We were lucky to catch up with Ruby Leigh recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ruby , thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The very moment I knew I wanted to be a singer was at 9-1/2 years old! I had no idea I could sing because it was something that our family never really did because I come from a very non-musical family but my dad always liked to listen to music in his race car shop and one day he was listening to some old classic country and bluegrass music and I had never heard anything like it before but I liked it and a song came on and I was listening and I started singing the chorus along with it and my dad was under his race car and he said that he was listening and thought I sounded pretty good ? So he said Ruby that sounds really good and I was embarrassed because I didn’t know he was listening to me and another song came on a little later and I said daddy I really like this one and he said well that happens to be one of my favorites!, why don’t you learn that and sing it for me? Well that was too much I was so shy back then that I got embarrassed easily so I left outside to play but I could not stop thinking about singing and the next day I went back and asked my dad what was the name of that old song you wanted me to learn and he said the Dublin Blues by Guy Clark why? And I said I’m going to see if I can find the words and learn it? Well after about an hour I went back to his shop and said daddy are you busy he says yes what do you need I said I wanted to see if you had time to listen to me sing that song and he said yes if we make it quick!
He got up and I was standing there empty handed and he said well get your butt down to the house and get the words and I told him I knew all the words, he said I highly doubt that but let’er rip tater chip and I sang the whole song and got all the words right! He just stood there staring and said sing it again after about 8-10 time he told go grab one of your momma’s old black antique chairs and drag up up to the woods by an old berry bush and after several questions from me like why what for he recorded a video of me and posted it on Facebook and I got a lot of attention and lots of great comments and I knew at that point that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life and realized I have an incredible memory for songs I never use phones/iPads/ or lyric sheets for my 3-4 hour shows!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Well I guess I kind of forced myself into the industry with lots of hard work and determination and it was not easy probably the toughest thing was convincing my family that I truly knew what I wanted to do and was willing to work very hard for it! And after a fluke encounter with two complete stranger play music at a large flea market my parents took me to looking for antiques I told my dad look and pointed to the two guys sitting on top of the hill and my dad says hey it’s a couple old boys playing and singing! Well that’s not what I was wanting I was hoping he was going to say hey let’s go ask them if you can sing a song with them 😂 so as we we’re walking towards the flea market I said behind him loudly I wonder if they would let me sing a song? My dad stopped dead in his tracks and stood there for a few seconds and then turned around and said Ruby I have no idea and then started walking again and then I said again loudly well I wonder if they would and again he stopped turning around and said Ruby I don’t know anything but I do know this! Do you see them old boys up there I said yes! He said I promise neither of them will walk off that hill and start asking people has anyone seen Ruby Leigh we sure would like to have her sing a song and I said ok I will ask them but will you please go up there with me? He said absolutely well my knew I only knew the one song so the guys said hey how are you folks doing to today and my parents said we are doing great and they turned to me and said how are you young lady and I knew this was my chance and I said almost crying can I sing a song and it really caught them off guard and they were like you want to sing ok what do you want to sing? At that time I think every kid was singing frozen and I said how about the Dublin Blues by Guy Clark and both guy’s mouths dropped open and said oh we don’t know that one and dad says ok let’s go later he admitted he was more nervous than me 😂 but the guys said do you know any other songs? Well I had already memorized about 6 songs but my dad only knew I had memorized the one and I named several other and they said well it is obvious that we won’t know your songs how about this how about you sing A’Capella I stood there for a minute knowing I blew my chance and quietly said I don’t know that song and they all laughed and said no that means you sing your songs without any music!
Well I sang all the songs I knew that day and drew a crowd to watch me and I see so many people there watching me some smiling some clapping and cheering some putting tips in the tip jar and some with tears running down their cheeks,
It was long into my career I was introduced to Mickey Gilley of Gilley’s night clubs and the movie The Urban Cowboy and I loved Mickey so much and I could tell he loved music just like me and I was so proud to share the stage with him, he was the Best
He gave me lots of advice and never talked to me like a little kid he always made me feel like a legitimate artist and one show we were sitting back stage and no one was really saying anything and Mickey said Ruby I have some advice for you! And now you can do whatever you want with it but if I was you I would drop the Lit’l Miss Country that everyone was calling me at the time and here’s why your not going to be little for ever and your going to have a long career in music and it will sound really funny calling you Lit’l Miss County st 40 years old 😂 and you drop off your last name you already have the perfect name Ruby Leigh but remember to always tell everyone your absolutely no relation to that no good Johnny Lee his best friend who was sitting next to me ❤️
And I took this advice and more that he shared with me!
I’ve since shared the stage with lots of stars and did preshow’s for others but Mickey was the Best!
He always made sure he had time for his fans not some or a few but each of them if they wanted autographs, pics or just to say hi he was there till the last person left!
That’s the type of artist I strive to be one day!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding thing for me in music is the people the fans the friendships I’ve made with music! It’s incredible when someone says my mom used to sing that song or it was someone’s favorite song that has passed and it brought back memories or a song touched their hearts and brought tears to their eyes! It’s easily the people that are the most rewarding and even the most famous person in the world is just another person who has lots of people who believe in them love them and support them and without that they are just like you and me and honestly the most successful people I have met really enjoy their status but genuinely like to live a simple ordinary life like everyone else but fame definitely comes at a cost and sacrifice!
I hate the thought of being so famous you can’t leave your home to simply go to a grocery store or a mall!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Like everyone around the world Covid destroyed what at the time was going to be my biggest year at that point! Well as I slowly watched my year implode with show after show canceled I was really heart broken and wasn’t sure what to do? Well at that point all my shows were basically Classic Country and Bluegrass music but I always kept getting requests for all sorts of music Rock , Pop, Blues, Punk and many others so I told my dad hey since I’m not doing any shows I think I’m going to learn some of these other songs I get requests for, What do you think? Knowing he’s was strictly a Classic Country and Bluegrass guy he said well don’t forget who brought you to the dance but you do whatever you think is best, but I would stick with what you have been doing! Well I loaded up my song list with probably another hundred songs I had memorized!
Well after things started to open up a little bit Nashville and all the places I normally played were still locked down and my dad told me hey don’t let it get you down but we will be lucky to book a handful of shows this year because no one is doing anything yet and we never really played much around our home state of Missouri so we waited until later in the year and kind of put it out on social media we were looking to book some shows locally and it started slowly at first but after about 10 Show we were getting lots of calls for booking and we ended up having a record year of 163 shows and we are on pace to finish this year over 200+ shows
And it was all due to the fact that I could pull out a song for just about anyone in the crowd! Now my dad says that was best idea he ever had when he had me learn all them new songs for my show! LOL

Contact Info:

• Website: https://rubyleighofficial.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rubyleighofficial/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rubyleighofficial
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/RubyLeighOfficial
• Other: https://linktr.ee/rubyleighofficial

Image Credits
Sandra ( Grumpy ) Pearson