Americana singer-songwriter Ruthie Collins’ music transcends time and space, and her latest album, Cold Comfort, explores her incredible talent for blending visceral lyrics with beautiful melodies. These gorgeous songs produce a relatable story through the genres of bluegrass and country into an intensely relatable story.
Bridging the gap of where music and television collide, I discovered Ruthie through her friend, Richard Rankin (Roger MacKenzie on Starz network television show Outlander), and her warm and optimistic demeanor made for one of the most engaging interviews I’ve had to date. Ruthie is native to upstate New York, and currently makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee.
At only 36, Ruthie has already released three albums and EP’s and is always working on new music. Her music heroes and role models include several legendary artists Patty Griffin, Gram Parsons, and Emmylou Harris; the first track on Cold Comfort, “Joshua Tree,” is based on the tragic romance between Emmylou and Gram, which their story resonates deeply with Ruthie and is catalyst to many of her songs and written material. “Joshua Tree” combines a finger-tapping, string-heavy melody with vivid imagery and mournful vocals to produce a wonderfully, intoxicating piece of music.
You recently came out with an album, Cold Comfort – is there another one in the works for you in the near future?
Ruthie Collins: Oh my God, girl. That thing has been written for a year, like I don’t know
exactly what it is. There are so many songs. I’ve written so many songs this past year, in 2019. They’re some of my favorite pieces that I have ever written. I guess that’s one good thing about everything that’s going on, that maybe I can go back in the studio even though I can’t necessarily tour. I’m trying to learn this stuff at home too. I’m writing and doing the best I can.
What was your first introduction to guitar and country music?
Ruthie: So, I grew up doing a lot of music with my mom. She’s a church organist, music teacher, and piano teacher. She would only really play classical music though. My dad didn’t really play much music popular either, it was like a little bit of James Taylor here and there. So, all I really had was pop radio.
When I was in middle school, I started dating this guy. Literally, it was one of those situations where I was like, “My friend’s dating your friend, so we should probably date too.” Then, of course, we ended up dating for like six years and being in love and all the things. It was ridiculous, but that’s how I do it. I don’t go in . . . I go all in. So, his parents loved country music, and being a western New Yorker girl, we would drive up to Buffalo because he was a hockey player. We would always have these hour long-car rides back and forth to his hockey games and his parents would play country music. I loved it; it was like storytelling. There were all these women . . . you know, Jo Dee Messina and that era of Trisha [Yearwood] and Reba [McEntire]. And they were just cutting these amazing songs and I just, I fell in love with it. The Dixie Chicks, oh my God, I was a huge Dixie Chicks fan. I remember playing the Dixie Chicks, those were some of my first songs that I would try to play on guitar.
I would write songs that were more like poetry, maybe with a melody, but I wasn’t that great at instruments in high school. When I went to college is when I really started working on the guitar enough that I could accompany myself and do the thing. But yeah, that’s how it all started for me.
I believe you play a bit of piano too. Are there any other instruments you’d like to play?
Ruthie: I do, I play piano. That’s something that I’m starting to do more because it’s really just something that I would write in. But I never play it live. Now what’s really interesting is that in all these Instagram lives that I’m doing, I’m like, “Well, I’m sitting right here at a piano, I might as well play it.” But I don’t tour with one, so I never played it before. So, this has kind of been fun. I also grew up playing violin, so I play violin as well. I can play a little bit of mandolin, a little bit of banjo, a little bit of bass. A tiny bit of everything, really, but mostly just guitar and piano.
Americana seems to be your scene. What drew you to that, initially?
Ruthie: Well, I think it was when I was in college. Like I said, I didn’t really have that much of a musical upbringing. My parents are great, but they just really didn’t focus on that. So, when I went to college – I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston – all of the sudden I was surrounded by these kids who were impressed with music. They had the musical upbringing and knew everything there was, but I could barely name The Beatles, like literally. It was a whole new world. That was where I learned about Patty Griffin, Kathleen Edwards, Tom Petty, and Ryan Adams, [before he was a creeper online]. Being around those people who loved that music was my introduction to it. So yeah, college.
