MIKE + RUTHY: News / Blog

MILLION TO ONE is officially available!

You can order CDs here, at mikeandruthy.com.

Download the album from iTunes.


Preview the album at our Facebok page or (our personal favorite) Bandcamp.com ::: http://www.mikeandruthy.bandcamp.com.

You can also have your favorite local record store special order it for you : )

We're so excited. Enjoy!

- MIKE + RUTHY

By David Malachowski
Reviewer



Click to enlarge
ARTIST: Mike + Ruthy

ALBUM: “Million To One” (Humble Abode Music)

Folk music is a tricky thing — there is an inherent need to be aware of the past and traditions — but if you move forward, like any real artist is prone to do, skeptical eyebrow-raising ensues, with the incessant questioning, “is this folk?” There is a fine line between respecting the past and moving forward, and those that do push ahead are sometimes ostracized, until, of course, time passes and it too becomes traditional.

With “Million To One,” the fine line is obliterated, and a new one drawn, as Mike + Ruthy bravely, and more importantly, successfully bring folk music to a new place, while holding on to the timeless traditions of the of the genre, namely, the telling of a story.

Mike Merenda and Ruthy Ungar met in 1998. A New Hampshire native, Merenda had played rock and ska while Woodstock fiddle Unger leaned towards roots. After joining in music and marriage, they’ve played along side Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen, Dave Matthews and John Melloncamp, and released several of their CDs, as well as with the Mammals.

Recorded close by at the renewed, bustling Dreamland Studios, as well as the long gone and much missed Allaire Studios, “Million To One” was produced by Mike + Ruthy and recorded and mixed by Frank Moscowitz. They are featured along with bassist Jose Ayerve and drum shaman Craig Santiago, with pedal steel by Charlie Rose and piano and organ from Ken Maiuri, fiddle giant Jay Ungar even chimed in.

Here the sound is edgy but not over-the-top. “End of Time” is 1960s rock, while with “Covered” they sing about a world “covered in sin” in a bluesy style. “Rise” would be at home on a Mary Chapin-Carpenter record, and “Be the Boss” echoes early electric Dylan. They return to their roots with “As My Eyes Run Wild,” as pure folk as you can get while in the title track “Million To One,” Merenda sings “All of my worries are gone” and you believe him. There’s no doubt this radio ready track could so be a hit.

This is a great, gorgeous record, and that it comes from nearby makes it even better.

Visit www.mikeandruthy.com.

Mike + Ruthy and friends will appear at the Tinker Street Cinema Sunday at 8:30 p.m. for the Music at the Movies series. “Million to One” is set for release on Tuesday.

David Malachowski is a guitarist, producer and freelance journalist living in Woodstock. The Freeman seeks CDs by local artists or artists appearing locally for review. Please send all CDs (please no CD-Rs or demo CDs) to Daily Freeman c/o Preview, 79 Hurley Avenue, Kingston, NY 12401.


http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/07/23/entertainment/doc4c48f0ef93445368526945.txt

Posted on June 24, 2010 with 0 comments
(We just received this letter from a dear friend and I had to share it with you all. - M)

Hello MJMjr!

THE STORY: So, our new family vehicle has a six disc CD changer....very cool...selling point. About a month ago V was hanging out in the driver's seat (like he loves to do) while I went to get the mail down the road about 30 yards... Upon my return I discovered he had inserted several coins into the CD player... I scolded him appropriately then went and got a pair of tweezers. I retrieved about 78 cents...Unfortunatly, I think he inserted about $1.12 in coins... Now, whenever he asks if he can drive I say, "What's the rule?!" and he replies,"No, no coins in the CD playeew!" SO, now I can't eject the CD's that were in there during the time of the incident and the 4 CD's I had in the CD player are stuck in there for good, or until I get the gumption to call the car place and admit my embarassing mistake in leaving a toddler in the car by himself for more than 15 seconds (I don't think that's covered by the waranty)...

ANYWAY: One of the discs now captive in our CD player is the Million To One prerelease you left with us the last time you were here... I just wanted to tell you that I've listened to your new record dozens and dozens of times and I can't stop listening to it because it get's better every time... It's amazing, absoluely stellar... it's gonna make big waves in the music world upon it's release and if it doesn't I will completely lose my faith in the current music's listening audience and it's perpetrators..... which is dwindling as it is.... So, I just wanted to gush and say 'Good on ya'...' , nice work, congratulations on a job well done and any other cliche associated with a pat on the back that you can imagine... Above all, thanks for putting something honest and genuine out there... It happens every once in a while and I'm lucky if I'm there to notice... It's SO good and I feel like I was in on it for a little bit of the process (early, EARLY sequencing) and I feel like a tiny part of it belongs to me.... So, thanks...you know...for doing what you do....all of it, not just the glamerous stuff....the dirty work, too (you know what I'm talking about)!

