Sue Foley, who plays Cuban Club in Ybor City, Florida on May 10, 2025. Credit: Photo by Todd V. Wolfson

Following the release of last year’s One Guitar Woman—an acoustic tribute to pioneering female guitarists—Canadian-born singer-songwriter-guitarist Sue Foley was nominated for the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album. She lost to Taj Mahal (who already had four Grammys beforehand), but if there’s anything we’ve learned about WMNF’s Tropical Heatwave—which we’ll never take for granted again—it’s that a name like Foley, who has been on the scene for over 30 years, may never play another local room as small as the Cuban Club after this weekend.

Ahead of her Heatwave gig this weekend, she told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about the best gig she ever saw. Read her full quote below.

“I can’t say for certain what the best concert I ever saw was—honestly, I’ve been lucky enough to witness so many legends in my lifetime. But one that left an unforgettable mark on me happened when I was just a teenager: Albert Collins, the master of the Telecaster, live at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC. The Commodore is still around today—a wide, spacious venue with a huge dance floor that I believe dates back to the big band era. That night, it was packed to the brim with fans, all waiting for the Iceman to hit the stage. I managed to get right up front, standing directly in front of Albert Collins’s massive Fender Quad Reverb amp. He had every setting cranked to 10.

I’ll never forget the feeling when he hit his first note—that stinging, piercing, soul-shaking note. It was like a lightning bolt: it could melt your face, peel paint off the walls, and stop time. There was nothing like the sound of Albert Collins. He could fire off a flurry of notes when he wanted to, but what really struck me was the power of one. His stage presence was electric—funny, energetic, almost otherworldly. His eyes looked like light came out of them. As a young girl dreaming of being a blues guitar player, that night changed everything for me. I realized in that moment that guitarists who shred with no soul have nothing on someone who can say everything with a single note. Walking down the dewy Vancouver street after the show, I just kept muttering to myself, “One note. That’s all you need—one note.”

I saw Collins many times after that night, and every time, he blew my mind with that same note. As a blues guitarist, that idea has stayed with me my whole life. It’s what I strive for—to hit a note that is unequivocally mine: my soul, my sound, my truth. After that concert, I knew I had to play a Fender Telecaster—just like Albert Collins, and like Muddy Waters, who also had that one great note. People think it’s easy, but when you see a master like Collins, you realize how much charisma, energy, style, and soul go into every phrase. It’s something I’ll carry with me forever.”—Sue Foley

Tickets to WMNF’s Tropical Heatwave at Ybor City’s Cuban Club on Saturday, May 10 are still available and start at $50.