Featured Artists

Ruby Jane Smith - Featured Artist of the Week

By rascalita ⋅ January 19, 2008 ⋅ Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

A fiddle is a violin that’s playing country music. Want some proof?

Ruby Jane began playing violin at the age of two. When she was 8, she was introduced to old-time and bluegrass music and she loved it, so she studied old-time fiddling. After only 8 hours of lessons, she won a fiddling contest. At the age of 11 she played at the Grand Ole Opry. Since then she has recorded two CD’s of her own, toured with some of the biggest names in country music, and fronts her own band in Austin when she’s not on the road. Her live sets contain a delightful mix of bluegrass, mountain, and honkytonk music, and she has an encyclopedic knowledge of fiddle tunes.

Ruby Jane turned her violin into a fiddle.

The talent and crowd-pleasing energy of this 13 year-old musical veteran is gonna take her places, believe us. Go to her MySpace ( http://www.myspace.com/rubyjanesmith) or her website (www.mississippifiddler.com) to listen her music and you’ll become a fan, just like we did.

RCR Honors the Classics: Leon Payne

Leon Payne was among the greatest country music songwriters. “Lost Highway” and “I Love You Because” (written for his beloved wife Myrtie Courmier Payne, who passed away Jan. 17th, 2008) are two of his most famous and covered songs, but he wrote hundreds of other hits that have been recorded by people like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Waylon Jennings, and continue to be recorded to this day.

Leon assisted many up-and-comers in the struggling days of their careers, including Willie Nelson (an early band member), Johnny Cash, and more than we could probably name. While Leon never received the acclaim and recognition that some tunesmiths did, history tells the undeniable truth about the influence this man had on country music.