We recently connected with Alexander Ruwe and have shared our conversation below.

Alexander, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

Prior to taking the leap to make music full time, I worked in management in the healthcare and tech industries. I gained tremendous professional experience in both spaces, and could write a book on all that I learned and still apply today.

Under my supervisor in healthcare, I learned to better manage and organize my time. We were a startup organization and startups demand employees wear more hats than a more mature business, due to the lack of structure, resources, and manpower.

My boss was ~20 years older than me with a mountain of healthcare experience, and immense heart for our organization and his people.

A lesson from him: He would encourage me to ask for as much of his time as I possibly wanted, so long as I had specific plans for every minute of it. In other words, I could have 90sec or request a full day, but I had to have a thoughtful reason for why I wanted that amount of time and a plan for how we were going to make the most of it. As kind as he was, if I requested a half hour of his time, and only needed 10min, he would become frustrated with me because I was making poor use of our time — which is a vastly limited resource anyway, but particularly for a startup organization.

Alexander, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an artist and a band leader, based out of St Louis, MO. Beyond the creative work I do as a songwriter and soloist, I currently manage two acts — The Alex Ruwe Quartet & The Red Jackets.

If 2021 was a year of launching new acts, 2022 was a year of refining them. Both acts above expanded with regard to the music they played, their energy and approach in front of an audience, and their organization, production & sound.

2023 will continue that development with these acts, while also expanding The Red Jacket lineup and making significant investments in the technical, visual and managerial pieces that will stretch and challenge this group to become more than what they currently are.

We’ll also be unveiling a couple of new acts throughout 2023, as well as releasing an alternative country record under the supervision of Gary Gordon, and with a host of Allstar session musicians from across the Midwest.

I am both nervous and excited for the year ahead, and that’s exactly where I like to be.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I am an Aries and a Dragon, and I cannot help but chase interests and activities that make people laugh or cry or smile or say “Woooooooow…”

I find all the creative work that I do — be that a new composition for the record or for a couple’s first dance, or a new transition as a DJ that makes the crowd holler and turn up, or some new medley with The Red Jackets that surprises listeners and makes our dance floor even more crazed, or making an arrangement for a couple’s first dance that brings them to tears in that once in a lifetime moment… All of this is challenging and fun and interesting to me, and allows me touch all sorts of music from pop and country to bluegrass and EDM and HipHop.

I also adore the fact that (currently) I have a ton of flexibility to chase new ideas that come to me — many of which have introduced me and allowed me to work with a ton of tremendous musicians, producers and entertainers from St Louis, Denver, Chicago and beyond.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started out as just a singer, and had to have people play behind me — a guitarist or pianist or band. As I started making plans to work in this space full time, I realized that I needed to become a soloist in order to protect earnings and avoid having to split checks, tips, etc. I spent many years playing 5, 6, 7 days a week in bars and restaurants — experience that was invaluable to me and proved to myself and my family that this is where I needed to be professionally.

Contact Info: 

• Website: www.AlexanderRuwe.com & www.RedJacketsBand.com
• Instagram: @AlexanderRuwe
• Facebook: Facebook.com/AlexanderRuweMusic
• YouTube: YouTube.com/AlexanderRuweMusic
• Others:  – Children’s Book: www.GoodNightLittleDarlings.com

Image Credits
Claire Forrest Jessica Lauren Alec Wallis Laura Planiol Campos