Texas Music News — August 8, 2026
Ruthie Foster’s 12th album, Just Say Yes, out Aug. 28 on Sun Records, turns her affirmation into a mission statement. A neon-yellow Post-it note has ridden along with her for three decades. It reads simply: Just. Say. YES! When one falls off, she sticks on another, like a sailor resetting a compass rather than abandoning the course.
Ruthie Foster grew up in Gause, Texas, then joined the Navy. Then she came home to care for her mother. Now her honors fill a shelf. They include six Grammy nominations and several Blues Music Awards. She also holds a spot in the Texas Heritage Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Last year, she finally won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. The award honored 2024’s Mileage, her 11th studio album. She found out while sitting at a bar in the Houston airport, fresh off a blues cruise through the Caribbean. Afterward, friends and family greeted her at the bottom of an escalator with signs and hugs.
“I’m glad I was blessed enough to have one,” Foster says of the Grammy. “I have been out here a while, and I feel seen and heard,” she adds. But Mileage also marked a leap of faith. Ruthie Foster left her longtime label, Blue Corn Music, to sign with Sun Records. The storied Memphis imprint once recorded Elvis, Roy Orbison, and Johnny Cash. Still, she wanted its small, women-heavy team more than its pedigree. So she worked with Nashville producer Tyler Bryant and his wife, Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe.
Ruthie Foster’s Post-it Note Turns Forward
Mileage looked back over Foster’s life; Just Say Yes looks ahead. Working again with Bryant and Lovell, Foster then leans into funk boogie on “Doubling Back.” She also digs into bruising psych-soul on “Tangled” and gospel-sized triumph on the lead single, “Thank You.” Still, quieter moments carry just as much weight, like the piano ballad “Sitting Still.” Foster now splits her time between touring and slowing down. So she takes Decembers off and books herself an hour of quiet most mornings, even on the road.
Austin still keeps a star waiting for Ruthie Foster outside the Paramount Theatre. It’s a nod to the city she calls the most nurturing music town there is. “That little Post-it note was originally about saying yes to opportunity, and I did,” Foster says. “But where I am right now, it’s about saying yes to me. I’m choosing me.” Details at Austin Chronicle.
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Leon Bridges will headline an intimate hometown show at Fort Worth’s Bowie House on Sept. 13. Ticket packages start at $1,550 and benefit The Big Good, the charity he co-founded with former TCU coach Gary Patterson. The show previews his fifth album, Happiness Anytime, which arrives Sept. 25 on Columbia Records. Details at KERA News.
Longview, Texas, native Miranda Lambert released “Sunset Marquis,” a new song from her upcoming album, Crisco. The track pays tribute to the famed West Hollywood hotel where Lambert has stayed for nearly 20 years. Crisco arrives Oct. 2 on MCA Nashville. Details at Nashville.com.
Koe Wetzel and Ella Langley reunited for a new duet, “Jaded,” released Aug. 7. The Pittsburg, Texas, native co-wrote the song with Langley, Jordan Schmidt, and Ernest. It’s their first collaboration since 2022’s Gold-certified “That’s Why We Fight.” Details at 92.5 XTU.