Love you guys!

Hello Friends,

Our third Mike + Ruthy record, Million to One, is really close to being complete and we're using Kickstarter.com to raise money for a really successful release. Please visit our kickstarter page and check out the video we made about this project. There are lots of reward incentives we're offering for your generous support!

Love,
Mike + Ruthy

As we were finishing up our pre show routine of soundcheck, adding top-end to the vocal mics, powering pedals, finding a place to stash our cases, setting up cds somewhere someone might actually find them, wondering if an advertised free dinner was real or imaginary, considering a set list, assembling a video camera (we're making an effort to video more of our shoes) and generally trying to remain relaxed (I've been getting uncharacteristically nervous before shows lately), in walks my favorite high school English teacher assisted by his loving, devoted wife. Richard Tappan was an instrumental part of my education, a great encouraging force behind me as a writer as a very young man. Five years ago he retired. Two and a half years ago he suffered am incredibly debilitating stroke which left him hospitalized for weeks, unable to speak or stand, half blind in both eyes, and numb on the left side of his body (he's left handed.) Tonight he walked in the door with just a walking cane and only marginally assisted by Mrs. Tappan. It being a about 6:15 for an advertised 7:00 show (for which no one would really show up until 8:30), they were quite the pair to arrive early at this DIY art gallery show in a Kittery, ME, a benefit for the people of Haiti organized by Portsmouth's best young patron of the arts and all around gentle soul and loving human, Tristan Law.

I said my hello, welcomed them, explained that we may not actually perform until closer to 8:30 (we listed the show as 7pm on our website. They were slightly disappointed that they may have to leave early) and shot off to inhale two slices of Flatbread pizza, put my coat backstage, putz around some more with the camera, pour a beer (donated by the good people at Smuttynose) and returned to the side of my old mentor to reminisce about the old days and to catch up on the new. He was speaking quite well, although slower than he would have liked, and it was simply wonderful to have that time to spend together. It made me want to be in top form for my performance.

The night was kicked off by the inimitable Old Time Dave Talmage who played the Star-Spangled Banner on his fiddle while hoola hooping in rollerblades. He followed that up with the Canadian national anthem. We were rolling.

Next up was Avi and Celia who elected to perform "comando" (without amplification) which I 1) respected 2) agreed that it was the right choice. (The room was still on the sparse side and there's something that can be awkward about performing to a very small intimate crowd through a loud PA.) They were great. I had Avi him years ago when he had invited me to his Burlington home via email to cook a nice meal for me and traveling companions (Sarazin Blake and brother, Chris Merenda) when we were playing the Radio Bean a few winters ago. He was a Mammals fan. I remember at the after party that night I became annoyed with him for asking me a whole bunch of music business questions I either couldn't or didn't care to answer and him being shocked that I didn't know all the ins and outs of the publishing world as a "professional musician." I'm still a bit fuzzy on some of it. That shit is complicated! Anyhow, they played a beautiful, well-executed set of mostly originals steeped deeply in an acoustic blues/soul tradition. They had chops and good voices and confidence. I was glad to see them doing so well after wondering about them after that initial very pleasant but slightly awkward first encounter.

We played next and elected to use the PA that our man Dan had worked so hard to set up and had sounding really great. I was excited to be playing through my Ampeg Reverb-oj-jet amplifier (which I usually don't bring on the road) and my brand new analog delay pedal I had purchased earlier that day since my old delay pedal (a great sounding p.o.s I had purchased used in the middle of nowhere NY state so me years ago) had kicked the bucket evening last.

We played real well and got better as it went. By the end we were rocking and more relaxed and people were really being attentive and polite. The room had filled in nicely, too, and everyone for the most part, was very quietly drinking their beer and doing their best to give us their attention and respect. We got a request for "Bored" which we played and ended up being a highlight. Several people commented on it after the show and I even sold an Election Day to a cool drummer named Zack who played in the next band.

After another brief hoola-hooping fiddle interlude by Old Time Dave Talmage Geoff Useless (and band) rocked out as a punk Americana- rock-a-billy outfit complete with pedal steel and fiddle. You couldn't hear the fiddle at all but it blew my mind (again) that roots music has absolutely permeated the punk rock scene and damn well it should have. Apparently their singer used to be in a band called The Guts, one of the best band NAMES I've ever heard of. He played an acoustic guitar through an amp and had a Queers sticker on his axe (the Queers are a nationally touring local legend punk rock band for Exeter, NH with songs such as "Ursula Finally Has Tits" and "I Can't Stop Farting.") It really made me feel at home.

