Ruth Minnikin and her Bandwagon prepare to release new album 'Depend on This'!!!
January through to June 2009, sees Ruth performing at festivals, showcasing at Folk Alliance, ECMA, CMW, SXSW, NXNE, and touring Canada!
New video, shot for the Atlantic Film Festival coming soon!
The Minnikins (Ruth and her brother Gabe) successfully played festivals and artspaces this past summer throughout the UK and Europe. 17 shows, radio appearances and 3 festivals in 25 days!
The Minnikins this summer will make musical appearances at Truck Festival and perform throughout England.
NewCastle - Americana Fest - Live Review in Maverick Magazine
Maverick Sept 2008 Issue 74
“Ruth and her brother are from Nova Scotia and play an assortment of instruments (accordion, mandolin and guitar) and sing glorious harmonies. Ruth sounds a bit like Laura Cantrell and her brother has a deep gruff voice like Billy Bob Thorton. It’s acts like these that make this particular festival a treat for music lovers. By the time they left the stage after a 30 minute set, there was a queue of 11 people at the merch stall, to buy their CD.”
Some past nods
Ruth nominated for 'Socan Songwriter of the Year Award' and 'Best Folk Album' at the 2007/8 Nova Scotia Music Awards !!!!
Ruth performed at international conferences ECMA, CMW, NXNE and SXSW
"
Canadian country gal Ruth Minnikin just gets better and better. Beautifully presented in a stamped canvas sleeve, third LP Folk Art (4 stars) finds her shifting further from the sweet country-folk of earlier work into the darker recesses of rural American tradition. A bony set of tunes veering from freakshow carnival nightmares ("Bad Dreams Pt.1") through N’awlins jazz ("Chicken Cooped Up In Country Music") to spare parlour folk ("Song Mill"). See www.ruthminnikin.ca for details." Uncut (UK) May 2007, Rob Hughes
"
Ruth Minnikin signed with EMI as part of The Booming Airplanes at the age of 17. Ten years and several albums with Nova Scotian Alternative Country band The Guthries later, she issues her third solo record, Folk Art, in a small cloth bag with stenciled artwork, accompanied by a handwritten track sheet. Recorded and mixed in three days, even fans of lo-fi singer songwriters like Jolie Holland or Freakwater might find Folk Art a little minimal, but Minnikin's cracked vocal skips over perfectly miniaturized songs featuring mandolin, banjo and French horn. Find Folk Art at www.ruthminnikin.ca. There's a hootenanny in the dolls’ house." London Sunday Times (UK), Feb. 2007, Stewart Lee
“Play her when you have company and absolutely everyone will ask you who the singer is. Some will say she sounds like a female Leonard Cohen.” Monday Magazine (BC)
“Ruth Minnikin has a voice that would harmonize happily with the McGarrigle sisters and writes songs of stark but simple emotion that are evocative of Natalie Merchant or Gillian Welch at their respective best.” Maverick Magazine (UK)
Ruth is a musician, visual artist and businesswoman with an impressive roster of national and international tours both as a member of such bands as Reels, The Guthries, The Heavy Blinkers, and as a solo artist. Her voice can be consistently enjoyed on radio stations in Canada, UK, US, Germany, France, Belgium, Japan and The Netherlands.
‘Folk Art’ is an album that follows Ruth’s recording and releasing tradition. The album recorded in 2 days and then mixed in just 1 (with engineer and fellow Heavy Blinker, Andrew Watt).
A testament to the high demand for
Ruth's unique voice has found her on upwards of 45 recordings. Some of the big-wigs that Ruth has been lucky enough to share a stage or CD space with are: Beth Orton (UK), David Byrne (UK), Gold Rush and KTB (UK), Orwell (France), The Handsome Family (US), Calexico (US), Kris Kristofferson (US), Joel Plaskett, The Super Friendz, Mike O'Neill, Wax Mannequin, Buck 65 and Blue Rodeo.
Discography
1996 Booming Airplanes - Yarn - singer/songwriter
1998 The Heavy Blinkers - Hooray For everything - singer
2000 The Heavy Blinkers - Self Titled - singer
2000 The Guthries - Off Windmill - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
2001 Joel Plaskett - Down at the Khyber - guest singer
2001 Hopeful Monster - Self Titled - guest singer
2001 The Heavy Blinkers - Better Weather - singer
2002 The Havenots (UK) - EP - guest singer, accordion, mandolin
2002 Paul Bellini - We Love Disco - guest singer
2002 The Guthries - Self Titled - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
2003 Ruth Minnikin - Live EP - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
2003 Heavy Blinkers - Papa Nez - Tribute to Michael Nesmith
2003 Heavy Blinkers - Split Single with Orwell (FR)
2004 The Heavy Blinkers - The Night And I Are Still So Young - singer
2004 Gabriel Minnikin - Hard Feelings - guest singer, accordion, mandolin
2004 Jason Haywood - Nothing Stays the Same - guest singer, accordion
2004 Reels - EP - guest singer
2004 The Hurtin' Unit - accordion
2004 Ruth Minnikin - Marooned and Blue - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
2005 The Hylozoists - guest singer
2005 Dale Murray - Brighter Lives, Darker Side - guest singer/songwriter
2005 Kate Maki - The Sun Will Find Us - guest singer, accordion
2005 Soundtrack to film - The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico - guest singer
2005 KTB (UK) - Bluebird - guest singer
2005 James Lyons Compilation (UK) - guest singer/songwriter
2005 Mid-Winter Night's Dream - singer/songwriter
2005 Jonathan Andrews - Halifax Indie Rock - guest singer
2005 Norma Macdonald - guest singer, accordion
2005 Old Man Luedecke - Hinderland - guest singer
2005 Mid-Autumn Night's Dream - singer/songwriter
2006 The Divorcees - guest singer
2006 Ruth Minnikin - Folk Art - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist
2006 The Hylozoists - guest singer
2006 Johnny Stevens - guest singer, accordion
2007 Orwell (FR) - guest singer
2007 Gabriel Minnikin (UK) - guest singer, keys
2007 Reels - Autumn Country - bass, singer, keys, percussion
2007 Tribute Album to The Inbreds - contributed song
2007 Adam Puddington - organ, accordion, singer
2008 Trush Hermit Tribute Album - contributed song
2008 The Russian Futurists - guest vocalist
2009 Kelly Sloan - accordion
2009 Rich Aucoin - guest vocalist
Ruth Minnikin and her bandwagon - Depend on This - 2009
Ruth Minnikin - Folk Art - 2006
Ruth Minnikin - Marooned and Blue - 2004
Ruth Minnikin - Live EP - 2003
Stream from - http://www.radio3.cbc.ca/bands/Ruth-Minnikin
new myspace!! www.myspace.com/ruthminnikin
EPK - www.sonicbids.com/ruthminnikin
Buy downloads of Ruth's Albums at www.zunior.com!
Ruth Minnikin and her Bandwagon to release new album 'Depend on This' Dec 9. 2009
