Ruth Theodore Talks New Album, Musical Influences And More

Firstly, congratulations on signing with Ani DiFranco’s renowned record label, Righteous Babe Records. How did this opportunity arise?
Thank you.
It’s been a slow burner in a way. I first met Ani when I was invited to open for her London
shows back in 2012. In 2015 I began making records with the wonderful Todd Sickafoose
who has toured alongside Ani on upright bass for 20 years now. A few years later I was
invited back as a special guest with Ani at the London Palladium, and unknown to me Ani
had decided then and there that I was a ‘Righteous Babe’. But it was only after recording ‘I
Am I Am’ and receiving word that Ani had loved a preview of the album Todd had played her
on the tour bus that it finally felt like the right time to talk.
I’m so happy on this label. Feels like the right home for what I do.

Unlike so many of my other records, I didn’t want to rehearse this record before recording. I
wanted to capture it in the moment which suited an improvisational environment. I wanted to
leave my preconceptions of what it could be at the door and just let it be. Many of the tracks
were our first takes. We’d talk about any sticking points and then just play. It was extremely
liberating.

This album was a co-production between myself, bassist Todd Sickafoose and percussionist
Mathias Kunzli. Todd has a lot of production experience but Mathias and I are wildly
passionate about the music we are recording and Todd wanted us to take the reins so we
did. The three of us worked together like a dream machine. We each have such different
strengths and a lot of respect for each other’s creativity so it was just perfect.
Before we came together, having looked at a few studio options, we decided that this record
needed to be recorded free from the clock. That is obviously a big ask, but when we talked it
through, Eli’s place ‘Spillway Sound’ in upstate New York made perfect sense. It was
peaceful and remote and Eli is a killer engineer, and it turned out to be far better than I’d
even hoped it would be. We lived all together. We played, ate, talked into the early hours,
slept and played again for 11 days straight and then it was done. We were exhausted by the
end but so high on the creativity we didn’t care.

So bringing all that wild energy on percussion and drums is the incredible swiss/american
virtuoso Mathias Kunzli. Mathias is so inspired and great fun to work with. Him and I get high
off the same buzz. Todd Sickafoose on bass and other unique sounds. Todd is more
grounded and worldly to work with. He seems to always be able to see the bigger picture. It’s
a real gift. I think maybe he’s a genius.

On backing vocals, Abdul Shyllon, Jabez Walsh and Melody Brooks from the London based
Gospel choir I was working with. Brian Marsella from New Jersey on keys and organs and
other crazy sounds. And Tim Vaugn who Todd brought in through ‘Hadestown’ on
Trombones. Not forgetting Strings from New Yorkers Yair Evnine and Lily Holgate.

Hold on Me was one of those tracks that wrote itself in a couple of days tops, like the words
had been on the tip of my tongue for months. It’s a love song about a relationship in my life
that hung in the balance, unresolved. It was clear on both sides that there was something
unfinished about it but at the time I was in the middle of chemotherapy treatment in the
middle of a pandemic, so there were a few too many obstacles to the relationship reaching
its conclusion. The track intentionally runs hot and cold as I figure out how I feel.
The arrangements I wrote for this track are very vocal heavy. I had at the time been given a
grant by Art Council England to develop my choral compositions for a gospel choir and this
definitely received a generous dose of the kind of work I was doing with those singers. In fact
a select few of the singers I met in that project are featured backing singers on the record.

Who are some of your musical influences?
Of course Ani DiFranco makes this list but many other artists too. I love a lot of Paul Simon’s
work. David Bowie. Joni Mitchell. Hamell On Trial. These guys all helped me find my way as
a guitarist. But more and more I find piano tracks working their way into my albums and I
definitely find exploring piano very exciting. I try to approach piano from an improvisational
angle. Keith Jarrett and Eric Satie would definitely be worthy of a credit there. Not to mention
Nina Simone’s work that bridges this gap for me and is all in all incredible.                                                                                                                                           

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you
enjoy. Which novel is it and why?                                                                                                                                                                                                     
I studied orchestration in 2020 during my cancer treatment and so funnily enough I have
actually asked myself this same question.
Instinctively I want to say ‘A room with a view’ by Virginia Wolf because I just love that book.
But my final answer is ‘Tortilla Flat’ by John Steinbeck‘. There is something about the
characters in that novel that I know like family, like the back of my hand. Having lived in
squats most of my life, amongst broken people that live almost entirely by their wits, I feel I
could write this one straight from the heart. I love these people. Tortilla flat is a great
portrayal of a community like this. Altogether pretty useless and doomed whilst also utterly
brilliant and heroic and golden. I’d love to make all those sounds.                                                                                                                                                            

I play a Thompson & Ball guitar which was custom made for me, built to handle those low,
almost baritone tunings I use. I also play an old 60’s Harmony acoustic that cost me a
hundred pounds but sounds like nothing else I’ve ever come across. I’m careful about the
pickups I use and the pre-amps but I’m not one for effects pedals really.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?
My home is on my boat moored on squatted land in East London.
Useless. Doomed. Brilliant, Heroic. Golden.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the album recording
sessions?
One sunny day we were watching a deer out the window of the mixing room. The nature
around there is just beautiful. Later I went for a run in the woods by the reservoir. On my run
I came across a fresh pile of deer fur. No deer. I rushed back telling Eli what I’d seen. He
said ‘Oh yeah? Well that’d be the bear then.’

He seemed unphased. I swallowed deeply and went back into the studio. Everytime from
then on we went out to the reservoir at night Mathias would pull all kinds of pranks to freak
me out. Don’t worry, I’m gonna get him back when he’s least expecting it.

Do you have any plans for live shows in Europe/UK in 2024?
Yes I’m doing a short UK tour with my band to launch the record in April-May (dates are
online) just before I head off to the USA to tour for the rest of the summer. I then plan to play
shows in the EU in October and the UK again around November.

A) Barbed Wire Fence. Fundamentally a protest song, singing this makes me genuinely
happy every time I play it. It fills me with energy and courage.
B) Full Metal Jacket is a menacing song in hot pursuit of a wrongdoer.
C) Brighton Stones or Thompson or Watercolour. Don’t make me choose.

Was it a difficult album to write?
This album was a joy to write. All writing is difficult because you need to be comfortable
sitting with feelings that are uncomfortable but songs are a language that I speak much more
fluently than english. I’m bad at telling people how I feel in plain english. I get stuck. The
music allows me to talk. So it’s always a release and a relief.

How do you look after your voice?
I’m glad to say my voice is not something I’ve had to be too careful about. Singing
unamplified on the streets for years, pushing my voice above the sound of the buses and the
crowds has set me in good stead. When I’m recording for long stretches, up to 10 days
straight, I try not to chat too much in between takes to keep my throat relaxed. I do tongue
exercises when I feel myself tense and drink hot honey but It holds up pretty well on its own.
My hands are another story.

Who created/designed the album cover?
The album cover is a photograph of a Starling Murmuration taken by a photographer called
Fiona Elisabeth-Exon. The photograph of me was taken by my pal Raymond Willis. I had a
vision for how to bring it all together so I guess I designed it myself though I’m no designer.

Swimming in the ocean. Sleeping on cliff tops with my friends. Walking the streets at night.
Being with people. Being alone. Being on the move. Candlelight. Making sounds. All kinds
of sounds. I really love bells.

It makes me unhappy that the lives of some people on this earth are still valued less than
others. Yikes. That was a bigg’un. Sorry. Erm what else… err… hot cake with cold ice
cream. Just stop it. One is hot and one is cold…so you just end up with luke… who wants
luke?