Sharon Bear & The Fab Foehners

Sharon Bear

and the Fab Foehners

The Foehners' skills and love of music is apparent onstage where there is no playlist.
When asked, they laughed and Sharon said, "our playlist is one complimentary key after the other!

The Foehner's moved to St. Louis in the mid 80s but the real story starts in upstate New York in 1977 when Doug was 14.

As Sharon tells it: "We grew up blocks apart but didn't know each other. I knew his brother. He played drums and I wanted to jam. When we did, I met Doug."

The Fab Foehners

An interview with Sharon Bear

By STLBlues

Sharon, thanks for taking some time to hang out at Sump coffee, here on Jefferson Ave.

Sharon: Yeah, it’s definitely a cool urban setting.

STLBlues: We’ve known you from your St Louis years, but you’re from New York, is that right?

Sharon: New York state, Monroe County really. I grew up on the farm, and then we moved out into the suburbs. I had an interesting childhood! Farming was a part of it, music was too!

STLBlues: You started playing music at an early age, is that right?

Sharon: Pretty young, yeah. I got dared….I was told ‘black people didn’t play that kind of music, so I said ‘I’ll be the black person that’s playing that kind of music’! So that was in 5th grade. I want thank Karen King for that, ‘thank you, Karen’, but ever since then it’s been like a house on fire, consumed me really. I’ve loved to do it, it’s gotten me all over the world.

STLBlues: You began playing music on the bass violin is that correct?

Sharon: Yes, Lynn Dunn – she passed away a couple of years ago, rest in peace – she was the first person that took it upon herself to give me private lessons.

STLBlues: Were you drawn to classical music, and what pulled you to the violin?

Sharon: The fact that someone told me I couldn’t do it, that’s what really made me want to do it, but after a while it was a way that I could feel personal growth. Because you’d hear something you like, or ‘let me check that out’, and you get the music. Or they give you a peaceful orchestra and you’ve got to learn it in a certain amount of time. and people had their music teachers but I had to be self motivated because most of the time I’d study by myself.

STLBlues: Did you find yourself playing the modern music of the day on the violin?

Sharon: No, actually I didn’t start playing attention to popular music until my late teens. Basically I just wanted to learn the instrument, and the scales and that was sufficient for the time. But as I got older the music had started to bore me, and started to sound kind of square, you know.

STLBlues: I read somewhere that then you then discovered rock and roll!

Sharon: I discovered the Allman Brothers, and I was like ‘whoa, this is wild’, and then I started discovering all sorts of popular music sure yeah

STLBlues: Sharon, I’ve read that you and Doug grew up blocks apart in NY. How did you meet?

Sharon: Well yeah, actually we met through his older brother Steve. Steve was the drummer and a writer himself, and I was interested in both of those things growing up, so I’d be peering around corners, ‘can I jam too’? So yeah yeah, it was cool, and that’s where I met him.

STLBlues: So you guys started jamming together a little bit?

Sharon: Oh yeah, playing music, that type of thing, and I liked to play cards back in the day, but mostly just you know jam and hang out.

STLBlues: Were you out gigging together?

Sharon: No, the gigs didn’t come until I came to St Louis. I was in my early 30’s before I started playing out. I never planned on being a live musician. I did it while my my nieces were growing up, while I was taking care of them. I did it because I loved it, and then when I got here I actually saw Stacey Johnson, Keith Robinson, Buzzy Martin, Jimmy Hinds, that was my first band that I saw here in St Louis!

STLBlues: Just some blues royalty of St Louis!

Sharon: I thought ‘oh my God, I HAVE to got to make this the spot! That was ‘87, and hey man, I’ve loved it ever since.

STLBlues: You love modern blues but you have your roots deep into the standards! Blues legend Memphis Minnie comes to mind, and I’ve seen your Bessie Smith show too.

Sharon: Yes, and Lucille Bowman, oh yeah, I love these females because they were pioneers! Basically they did it before anyone even had a vision of women doing that, so they had to take all the ridicule, all the scorn, and it takes a person with a thick skin. And to write your own music as a woman, it was unheard of. So you had to know what you were doing to get out there in the man’s world and play the guitar like Memphis Minnie. So it’s in that spirit that I love and approach music.

