Courtesy of BC Productions Artist Management Group

Saffire — The Uppity Blues Women are (from left) Gaye Adegbalola, Andra Faye and Ann Rabson.

Saffire -- The Uppity Blues Women are calling it quits after 25 years.

The blues group made up of Gaye Adegbalola, Andra Faye and Ann Rabson, will perform in Christiansburg on Friday as part of the farewell tour for its final CD, "Havin' the Last Word."

The concert will also be a fundraiser for the Women's Resource Center of the New River Valley in Radford.

The group performed at the center's benefit and 30th anniversary concert last year, and the reaction was so good they've been invited back again, said Susan Dickerson, assistant director of the center.

"They're three diverse women who speak to women's issues, so it seemed a good fit," Dickerson said. "It's also exciting to have them on their final tour."

It's a good time to go out while still on top, Faye said in a phone interview from Bowling Green last week. " We might still do a show together, but we're all going to follow our own paths."

The group formed in 1984 with Adegbalola, Rabson and bass player Earlene Lewis. Faye met Rabson and Adegbalola during a workshop in West Virginia in 1987 and became friends with the band members.

"They were already Saffire when I met them then," Faye said.

The band stayed at Faye's house when passing through Indianapolis, where she lived and worked as a nurse at the time. She first contributed to an album in early 1992.

But she didn't become a full-fledged member until later that year, when Lewis left the band.

"I was already living vicariously through my friends in Saffire, so I thought I could go out and give it a try," Faye said. "I figured if it didn't work out, I could go back to being a nurse."

But it worked.

And 17 years later, the women have traveled the world, from New Zealand to Alaska. They've recorded nine albums, released a "Best of" CD, starred in a documentary, missed flights, lost luggage, been in near car accidents and agreed their collective favorite city is Barcelona, Spain, Faye said.

"It's a lot like being in a family," Faye said.

During the 2008-09 fiscal year, the Women's Resource Center served a record 4,227 people, Dickerson said.

"The economic times make bad situations worse," Dickerson said.

Last year, the benefit concert with Saffire -- The Uppity Blues Women raised about $4,000 for the Women's Resource Center, Dickerson said.

"The need isn't diminishing, but the streams of revenue are," Dickerson said.