While he wasn't on the bill, another highlight of my evening wa reconnecting with Dan Blakeslee, a Seacoast songwriter now currently living in Somerville, MA who was on the scene gigging, drawing posters and slinging his songs years before I had made my first record. He's an old friend a real inspiration from back in my glory (naive, young, full of piss and vinegar) days. (ie the Skarotum era!)

I mucked around a bit with Dan, we discussed old records, new records, siblings, friends, the Weisman brothers, my brother, etc., etc. traded some music said, "Fuck yeah!" a lot and gave each other many hugs. It felt great.

I joined OTDT for a couple more hoola hoop tweaner numbers. I couldn't compete with his theatrics so I resorted to jumping on a high table with my banjar and whacking away. We played "Nobody's Business" and "Cindy" and Avi and Celia joined in on Dobro and Washboard. It was an honest to God hootenany.

The last band was RockSpring, a hot buttered style jammy bluegrass band that has really come a long way since I saw them at last years Oyster River Festival in Durham, NH. They really started cooking half way through their set and there was lovely feeling in the room. The music wasn't too loud and they could all really play You could tell they all really enjoyed doing playing too. So often when a band is NOT making a living form their music they're having a lot more fun making it.


As things were closing to an end I enjoyed a couple more conversations with new acquaintances over some delicious Smuttynose (I met JT one of the brewers and had a nice chat with him. He was drinking whisky out of a flask which seemed funny at first but makes perfect sense now, looking back on it).

I packed up, shared a few long goodbyes with Tristan and the rest of the crew and drove down the short familiar path back to Durham, NH. Here I sit in my parents kitchen writing this story to you. Good night and good luck.

-Mike

ps
We raised about $1800 for Doctors Without Borders. A matching grant brings the total up to $3600! Thanks to all who came out to support a deserving cause. Go New Hampshire. Go team.

Just returned home from a whirlwind trip to FLA. You'd think a trip to the deep South in the middle of January would be just what the doctor ordered but, alas, after 24 hours we found ourselves wishing we we're back home snuggled around our trusty wood stove.

We were down there attending the first annual 30A Songwriters Festival which took place at about a dozen small to mid-sized venues along the beautiful coast of Walton County. We had three sets.

Our first was in the round with a Billy Bright, a wonderful singer/mandolinist, with great stage presence, good songs and great chops on the instrument which he played into a microphone instead of going direct. . His mandolin was old, warm and loud and this choice of amplification worked just fine.

The third act was The Smoking Flowers, another husband wife duo with an arsenal of folky instruments who sang great, strong, harmony on their own country fried original songs. Strangely, they looked more like they were from Woodstock and we looked more like we were from Nashville.

When we first arrived the room was packed (the festival was sold out) and a rather timid singer was at the mik doing a rather quiet, downbeat number. I could sense that it was all the crowd could do to button their lips. I also sensed that the sound system situation was going to be less than ideal. What to do in the situation? Come out of the gate fast and furious. We decided to plug our instruments in to keep it simple (which we generally shy away from doing) and to play fast, upbeat songs (Kiss the Break of Day, Four Blue Walls, Beg and Borrow) until we felt we had earned the audience's trust enough to bring it down a notch (Slow Train, As My Eyes Run Wild). The crowd was rowdy, attentive and exuberant which was a wonderful and rare combination. We had left Will back at the ranch with our fairy goddess babysitter, Ronnie, so when the show was we packed up scooted home.

The second set was the following morning. It was a do your own sound scenario which was fine really other than the fact that they only provided three microphones on stands and four cables. We made it work: I played into two mics and Ruthy had a vocal mic and DI.

Again, we opened with rowdy stuff (Cooper's, Tahoe) to let the crowd know that we would not bore them with an hour of "singer/songwriter" material, at least not immediately. It seemed to be the right approach, although a couple ladies in the
front row seemed slightly overwhelmed by my irreverent, rapid fire delivery. (It always baffles me when people sit in the front row with anything other than a huge smile on their face.)

By the time we hit Something's Got a Hold On Me we had the crowd in a wonderful trance. Even the chef in the back of the room put down his gizmos and glued his eyes and ears to the stage. It was a nice moment.