STLBlues: When visitors go through the Blues Museum downtown, you go through the great women of the Blues and it’s Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith with her early million seller Crazy Blues on the Okeh label and so many more Blueswomen that helped launch the Blues.

Sharon: They paved they way, we stand on the shoulders of greatness, really.

STLBlues: And this was in the days of Jim Crow discrimination, when the Green Book existed.

Sharon: We need a Green Book now, but don’t let me say that too loud….yeah, we need one right now! It’s 2025 and yeah, with Trump on the loose we need one!

STLBlues: I know your husband Doug is also a huge Memphis Minnie fan, and Minnie’s husband/guitarist Kansas Joe McCoy (heard here performing with Minnie) turned him onto the slide guitar.

Sharon: He plays a double body slide guitar, and he’s got two different tunings…..it’s fabulous, it’s fabulous!

STLBlues: You might not know it, but you’re a huge influence to probably any young woman / young girl seeing you out playing bass, singing out in front, leading a band, and in a way mentoring and passing on this possibility that they too can one day do what you’re doing.

Sharon: ‘Laughs’…Well I definitely am honored to be so, because I’ve had a lot of mentors in my life, people that love music and just pass it on to me through simply the love of the music. And now that they’re gone and I continue on, I can see while they did it, and I’m going to keep on doing it myself.

STLBlues: You and Doug have both always been an advocate for the National Blues Museum. I had the pleasure of working with both of you when we did a Blues in the Schools for the Blues Museum, it was over at Liberty elementary and Lincoln middle school of Edwardsville IL, and we had a crowd of 1800 kids that day! They were a great audience, and they sure got into your music! I can’t help but think that one of those kids in that audience were so inspired by you and Doug that they may become the next Memphis Minnie or Kansas Joe McCoy, who knows what will happen!

Sharon: That was great! Yeah I agree, that’s how I felt, I mean a lot of the kids were clapping along. I’d be more than happy to have someone love music the way I do, and get all the benefits of doing so.

STLBlues: You’ve always been a proponent of education about the Blues, passing on the knowledge and the Blues tradition. When you and your husband Doug you used to call me at the Blues Museum and ask “can we busk out front“, I couldn’t say YES fast enough. How important is it to mentor the youth of America about the Blues tradition?

Sharon: I mean that’s such a tradition in the Blues, and to do it in front of the Blues Museum only showcased what the whole thing was about. The spirit of the blues has always been independent and just you know, put your guitar on, go downtown and go ahead and hit a a lick!

STLBlues: Sharon, you’ve played in so many bands as bass. I first saw you with James Crutchfield, that takes me back to about 1990.

Sharon: Yeah, sounds about right, 1989 – 1990.

STLBlues: I did an interview with James there at the Venice cafe patio, and as you know, the ‘James Leg’ case lives on the wall of the Venice Cafe in posterity.

Sharon: Yeah, he was a wild one, he lost his leg trying to jump on a train, trying to hobo on the train when he was like a young man was in his teens I think, when he lost his leg but James…James was……wow! I started in classical music, and it was very structured and organized, you read every note. And James Crutchfield was the exact opposite, and he changed chords when he felt like changing chords, and if you started counting you were going to be lost. So yeah, I followed close man, E minus, not E flat…okay this is hilarious.

STLBlues: Then you played with Bennie Smith for quite a while?

Sharon: I played with Bennie for a little over a decade – and we went to Europe twice, played some bigtime festivals there., things of that nature. We did the Missouri Arts Councils ‘Master Apprenticeship Class’ twice.

STLBlues: It’s now been about a year or so ago that Andy Lewis nominated you for a Living Traditions Sustainer Fellowship, and you were honored with that back in 2024!

Andy had wrote in his nomination: “In the music of Lonnie Johnson and other St. Louis pioneers, Sharon found a level of bounce and syncopation (the emphasis of the “offbeats” or “weak” beats in a groove) that she sees as crucial to the blues tradition!“

Sharon: I sure was, it was a great honor to be recognized for carrying on the folk tradition and the blues tradition here in St Louis, and it’s my lineage, so it means a lot more to me than just playing on the corner.

STLBlues: You’re still out playing all the time, and playing in new bands. It’s always fun when you step out front to sing! You showcase legends like Memphis Minnie, Bessie Smith, and more. What else are you doing musically?

