Today, Ruth Moody is releasing Wanderer, the long-awaited new solo album from the Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Renowned as a founding and current member of Billboard-charting and JUNO-award winning folk trio, The Wailin’ Jennys, Moody employs open-tuned guitars (inspired by her musical heroes, Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling) to provide the backdrop for soaring pedal steel and the otherworldly vocals we've come to expect. Recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the self-penned 10-song album was co-produced by Moody and Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive) and mixed by Tucker Martine (Madison Cunningham, First Aid Kit) and is out today on Moody's Blue Muse Records distributed via True North Records. Along with East Coast and Midwest dates featuring Moody's trio, she'll be taping a session with Acoustic Cafe, performing at Winnipeg Folk Festival in July and showcasing at AmericanaFest in Nashville this September.
It's been over a decade since her last solo release, These Wlilder Things, a stunningly beautiful album featuring Mark Knopfler, who subsequently brought Moody to support him on his European tours. She'd always intended to record a follow-up but shifted her focus in 2016, when she and her partner, multi-instrumentalist Sam Howard (Molly Tuttle, Joy Williams) welcomed their son, Woodson. After the release and subsequent tours supporting The Wailin' Jennys' 2017 album, Fifteen, Moody was ready to try again; then the pandemic hit.
Moody brought together her favorite musicians for the recordings, including Howard, who plays upright bass and provides backing vocals, her older brother Richard Moody, Jennys’ touring member Anthony da Costa, (guitars), Jason Burger (drums), Kai Welch (Keyboards); Russ Pahl (pedal steel), Adrian Dolan (string arrangements) and duet partner Joey Landreth (The Bros. Landreth) on “The Spell of the Lilac Bloom.” The result is a transcendent collection of ten deeply powerful and personal songs that reflect Moody’s inner world and wanderings.
From the first note, the listener is immersed in a lush and intimate world, welcomed by sounds at once classic, mysterious, and enchanting. Wanderer explores the emotional journey of motherhood, the joy and pain of life, the mysterious and complicated dance of love, and ultimately the longing we all feel for home, wherever that may be.
RECENT PRAISE FOR RUTH MOODY
"Exquisite ... spellbinding layers of vocals, instruments, and lyrics as it evokes the newness and the
hope of love." —Folk Alley
"a sweeping, swirling mix of nostalgia surrounding young love gone awry and what could have been,
with striking vocals that conjure wistful images of 1960s-era Joni Mitchell.” —PopMatters
“It’s not every day that an album sweeps you off your feet and hits the spot on first listening. Nor does every album have a complete set of songs that take your breath away. Yet, here we have both in this new album, ‘Wanderer‘, from award-winning multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter Ruth Moody.”
—Americana UK 9/10
"Moody acknowledges the points when we seem to slip and fall apart completely, just as part of the human condition." —Americana Highways
“[Moody] has her musical needlepoint down to a consummate art” —KLOF Magazine
RUTH MOODY BAND TOUR*
May 21 Annapolis, MD – Rams Head
May 22 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
May 23 Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
May 25 New York, NY – Joe’s Pub
May 26 State College, PA – State Theatre
May 28 Evanston, IL – SPACE
May 29 Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
May 30 Cincinnati, OH – Ludlow Garage
May 31 Nashville, TN - Musicians Corner
Jul 11-14 Winnipeg, MB - Winnipeg Folk Festival
Sep 17-21 Nashville, TN - AmericanaFest showcase
*Fall U.S. Midwest dates to be announced soon
