Ruby Jane – The Show Stealer
I know some of you think that I’m a little crazy for touting Austin’s 15-year-old fiddling phemon Ruby Jane so highly. That is because you have never seen Ruby Jane live. If you had (or have), then you know that despite all of my ridiculous accolades, nothing I’ve written about her does any justice to how astonishing a Ruby Jane Show is. It is the best music I have ever seen live. But don’t take my word for it.
Today at Austin City Limits Fest, Ruby Jane, as an unsigned, upcoming artist, was given an 11 AM slot on the BMI stage. That slot usually draws about 200 people. Ruby Jane drew 2000, and blew their doors off. From The Statesman:
As she left the stage, several of the early-morning festival goers wandered around like survivors of a tornado’s near miss. And in some ways, that was apropos-Ruby Jane seems less like a kid not yet old enough to drive and more like a force of musical nature.
At the age of 15, Ruby Jane has no musical peer. In The ACL Lineup, they slotted her as a 3rd tier performer. Her name might not be as recognizable as The Eagles, but her ability is unparalleled. She is a show stealer.
When I was working on re-designing the site, I was talking to Dave the Webmaster, and he mentioned that a mutual friend of ours had a baby, and they named her Ruby Jane. There was no connection to the performer, it was just a coincidence. But when I said to Dave, “Do you know about Ruby Jane, the fiddle player?” he almost freaked. “Do I know about her? Oh my God, I saw her on Austin City Limits with Willie and the Wheel and she stole the show! Everything was going along just fine, and then she took maybe a 30 second solo, and I could believe what I was seeing.”
Dave the Webmaster, along with being good with computers, is the smartest music mind I’ve ever known, and was a music theory
major in college. He’s also the harshest music critic I know, and he’s not easily, if ever, impressed.
Ruby has been appearing in a play called A Ride With Bob about Bob Wills, written and starring Ray Benson of Asleep At The Wheel. Ruby appearance is small, but her impact is huge. From a review on Pegasus News:
Ruby Jane Smith, a 15-year-old fiddle prodigy and multi-instrumentalist, played a few different roles throughout the show. Although she wasn’t a main character, her ability on the fiddle was simply awe-inspiring. She stood modestly on stage and kept her head down when she wasn’t playing, but as soon as she picked up her fiddle, all eyes were on her and folks looked on with dumbfounded astonishment.
Someone once told me when I mentioned how I was in dumbfounded astonishment that Ruby Jane was not bigger than she is, “She’s 15 man. Give it time.” The way I see it, for those sitting on the sidelines waiting for the Ruby Jane Show to get big before they will pay attention, time is wasting.
Ruby Jane is one of the biggest things to happen in music in our generation. This is a fact. The only variable is when our generation will wake up and realize it.
Stealing the show with Blues Traveler at ACL:
October 10, 2010 @ 2:11 pm
Ruby Jane = Good at music.
October 10, 2010 @ 2:18 pm
I don’t think you’re crazy at all Triggerman. She’s awesome and very very talented.
October 10, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
Truth is I’m crazy as a shithouse rat Denise. But Ruby is awesome and very very talented nonetheless!
October 11, 2010 @ 10:34 am
Triggerman, I have become almost as big a fan of yours as a music(That’s spelled Ruby Jane) reviewer as I am of Sweet Ruby Jane as an entertainer/fiddler.
October 10, 2010 @ 2:36 pm
After three years of stunning performances by the “Fiddlin’ Princess of Country Music” (or any other kind of music), I know you’re not blowing smoke, Trigger Man. There is only one Ruby Jane. As George Burns (“God”) said to John Denver (Jerry Landers) in the movie ‘Oh God’, “You have the strength that comes from knowing”. As Ruby fans, WE KNOW!!
October 10, 2010 @ 7:41 pm
Crazy as a shithouse rat huh? Well thanks Mr. Crazy for turning me on to these fantastic artists.
And Hi Dave the Webmaster. Dude, you rock!
October 11, 2010 @ 9:48 am
LOVE the picture! One of the things that’s so wonderful about her is that she gives herself over to the music in the way that the finest musicians always have.
Taylor Swift (And Parents) Sued by Former Manager; 15-Year-Old Fiddler Ruby Jane Earns Rave Reviews; Darius Rucker To Serve Up More Of The Same | American Twang
October 11, 2010 @ 11:03 am
[…] Ruby Jane, who drew 2000 heads to her 11am show at the Austin City Limits festival yesterday. Saving Country Music relayed the following comments from The Austin American-Statesman: As she left the stage, several of the early-morning festival goers wandered around like survivors […]
October 11, 2010 @ 12:30 pm
I wonder if that’s the first time a headline has had both Ruby Jane and Taylor Swift in it? Kind of fits the situation, in my opinion, as to who’s the “real deal” and who is, errrrrr……OK I don’t want to get sued either.
October 11, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
I wondered the same… le sigh…
The good thing is maybe one or two Taylor Swift loving music freaks happen to read up on our Miss Ruby Jane and become as entranced as we are.
October 11, 2010 @ 1:50 pm
I just heard Ruby Jane play and cried–she is so gifted!
October 11, 2010 @ 3:06 pm
SHE’s my niece – taught her everything she knows!
October 11, 2010 @ 10:04 pm
She gives me hope for the future.
October 12, 2010 @ 8:30 am
When you boil it all down, that is what all this interest in Ruby Jane is about.
Our world is so void and so hungry for positive young female role models. The only girls that rise o fame these days either have no talent (Taylor Swift) or no respect for themselves (Miley Cyrus).
This has so much more to with than just music. Music is the excuse to pay attention to this young woman, but her true gift is hope.
https://savingcountrymusic.com/the-ruby-jane-show-live-and-hope
October 12, 2010 @ 7:10 am
One thing about Ruby that folks who don’t know her may not realize (I’ve posted this on other sites, I don’t know that I have on any of TM’s articles about RJ) is that she is about the sweetest, nicest, most courteous young lady you’d ever want to meet. That was one of the things that made me such a huge fan of hers from the very beginning, when I first heard her in 2007, it wasn’t just her music. And everyone else who knows her will tell you the same thing.
October 12, 2010 @ 8:30 am
Totally agree.
October 12, 2010 @ 9:07 am
October 18, 2010 @ 9:00 am
Ruby was named ‘The MVP” of ACL Fest by the Austin Chronicle:
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/column?oid=oid%3A1097573
October 21, 2010 @ 5:29 am
I saw Ruby last Sunday (10-17) at Gruene Hall, it was the best show she’s ever put on (I say that every time but it’s true, she just gets better and better). Gruene is totally a “tourist/shop” town, nothing but shops, hotels, and eating places (plus Gruene Hall itself), the huge crowds she draws are mostly tourists from outside the Austin/New Braunfels area (although she has a core of fans who come to just about every one of her shows there), some are from other states and other countries, it’s fun to watch people’s jaws literally drop who are seeing her for the first time. She can mesmerize an audience like no one I’ve ever seen.
October 24, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
Our world is a better place and gonna get better and Ruby Jane is a lot of the reason.