Radney Foster
July 2009

Happy 50th, Radney!

In celebration of his 50th Birthday on July 20th, LoneStarMusic.com is happy to present Radney Foster as the July 2009 Artist of the Month.
Radney is one of the most influential Texas artists of the last two decades, making his indelible impression as a performer, songwriter, and producer.

You can celebrate Radney's birthday with the man himself at one of two birthday shows he performing - on his actual birthday in Nashville, TN at the Exit/In and an early birthday show on the 15th at Hills Cafe. Admission to the Hill's show is free, but you better get their early as some of Radney's birthday guests include Pat Green, Roger Creager, Cory Morrow, Brandon Rhyder, Darden Smith, Kevin Fowler and more!

If that weren't enough, did we mention he has a new record due out on September 1st?

Radney Foster
Revival
*ships 9/1*
(buy) - $14.99

We dig back through the LoneStarMusic archives to present one of the very first Q&A's in LSM history. LoneStarMusic's Richard Skanse sat down with Radney in June of 2001 to discuss the release of Are You Ready For the Big Show.
http://www.lonestarmusic.com/radneyfoster.asp

Then in April of 2006 Rob Patterson spent some time with Radney shortly before the release of his last album for Dualtone Records, This World We Live In.
http://www.lonestarmusic.com/radney_foster_06.asp

After a long and distinguished career, for the first time ever Foster takes full control of his new album, Revival, - from the first chord written to the last unit shrink-wrapped - as he releases the disc on his own Devil's River record label.

Foster has always had the ability to make the personal feel universal, and every song on this set brings the listener closer. There is a piercing honesty to songs like "Forgiveness" and "Life Is Hard (Love Is Easy)."

He also found a way to bridge seduction--something he's sung about plenty and playfully over the years--and spiritual confession. The stylish, shuffling R&B of "Trouble Tonight" runs seamlessly into the choir-backed gospel boogie of "Shed a Little Light." Foster calls it a "Saturday night/Sunday morning combo," the sort of thing his wife used to put on the opposite sides of mixtapes back when they were dating.

With so much at stake in getting the spirit of these songs across, Foster relied on his longtime road band, now appropriately dubbed the Confessions. Thanks to them--and to Foster's own contributions on electric guitar--the album has a big guitar sound and a raw energy. The band adds a relentlessness to "Second Chances" which perfectly matches the lyrics, and a beautiful, stirring soundscape to "Suitcase."

Foster also enlisted the help of some friends. Dierks Bentley (who recorded Foster's "Sweet and Wild") came in to join the party on "Until It's Gone," and Darius Rucker lends his distinctive harmony on "Angel Flight," a moving tribute to the pilots who fly their fallen brethen home to their final resting places. Foster's co-writer, Darden Smith, started writing the song after talking to a pilot of the Texas Air National Guard who mentioned he flew the "angel flight." Smith asked Radney to finish the song with him, and the pair are donating proceeds from the song to a charity that provides assistance to military families beset by tragedy.

The set closes with a bluegrass reprise of the title track. Radney, Tammy Rogers and Jon Randall gathered around a microphone and in one take captured the spirit of Revival--joy and hope in the midst of uncertainty.

True to its title, Revival is the boldest and most spiritual thing Foster has done to date. But it would be a mistake to pigeonhole it strictly as a gospel release; what Foster is preaching here is the gospel of truth, and having the guts to choose love over fear. And like any good revival, this one will have you dancing, crying, laughing and ready to testify. Like he sings in the opening and closing track, Amen to love.

Complete Radney Foster Discography

1987 - Foster & Lloyd (as Foster & Lloyd)
1989 - Faster & Llouder (as Foster & Lloyd)
1990 - Version of the Truth (as Foster & Lloyd)
1992 - Del Rio, Texas, 1959
1995 - Labor of Love
1999 - See What You Want To See
2001 - Are You Ready for the Big Show (live)
2002 - Another Way To Go
2005 - And Then There's Me (The Back Porch Sessions)
2006 - This World We Live In
2009 - Revival