Biography

Australian born, Ruth grew up on the Canadian prairies, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She comes from a musical family and has been singing, playing, and performing since she was a small child. Her mother a music teacher and orff-specialist, and her father an English teacher with a passion for Shakespeare, it is no wonder Ruth ended up becoming a professional singer-songwriter who spends most of her time on the stage. However, this wasn't always Ruth's goal. Like her siblings, violist Richard (The Bills), violinist Rachel (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra) and cellist/psychiatrist Jane (keeping the family sane), she was trained classically, beginning with piano lessons at the age of four. But unlike the rest of her family, she was never drawn to learn a stringed instrument, and when she reached her mid-teens and found herself the odd-one out, she decided to study voice instead. Having sung effortlessly since she was a child, she knew this would be an important step in her musical journey, but as it became clear that she did not have an operatic to voice, she wondered where her love of singing would lead. As she began to explore different interests in the form of history, art, and mythology, she also discovered a passion for folk music traditions, and while still very much interested in the classical side of voice training, she built up a repertoire of folk songs. She was particularly drawn to Irish and Scottish songs, and loved singing them unaccompanied. It was this love and affinity for the Celtic tradition that eventually led her to decide on a career in folk music.

In 1996, after 3 years at university studying English and French literature and a year's pilgrimage to her 'home-land' of Australia, Ruth abandoned the once-practical idea of becoming a teacher and turned to her growing interest in folk music. Serendipitously, she found elementary school play-mate, Leonard Podolak, living two doors down from her and within weeks she was jamming with the boys from celtic/roots band Scruj MacDuhk. In March, 1997, she officially joined the band and her widely-praised ethereal vocals became a prominent feature in the group's sound. She spent five years as their lead singer, playing theatres, folk clubs, and folk festivals across Canada, the United States and Europe. The band's first studio album, The Road to Canso, was nominated for a Juno for best roots and traditional album of 1999, and earned two Prairie Music Awards for outstanding roots recording and outstanding independent release of 1999.

In the fall of 2001, Scruj MacDuhk broke up and Ruth began focussing on writing songs. She taught herself to play the guitar and quickly initiated a new project: a collaboration with fellow Winnipeg singer-songwriters Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft. In January 2002, they took the stage as The Wailin Jennys, and soon became one of the most sought-after bands on the Canadian Folk scene. In 2004, they released their first full-length album, 40 Days, on Jericho Beach Records in Canada, Red House Records in the United States and Europe, and Shock Records in Australia. It received international critical acclaim and earned multiple awards, including a Juno for best roots and traditional album of 2004. In 2006 The Jennys rejoined forces with 40 Days producer David Travers-Smith and released their sophomore album, Firecracker, which received international critical acclaim and also received multiple nominations and awards, including a Juno nomination for best roots and traditional album of 2006 and the North American Folk Alliance Award for best contemporary release of 2006.

The Jennys, now Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta, and New York-based Heather Masse, with Jeremy Penner on fiddle and mandolin, continue to tour like mad-women and captivate audiences around the world.

Although Ruth began her professional career as a Celtic singer, she is now becoming known first and foremost as a singer-songwriter, with her compositions being described as 'divine' (Roddey Campbell, Penguin Eggs),'awesome' (John Kendle, Uptown Magazine), and 'classically elegant' (Patrick Langston, Sing Out!). She was a one of ten finalists in the folk category of the 2004 USA Songwriting Competition and a semi-finalist in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition, for her song 'One Voice'. In 2002 she released an EP of original songs called Blue Muse, and is currently working on material for a full-length solo album. Her exquisite soprano voice is matched by impressive skill as a multi-instrumentalist: Ruth plays piano, guitar, bodhran, accordion and banjo. In addition to her collaboration with the Wailin' Jennys, she has also toured and recorded with two former members of Scruj MacDuhk in a group called Moody, Penner and Swain (their album is called South Bound), and sings with Winnipeg Renaissance and Early music group, Camerata, in her spare time.

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Ruth Moody.com