Ruthie Foster’s forthcoming record Healing Time (out Nov. 18) finds her pushing her boundaries as a singer and songwriter more than ever before in her 25-year-career – creating a truly live-sounding atmosphere with the help of her band throughout this 12-song collection. On Healing Time, Foster contributed more to the writing process than she had on any of her previous albums, effectively refining her own songcraft in the process.

Collaborating with powerhouse producers Mark Howard (Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams) and Dan Barrett, who also worked on Foster’s Joy Comes Back, these new songs coalesced at Adrian Quesada’s (Black Pumas) famed Electric Deluxe studio in Austin, TX. Along with several members of the Black Pumas, Barrett brought in a collection of Austin’s finest backing musicians like Glenn Fukunaga (The Chicks, Shawn Colvin).

The aptly titled Healing Time is not only a reference to the trials many have faced over the last several years but it’s also a musical balm for Foster’s listeners. “I hear fans tell me that the music we make is very spiritually healing,” she says. “The experience of dealing with my own grief after losing a band member a year before the pandemic while navigating around Zoom school with my daughter and trying to figure out what to do with myself was tough but necessary. When I look at it as a whole it was all very healing for me which is pretty much how I try to live my life. There’s always time for healing, if you give it time.”