her book, "Guitar Woman", which is scheduled to be released in the fall of 2009.

Austin based steel guitarist, Cindy Cashdollar has recorded and toured with many of the leading artists in contemporary music including Rod Stewart, Van Morrison, Ryan Adams, Bob Dylan, Asleep at the Wheel, Garrison Keillor, Marcia Ball, Leon Redbone, Beausoleil, Daniel Lanois, and Redd Volkaert. Cindy's unerring ability to perfectly compliment a song or step out with a tasteful, imaginative, and exciting solo - and to do it in so many musical genres - has made her one of the most in-demand musicians on the American roots music scene. Her debut CD, Slide Show, features guest artists comprising a Who's Who of the contemporary roots scene. "Equally at home picking a vintage Dobro, an old National resonator guitar, or laying down fat horn voicings on a tripleneck 8-string steel, Cashdollar is a master of Bluegrass, gutbucket Blues, Honky-tonk, swampy R&B, and Western Swing." - Frets Magazine

Sarah Brown (Bass) has played and recorded with an impressive list of blues and roots greats such as Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Dave Alvin, Wanda Jackson, Billy Bragg, and Earl King. Sarah was part of the Antone's House Band during the 80's and early 90's and appears on over 50 recordings, including her own CD, "Sayin What I'm Thinkin" on the Blind Pig label. She has been profiled in Bass Player magazine, was awarded "best bass player" four times in the Austin Music Awards, and was nominated for two W.C. Handy Awards. She's also an accomplished songwriter, with her original songs having been cut by Marcia Ball, Lou Ann Barton, Angela Strehli, Joe Louis Walker, Irma Thomas, Ruth Brown and Lavelle White.

Lisa Pankratz has become the drummer of choice for acts who want their Country to shuffle with soul and their Rock to have some swing in the beat. Surf/instrumental rocker Teisco Del Rey, The Derailers, Rosie Flores, Dale Watson, Johnny Bush, Deke Dickerson, Marti Brom, Roger Wallace, Bill Kirchen, Billy Joe Shaver and contemporary song stylists Damon Bramblett and Bruce Robison are a few who have called on Lisa's versatile drumming skills. She has performed on Austin City Limits, the Conan O'Brien show, the Grand Ole Opry, Carnegie Hall and many pubs, clubs and honk-tonks across North America and Europe.

Carolyn Wonderland has the goods. A triple threat with her diverse songwriting, soulful vocals, and guitar goddess status - all featured on over twenty CDs, six of which are her releases - she has a pedigree in this business that's hard to match. A bit of a renegade, she likes to incorporate elements of Blues, Country, Swing, Zydeco, Surf, Gospel, Soul, and some nights, maybe even a Cumbia into the musical mix. Recent years have seen her stretching out musically working some expert whistling and scat singing into her shows. In addition to her trusty guitar, "Patty," Carolyn has been regularly playing her trumpet, and even occasionally the accordion, mandolin, or keys...she is threatening to take up nose flute if someone doesn’t stop her... Wonderland's songs have been featured on NBC's "Homicide," Fox's "Time of Your Life," & Houston NORML even made a video PSA set to Carolyn's "Annie's Scarlet Letter." She has toured with acts like Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter, sat-in with String Cheese Incident, Robert Earl Keen, and Los Lobos, and even sang the "National Anthem" at Sturgis Bike Week 2003 -- her 10th anniversary playing Sturgis -- before Robbie Kneivel's record-breaking jump over one hundred Harleys. Recently, she was a panelist at the University of Texas LBJ Library's "Instruments of Freedom" Forum with Kinky Friedman, Marcia Ball, Jerry Jeff Walker and others. She's been lucky enough to jam with mentors and friends like Bob Dylan, Eddy Shaver and Ray Benson. She's cowritten songs with Cindy Cashdollar, Candye Kane, Sarah Brown and Guy Forsyth. How lucky can one girl get? Well, with a lot of hard work, just this lucky. In her words, "I still get to play most every night, so the adventure continues. Every musical interlude is a new page, another chance to jump into the Ether." Originally from Houston, a city where she has won awards in The Houston Press for everything from Best Guitarist, Vocalist, Songwriter, Blues, to Release of the Year and Musician of the Year -- virtually sweeping the awards for 5 years from the time she was a teenager. Now residing in Austin, Ms. Wonderland says, "I moved to the land of free guitar lessons!"

Besides providing a forum for their instrumental prowess, it was plain to see the four women simply enjoyed each other's company. Frequently during the set, one or another of them would peer raptly at one of her compatriots as she played, absorbed in the moment. It was a contagious mood. John T Davis, Austin 360

It's noteworthy that in a genre overflowing with testosterone, none was present on stage Saturday. Yet, in Foley and friends capable hands, the blues was alive and thrilling, the equal to anything the boys could have laid down. - John Caliguiri, Austin Chronicle