Rich Ruth Releases 'Live at Third Man Records' Album

Nashville-based avant savant Rich Ruth is excited to release the live recording from last year's unforgettable performance at the Third Man Nashville's Blue Room venue to celebrate the release of his album I Survived, It's Over.

Rich Ruth - Live at Third Man Records is available to stream now at all DSPs ahead of Ruth's coveted slot at Big Ears Festival next Thursday, March 30. Today's release is heralded by an immaculate video of Ruth and his band performing "Heavy and Earthbound" at the show.

Later this year, fans will also be able to catch Rich Ruth at Pickathon Music Festival, as well as European dates with Spencer Cullum's Coin Collection, a run of U.S. shows with St. Paul & the Broken Bones, and a June 3 performance at Nashville's Basement East with Crooked Rhythm and Rose Hotel. Find the full list of tour dates below.

In addition to receiving the coveted Album Of The Day slot on Bandcamp upon release, I Survived, It's Over received significant adoration from UNCUT, MOJO, Aquarium Drunkard, Nowness, Nashville Scene, AllMusic and many more. More recently, Ruth hit the road for an extensive run of dates with Circles Around The Sun.

Rich Ruth - a.k.a. veteran Nashville-based musician Michael Ruth - took a break from touring with various bands in 2018 and dedicated himself to composing ambient music in his small home studio, focusing on the diverse traditions of ambient, new age, spiritual jazz, Kosmiche, and minimalist music. His ideas became fully realized with the inclusion of additional players, pairing his repetitive, droning synthesizer movements with spur-of-the-moment improvisation to transform the material into something much more lush and unpredictable.

One summer morning, Ruth was held up at gunpoint and carjacked by two people outside of his home. His music allowed him to work through this personal struggle, infusing his 2019 debut album, Calming Signals, with striking layers of angst and emotion. Where There's Life followed in 2021, a collection of meditative pieces written in the early months of the pandemic manifesting the collective sense of uncertainty and solitude of the time.

Recorded in 2020 in the midst of the pandemic and in the wake of a series of tornadoes that wreaked havoc upon his North Nashville neighborhood, I Survived, It's Over sees Rich Ruth pushing his music even further into heretofore untapped sonic and emotional terrain.

Melding inventive sound exploration, complex instrumentation - from shredding guitars and swelling strings to flutes, saxophones, pedal steel, and more - and a transcendent passion for nature, Ruth has created a milestone work of organic, symphonic power, a deeply affirmative musical movement that transforms the unease and sorrow of this difficult era into something strong and true and beautiful.

"Working on this music is a daily meditation," says Rich Ruth. "I wanted to encapsulate the tranquility and disarray found within this process."

Listen to the new single here: