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SF: I do. I listened to several versions, and I've seen Snooks Eaglin play live. I love Snooks Eaglin,
and he did a funky ‘Malaguena’, which was so cool. And I've since kind of started to mess around
with that just for fun. Because there's so many versions of ‘Malaguena’, and it's just such a cool
piece that people keep reinventing it and reinterpreting it. The guitar player just ran with that
piece, so it's quite cool, and Snooks is so cool. I mean, he really had an inventive take on it.
BiTS: One of the tracks that I really love on the album is your version of Sister Rosetta’s ‘My
Journey To The Sky’. I'm wondering whether
you've got any plans to do any other gospel music.
SF: You know, no, actually [laughing]. I have never
really had a strong desire to be a gospel musician
at all. I love Sister Rosetta, and I picked that song
because that song just has stayed with me my
whole career. I love it so much. I love her work
with Marie Knight, particularly the duo work that
she did with Marie Knight. I just think it's so
touched, it's just so personal and the way those
two worked together was magical. But that song
just has always stayed with me, so thank you.
Thank you for saying that. It was a little
intimidating for me to do, to be honest, because I
had never done gospel music.
BiTS: Oh really? Really.
SF: Yeah.
BiTS: I think you'd be well advised to search out
some more gospel music and do it because I think
you've got the voice for it and the style for it and it's wonderful.
SF: Oh wow, that means a lot to me to hear you say that. Thank you so much.
BiTS: Tell me something about how you plan to market this album. Are you going to do specific
sets of acoustic music, or are you going to just embed it in the rest of the show?
SF: Well, it's a little bit of both. I can do a complete solo show based around it and I've done that.
I've been doing that sort of interspersed with the work I do with my band. So I'm doing both. It
works great. I can do a whole show based around the work of these women, mixed in with my
own narrative and stories about them. And I also, when I work with my band, for instance, next
week, we're out on the road together, I'll just do a portion. I'll break down the show and do a
little feature on this.
BiTS: I did an interview last week or the week before with Tinsley Ellis, who's got an acoustic
album out, and he said to me that he's delighted to be able to just travel with two guitars and
leave all the amplifiers at home [chuckles].
SF: Yeah, it's wonderful. It is really wonderful. It's nice to lighten your load and it's nice to play
intimate music as well. You play it in different kinds of venues and the people who come to these
shows are very much engaged in the listening, the active listening. It's not just about partying.
So it's nice to be able to connect with audiences like that.