Sharon: As COVID hit I actually had to shift my focus on singing and playing the guitar and I’m refreshing my repertoire. So a lot of things are changing but some have to stay the same, you always have to practice and be dedicated to your craft, and get better in small increments.

STLBlues: You’re doing a lot of songwriting?

Sharon: And that’s henceforth the grant money, so I could record and document my music for my grandkids.

STLBlues: And with what’s going on in the world today, there’s a lot to write about!

Sharon: Ooh my goodness, with the orange man in office there’s no end of subject matter. None.

STLBlues: Where can people find you around town?

Sharon: I’ll be playing at the Venice Cafe every other Tuesday, the auction house on Thursdays.

STLBlues: And music fans can find you on Facebook to learn more!

Videos from the interview with Sharon Bear

Sharon recieving her 2024 Living Traditions Sustainer Fellowship

Nominator Andy Lewis had wrote: “In the music of Lonnie Johnson and other St. Louis pioneers, Sharon found a level of bounce and syncopation (the emphasis of the “offbeats” or “weak” beats in a groove) that she sees as crucial to the blues tradition!

Howlin' Friday with the Fab Foehners, November 4, 2016

By Bob Baugh

The Foehner’s moved to St. Louis in the mid 80s but the real story starts in upstate New York in 1977 when Doug was 14. As Sharon tells it: “We grew up blocks apart but didn’t know each other. I knew his brother. He played drums and I wanted to jam. When we did, I met Doug.” They have been jamming ever since.

Sharon’s family had migrated from Macon, Ga. to work as sharecroppers. She likes to tell that her Mom went to high school with James Brown and her Auntie went to church with Little Richard. Her eclectic musical tastes were influenced by gospel blues (mom) and jazz (dad) but she also loved classical, soul and more. At the age of nine she began Suzuki lesson for bass violin. As a teen her interests shifted to rock ‘n’ roll, she says, “because I wanted music with a little bit more energy.”

Doug’s influence was his father, Gale “Gaslight” Foehner, a well-known ragtime-jazz pianist. As Doug puts it: “He was a piano man. He tuned them, fixed them and played them in bars all over the country.” Doug too got hooked on rock ‘n’ roll. He was a bass player and Noel Redding (Hendrix/bass) look alike in a Jimi Hendrix style band. He said, “I was hired to learn all of the Hendrix music. We did four or five years together with a list of 110 Hendrix songs and played the Bitter End in NYC.” Doug’s musical interests began to shift as he listened to Memphis Minnie on college stations.

In 1983 Doug’s Dad moved to St. Louis where he became a regular on the music scene. In 1986, Doug, now “heavily addicted to Memphis Minnie,” moved to St. Louis where he found lots of her 78s and the beginnings of a serious record collection. Gale took his son to the jazz clubs to meet his friends and hear Dixieland bands like the St. Louis Ragtimers. Having found his blues Zen, Doug became a master of the slide guitar. But, he will laugh and tell you, “I repair furniture for a living. Sharon got to make real money and play the music.”

When Sharon arrived in April 1987 there were three kids and no plans for a career in music. Seeing her first local music, The Broadway Rhythm Band — a supergroup led by Stacey Johnson with Buzz Martin on guitar, Jimmy Hinds on bass, and Keith Robinson on drums — “was mind-blowing,” she says, “I stared at Hinds all night.” Between breaks she would talk with him and he would teach her bass lines. She marveled at how “cats here were so generous in sharing their knowledge.” Jam sessions became her way to play, which is how she met the ragtime piano great James Crutchfield. One Wednesday night in 1989 she sat in on bass with his band at the Venice Café. She kept coming back and Crutchfield told her, “I can’t pay you but you can jam with us.” Two months later he told her the guys wanted her to join the band.

Sharon went on to blaze a musical trail through St. Louis and around the world. She formed the Urban Blues Express with Bennie Smith in 1995 where she sharpened her bass skills and learned the guitar. In 2004 she moved to the Rich McDonough band now known as Rough Grooves. She still plays with them as well as with Paul Bonn and the Bluesmen. Doug also plays locally with Raw Earth who put out a CD last May.