Then you start diving into the people who inspire the people you love. It’s like Joni Mitchell, that’s probably who Kathleen Edwards was listening to. Then you even kind of go back a decade further, decades further really, and that’s kind of how I stumbled on Emmylou and Dolly and some of those people that I’m obsessed with now. But it was really kind of a little backwards because I started with pop radio and then went backwards. Which is why my melodies, even though I love that style of production and singer-songwriter style, sometimes come out really pop, which is why I think my label for so long was pushing me to be so commercial, but then it was like, okay, no, we’re going back to the roots and doing the record I actually really want to make. That’s how I made Cold Comfort.
I’m a big fan of Gram Parsons and know you are too. Can you tell me more about why you enjoy his music
Ruthie: Oh my gosh. I’m posting a cover of “Return of the Grievous Angel” to Instagram today, you’ll love it [we did love it]! I was trying to do it because I’m doing my song “Joshua Tree” this weekend. I’ve been focusing just on posting things about this song and going track by track on my record. So I was like, “well, I got to cover a Gram song.”, and then, “well, this is obviously the one because it’s one of my first ones I fell in love with.”
I had never learned the song to play it, but of course I’ve listened to it and sung along a hundred times. This has never happened to me before, I’m pretty good at picking up songs pretty quickly. I do a lot of gigs where I’ll be like, “What do you want to hear?” And I’ll just play it and I’ll YouTube it and listen to a verse in the chorus and then just try to play it. So, I’m good at that, because it’s like a game to me.
I could not learn this song, because I was so used to the… I mean, the weirdest part was that I could not even – my brain couldn’t comprehend singing Gram’s melody. It’s like his melody and her harmony had meshed into one melody for me. So, I basically gave up and was like, “this is how I’m going to sing it.” I just kind of skate back and forth between their parts because I couldn’t do it. It was so funny because it was like I’d never experienced a song that was so ingrained inside of me that I could not separate the melodies to learn. It was really weird. But anyway, yeah, you’ll see it. I’m going to post it later.
Gram did a lot of work with Emmylou Harris. They were romantically involved, and their story kind of broke me…
Ruthie: It’s so weird, Joshua Tree was about Gram and Emmylou and it still is, obviously. But yeah, that one, in particular, was really weird. It morphed into kind of about me. It was definitely one of those spooky life imitating art situations, where next thing I knew I was in Joshua Tree with a guy and he used a song to invite me out there. It was just like… wait, who is this song about now? Is it still about Gram and Emmylou? Is it about me? And now I’m just like, “who knows? Who knows? It’s all. It’s everything.” But it’s weird, yes. But originally, and it is their story, literally about how I’d read some article that she never got the chance to tell him how she really felt. And that just devastated me. Yeah. And her quote was like, “I didn’t want to tell him on the phone and we were about to go back out on the road in six weeks,” or something, or three weeks. And then he passed away before they went back on tour.
You do a lot of collaborating with your friend Natalie Stovall. Is there anybody else that you’d love to collaborate with?
Ruthie: So, so many. I love… Patty Griffin’s my favorite. I would just like to be in the same room as her. Obviously Emmylou as well. Those are probably my big two.
Photo provided by artist
Fun Questions
Since I discovered you through your friend, actor Richard Rankin, how did you guys meet?
Ruthie: I met Richard in Nashville actually, just through mutual friends. He was there visiting a friend, and we were at the same, basically restaurant, and just met that way and have stayed in touch since.
I really like that we’re close in age and we can rock our natural beauty!
Ruthie: Oh, I love it. I’m trying to do that too. And it’s kind of a struggle sometimes because I feel like half of culture is very that, I call it the sexy alien look. Which is like the big lashes, big lips, all the injectables. Which is weird then because then we all kind of start looking exactly like the same person. Like I have this thing about… Do you watch that show Love Island?
It’s like my girlfriends’ and my guilty pleasure. I really only watched one season but it was so fun. And when I started watching it, I was like, “this is trash.” By the end of the season, I was like, “these are the best people and they genuinely love each other. And they’re all here looking for love.” And it was really bringing me joy. It was like, this is something I can watch and it’s not so dark and disturbing. Like I watch a lot of that dark shit and this was like, just really made me happy.