We got a request for 1952, which we obliged, and then took our bow and were treated to an encore. We finished off with I'll Keep It with Mine, packed it up and went back to Will at our Rainy beach ranch.

The third set was definitely the best . It was at 9 pm in a small, dark theater. We arrived as the previous set was winding down and the crowd was very light. We feared the worst. We decided that we could get away with playing into our stereo pair of ATs which took the sound man a minute to adjust to. By the time or set started there was a nice full house. That felt great. We played a fun set which included some brand new songs (Rise, Covered, Goodbye) and some classics that we'd recently dusted off (Tryin' to Remember What City I Know You From, Paper Heart). I sang lead on Tryin which I really enjoyed. Ruthy sang lead on all the recordings of that song so it was sort of a novelty to sing lead on my own song! It was fun. We left that show feeling reenergized about our duo show. It was really the perfect setting for a Mike and Ruthy concert: small, dark, intimate listening room. Someone from the crowd called out, "You two are incredible!" which is always nice to hear. : )

We hustled back home to Willy who was sleeping in Ronnie's arms. Ronnie said it didn't go so well while we were gone (meaning Will walked around the house chanting 'Momma' for an hour) but in the end, all was well. Insanely, we had about an hour to pack and clean up our guest house, an hour to nap and then we packed up Ronnie's Veggie VW at 1AM, drove 3 hours to the Tallahassee airport and boarded a plane at 7:05 for a Memphis layover before catching our flight to NYC.

We slept as much of the flights as possible. When we got to JFK Ruthy thought our battery was dead but it turned out I had forgot to put the car in Park when we had arrived at long term parking originally. My bad. Once that was sorted out we converged, packed up the instruments and headed North to the snowy Catskills, home sweet home.

The End

Hello Musicians,

Some of you may be aware that many of our records were made here at our home studio, Humble Abode Music, a stone cottage and barn in the Catskill Mountains, 15 minutes from Woodstock, NY.

Traditionally we would bring in gear to make these records in what we think is a very vibey and wonderful space. Over the last couple of years I've acquired enough gear (some of it on loan, some of it gifted, some of it left behind, some of it actually purchased!) to assemble a pretty kick ass, permanent recording studio.

Lately, I've become very enthusiastic about recording other peoples projects here. If you're looking for a relaxed, affordable place to record your next project shoot me an email and we'll work something out!

Let the Tape Roll,

Mike
mikeandruthy@gmail.com

What great festival. We're so happy to have been welcomed into the Grassroots community! I've posted some live songs from our two sets here at the webpage. Keep checking in for more live tracks soon!

Listen to Ruthy's slamming version of Wartime Blues while accompanying Pete Seeger friends at the closing set of the Newport Folk Festival.


http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11133878

Posted on July 31, 2009 with 0 comments
Last night Ruthy and I opened up for Billy Bragg at the Calvin Theater in Northampton, MA. Not only was it exciting to be sharing such a beautiful stage with a modern underground (ie exceptional and uncompromising) music legend and unwavering proponent for international socialism, it was my birthday. In the town I was born in, no less.

Billy was charming, gracious, out going, hospitable, brotherly, fatherly, friendly and fun. He greeted us with hugs, introduced us to his crew who were gracious and gentlemanly. He even apologized for taking so much time during his sound check and lamented the fact that we wouldn't be able to join him in Albany. I told him it was because we were playing with Pete that day and he said he have to come after us with an axe if we were to say no to Pete Seeger. Interesting choice of words. Maybe he didn;t say that, but one of his crew did. It was part of the conversation at least.

Our set was solid. We played it pretty down beat and took advantage of the incredible acoustics we experienced during sound check. I did manage to slip in my new anti-war song, "How Many More" which I felt good about. I think it's a good song. I still haven;t gotten an overwhelming response from it anywhere I do it, maybe it's too long. I really thought Billy's fan would lap it up. Instead the I believe they just, "liked" it. Good enough for now.

Our set, by the way, was:
Short While
All the Time
Something's Got a Hold on Me
Another Dawn Another Day
Slow Train
End of Time

End of Time fucking rocked if I do say so myself. Especially with the rest of the set having been so much on the mellow tip. Everyone was ready for and perhaps not quite expecting a bit of drive from a low tuned, chugging Yamaha dreadnaught from the 70s played by one mjmjr aka mm aka m

So, Billy. It took me longer than I liked to get our selves and gear settled before I could go and latch on to Billy's set. His ease on stage and confidence as a solo performer was awe inspiring to me. Purely confident with execution 30 years of experience gets you.