Music and family has been a constant in the Foehners’ busy lives. Over the past decade Doug would busk with his Dad in front of the Tivoli theater on Delmar. Beulah, the oldest of their three children, continues the musical tradition as a vocalist singing a song written by Sharon, “Homeless Child,” on the upcoming St. Louis Blues Society 16 for 16 CD. Of course, mom is backing her on guitar and dad is on the slide.

The Foehners’ skills and love of music is apparent onstage where there is no playlist. When asked, they laughed and Sharon said, “our playlist is one complimentary key after the other.” Doug agreed, “she likes to pick songs that are pleasant to the ear — a song in the key of G and then a D or a B — and we like to mix it up, a little blues, a little jazz.”

That’s the way the Happy Hour show went. Doug had the slide going with Sharon on guitar and vocals. Yes, Memphis Minnie was there with “Ain’t Nothin” and “When the Sun Goes Down.” So was Louis Jordan’s “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t” and Big Bill Broonzy’s Big Bill #2. Howlin’ Wolf made an appearance with “Nature” and “Howlin’ for my Darlin.” Son House dropped in with “Death Letter Blues.” Doug’s slide was flawless. One instrumental, “Maui Chimes,” required some delicate harmonic fingering. You could see Sharon smiling at him across the stage as his left pinkie deftly worked its magic. Sharon’s vocals were tender, emotive and soulful. You could it see on her face as she would close her eyes and lean into the mike. And, you could see Doug smiling at his playmate; they were in tune. It was a joy to be there, a real happy hour for all.

NATIONAL BLUES MUSEUM: Artist Statement - Sharon Bear and The Cubs

Sharon Bear and the Cubs embody St. Louis blues music and its lineage of mentorship and artistic authenticity. Each member of our band has had their own powerful lifelong experiences with music and learned from some of the voices that have helped St. Louis develop its own musical style, history, and identity. Sharon Foehner’s musical practice is a part of her family legacy as Foundational Black Americans and musicians. Her musical journey began as a classically trained double bass player. In elementary school, a white classmate told her that “Black people can’t play classical music,” which inspired her to master her instrument and prove the girl wrong. Her mother’s father was a musician, and family members encouraged her creativity.

Foehner’s ancestry is often a key theme in her music, honoring her parents and grandparents who worked as sharecroppers. Laborers in the Mississippi Delta created the modern blues, and Foehner’s songs like “Call the Ancestors on Down” honor the sacrifices of these generations who created blues music and modern American music by extension: If you’re a descendant of slaves in America. Look up and down your own family tree with gratitude and love.

Sharon moved to St. Louis in the mid-1980s and quickly became entrenched in the city’s thriving blues culture. She always credits her mentors— Bennie Smith, Johnnie Johnson, Oliver Sain, Renee Smith, Jimmy Rodgers, James Crutchfield, Henry Townsend, and more — with believing in her musical abilities and welcoming her into the world of blues performance. This is an aspect of the tradition she displays toward budding musicians in the region to this day. Writing her own original songs, Sharon celebrates these musical mentors who presented the sounds of the blues to her in her youth. She has titled her in-progress album Inheritance in honor of her children and grandchildren.

Sharon has written a body of work exploring the Black experience, St. Louis music, and the contemporary realities her grandchildren face. She hopes this album will be a lasting document for them to learn from after her passing, like leaving an instruction manual with the life lessons she’s learned as an artist and Black American. Tom Maloney and Eric McSpadden are long-time bandmates and friends going back to Sharon’s time playing with Bennie Smith, who passed away in 2006. All three appear on his 2001 album Shook Up. Maloney grew up in St. Louis County in the 1950s and 1960s, and went on to play worldwide with his musical hero: St. Louis’s piano extraordinaire Johnnie Johnson, whose playing graces nearly every Chuck Berry classic. Eric McSpadden is one of the most renowned harmonica players in St. Louis, playing in many styles.

Posthumous bandmates Gus Thornton (Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan) and Chuck “Popcorn” Louden (Martha Reeves, Johnnie Taylor) were key members of this community. They played with each band member on multiple releases, including Rockin’ Eighty-Eights, an album featuring three greats of the St. Louis piano — Johnnie Johnson, Clayton Love (Ike & Tina Turner), and Jimmy Vaughan (Albert King).