What I realized, though, was that the girls would get off the show, and then you would follow them on Instagram, and then all of a sudden they all looked like the same person. It was like they were all going to the same doctor, getting the same injectables, doing their makeup the same, getting the same hair extensions. It got to the point where I was like, “who is who?” I don’t even recognize anyone. They all look like the exact same person. So that’s what I don’t like about that trend. Obviously, I’m not into shooting chemicals into your face. I’m not going to pretend I’ve never had Botox, I’m not going to say that. But I don’t do any of the other stuff and I haven’t had Botox in a really long time. But it’s really creepy, with those girls on the show.
Do you have a guilty music and/or entertainment pleasure?
Ruthie: Well, I already told you about Love Island. Music-wise, I have started listening to pop music in general. Honestly in the last year, as a spiritual practice. Now I know that sounds crazy, but what I have learned is that dancing is the biggest way that I’m happy. And I don’t sit around… this really only happens in my car. Basically, what I realized is I started listening to pop music, I think because I wasn’t hearing anything on country radio that I was particularly moved by for a while. So I started listening to pop and I was like, “Wow. These melodies are actually really good. And the songwriting is really good.” Then it was just like during this whole spiritual journey I’ve been on, trying to become happy and positive, I realized that I was so happy when I was listening to music and dancing in my car like an idiot. I was like, I’m going to do this every day and see what happens.
Honestly, it raises your mood so much. So, I love pop music now. I sit around and I dance around in my car to it and I change the lyrics to be positive; I’m such a weirdo. You know that song that’s like, I think it’s Ed Sheeran. “Beautiful People,” you know? He’d always be like, “that’s not who we are.” I would always be like, “this is who we are.”, because I’m like, why are you saying we’re not…we are, Ed. I like to change the lyrics to make them positive.
Photo provided by artist
Who was your first concert, and do you have a favorite one thus far?
Ruthie: Yeah. Okay, so my first concert was No Doubt (with Gwen Stefani) in sixth grade. I remember sitting there in sixth grade with my dad and my sister and my best friend, we all went. When they came out, everyone just stood up and was screaming. You know, it was a huge arena show night. I’d never been to anything like that. I remember we were standing up screaming and my dad and my sister are the only people sitting down. It got to a point in the song where she was singing, “I’m just a girl,” and it got to this one point in the show where she sang, “F*** you, I’m a girl. F*** you, I’m a girl.” I’d never been so shocked and like, “What?” And my father was like, “Oh, no.” It was a very informative experience as a sixth-grader. It was so fun. Then I think I saw Blink 182 a bunch of times in high school, for some reason. One of my favorite memories, that will always be one of my favorites, is seeing Tom Petty at Red Rocks. I think that was 2006. The Black Crowes were opening and it was just amazing. It was just a beautiful, beautiful venue, one of my favorite artists of all time. Obviously, super bittersweet now because you can’t see him anymore, so I’ll always think back on that concert.
First album or CD?
Ruthie: My first cassette was Mariah Carey, Music Box. I wanted the record so bad that apparently I asked like everyone, that’s all I asked for my birthday that year. So, I got three copies of it. I was like, “No, this is great. I can have one at my mom’s house, I can have one at my dad’s house, I can have one in my dad’s car. This is perfect.” So, I wore that thing completely out. My first CD was The Smashing Pumpkins, the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. That was a great one too. After that was Green Day, Dookie. I don’t know what my first vinyl was. I inherited my dad’s vinyl collection in high school and then in college, the same. I had all that. I didn’t really start buying my own vinyls until honestly in the last five years. So, I don’t even know what that would be. Someone gave me a copy of Grievous Angels for Christmas this year and I couldn’t believe I didn’t have it.
Which five albums and/or artists would you not want to live without?
Ruthie: Well, definitely Grievous Angels is very special to me. I would say Flaming Red by Patty Griffin. Wildflower, Tom Petty. Oh my God. Wrecking Ball would probably be the Emmylou one. Although Red Dirt Girl. Sweet Baby James by James Taylor. Oh, Gregory Alan Isakov would have to be in there. I’m a huge Gregory fan and I actually would probably say the one that he did with The Colorado Orchestra, just because I just love drama in music. I like musical theater and all that stuff. And that was sort of similar to listening to your favorite singer-songwriters, like a Disney record because it was so lush with all the strings. I really love that.
Ruthie’s album, Cold Comfort, can be streamed and/or purchased here.
Find Ruthie on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