My first favorite moment was his version of Woody's "I Ain't Got No Home" which he performed more as a lamet as opposed to the upbeat, bluegrassy version I'm so used to hearing "on the circuit." It was a nice reminder to continue to reinvent these old favorite songs of mine and do them like I would do them and not like so many others who shall remain nameless. A gorgeous verison.

Okay, so shortly after that he starts a rant about his pre show ritual back at the hotel which actually ended with the phrase - I shit you not - "Shit, shower and shave." The fucking balls, I tell you, of a performer to clearly and confidently deliver the information to an audience that he, within the two hours, cleared his bowels. The gall, I tell ya. What a master!

Okay, so, I do need to sleep tonight before Willy wakes up so I'm gonna wrap this up shortly.

So, I watched most of the set from the wing sitting next to Billy's manager whom I had met at MSG and whom I contacted about getting on this Bill, Peter Jenner (bad ass) but decided I better go check it out from the front before he wrapped up his set and I'm so glad I did.

So, Billy's sort of summing up his world views and philosophies with us the audience, praising Americans for voting Obama in to office, reminding us of the significance of this event and how the time is now to believe that something positive can be done, that there are possibilities, when a fucking right winger from the balcony goes on the taunting offensive with "shut up and sing, we paid to be entertained, yada yada, etc. And it gets a little tense for a minute there. Billy yields to the heckler and doesn't seem to be in complete control, as a choice, opting to invite a small amount of anarchy onto the set list, when he finally and defiantly declares, "Listen, I didn;t come here to just sing songs, I came here to change the fucking world," and the place went fukcing nuts! Screams followed by a standing ovation. It was hot.

I knew I was gonna wanna be back stage when billy came off so I made my way back. Sure enough, when Billy came back he need a little bit of reassurance from that epic yet unsettling moment and he had a hug. Me and Billy. Billy and I had a hug backstage before his encore in solidarity and in agreement that he played that point to a fucking tee. As you, reader, might imagine, these are the moments that define my career and what end up being the reasons I remain in this strange, torturous, and, at times, unbelievable rewarding business.

That's more or less what I have to share with you, friends. After the show Billy and I drank a Corona in the green room which he popped open for me by smashing the cap against the edge of the table in true punk rock, backstage fashion. We conversed about the state of society as it relates to democracy and what can and can't be done at this time in history. While we are not on the brink of a revolution, there is still so much that can be accomplished and so much promise for a more civil future.

We exchanged some pleasantries with Leah Kunkel (Mama Cass's daughter whom I, strangley, lived in the house of in Middlefield, MA when I left NYC, that story another time) and then we headed up stairs to try and hock a few more records.

All in all, a great success and one hell of a fucking birthday.

(please excuse the curses abundant in this blogg. This is how I talk.) Oh, and if you can ever go see Billy Bragg, DO.

Until later,

Mike

Hello Friends, We have a lot of exciting news to share with you!

- Mixing the next Mike and Ruthy record began July 1st at the world renowned Allaire Studios, Shokan NY.

- Great shows coming up this summer include Green River Festival (MA), Newport Folk Festival (RI) and Monterey Jazz Festival (CA).

- We're excited to announce an October Southeast tour with appearances at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival (NC), Magnolia Festival (FL), and the Black Pot Festival (LA).

HERE'S WHERE YOU COME IN! If you'd like to host a house concert or if you can recommend a favorite local venue please let us know.

Here are the fall dates we're looking to fill:
North Carolina / South Carolina / Georgia: 10/13 - 10/15
South Florida: 10/19 - 10/22
Louisiana: 10/26 - 10/29
Anywhere between Lafayette, LA and NYC: 11/1 - 11/8

Check out some great new pictures from Clearwater's Great Hudson River Revival, see future tour dates, listen to and purchase Mike and Ruthy recordings at the newly renovated www.mikeandruthy.com.

See You On the Road,

- Mike and Ruthy


7/10 Somerville, MA
7/11 Harrison, ME
7/12 Greenfield, MA
7/18 Greenfield, MA (Green River Festival)
7/19 Saratoga Springs, NY
7/31 Northampton, MA (with Billy Bragg)
8/1 Woodstock, NY
8/2 Newport, RI (Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger)
8/6 Brooklyn, NY

Our tour of the northeast has been wicked fun. Driving in Boston is always a pleasure - blindly following the GPS through the winding, twisting madness. Ruthy decided it's most like spaghetti . . . with angry meatballs beeping at you if you make a mistake. And the object of the game is, don't be an angry meatball yourself! :)

Mike has more to say about the actual gigs . . .