We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ruthie Craft. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ruthie below.

Alright, Ruthie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Like many creatives, my art began as a necessity for me. As a 9-year-old with Tourette syndrome, obsessive-compulsiveness, and chronic anxiety, music was not the first stop on the clinical train of treatments offered to me. As such, my voice was a tool that was left up to me to discover. And it took a while, at that. I wasn’t exactly exposed to a vast ocean of musical influences till full-fledged adulthood. But until I discovered the likes of Michael Jackson and Fleetwood Mac— I still had Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, and later, the queen Adele—to infiltrate my young mind with clever melodies, dreamy harmonies, and vocal runs that made my heart stutter. And any time I sang, my Tourette’s didn’t exist. The crooked painting on the wall faded into obscurity. Tomorrow was in the future and yesterday was in the past. When I sang, only sound was there in the present. Only melody lived in that moment with me. Before I knew it, around age 16, singing began to morph from “therapy” to “passion”, and it was all I wanted to do. Now, at age 26, it’s still all I want to do. And I still love Adele.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m a Seattle-born, Austin-based singer/songwriter with a blue soul and a bright yellow personality (and purple hair, to boot). Thanks to my infinitely terrible luck with romance, my music is typically born from heartache and then christened with a healthy amount of sass for a well-rounded heartbreak bop. With honest, emotive lyrics and all-out vocals, I aim to do more than just entertain–I seek to find common ground. There isn’t a soul on earth who hasn’t experienced heartbreak, anxiety, or betrayal. Those aren’t fun emotions, but that doesn’t mean the soundtrack to them can’t be.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There are a lot of things I wish I had known when choosing this career, not the least of which is the art of the pivot.

I have always wanted an entertainment career. I’ve felt it in my bones since I was an obnoxious little kid writing outlandish musicals with my sisters and singing Adele songs for my summer camp friends. But I had this notion that the journey up would be fairly consistent, with some bumps but probably not many switchbacks. I was really, really wrong. Most artists will tell you that the journey is nothing but switchbacks, rough terrain, and a whole lot of misdirection. There are no signs on this trail, and it’s up to the journeyer to figure out her way to the top. But with forks in the road, that is much easier said than done.

I was nineteen when I met him. My first boyfriend, my first love, my obsession, my rescue from depression. I was barely twenty when I married him and was whisked across the country away from all that I called home. I took my guitar and my ukulele, but I left my plans, dreams, and my freshly-formed band back home in Washington. I couldn’t have known what that decision would do to me. It would be the end of my childhood and the abrupt beginning of a painful learning experience (that I wouldn’t trade for anything).

Within a month, I knew I had made a mistake. I was attempting to give up music for the first time, I had stopped going to therapy, and I never spoke to my friends back home. I was isolated, trapped, and clinging to the hope that this could still work–that I didn’t need music to make me happy, that I didn’t need family to keep me sane.

It took three years to figure out that I did, indeed, need music . . . and my family, and my friends, and definitely my therapist. It took three years to learn the art of the pivot–and that a switchback still leads you up the mountain eventually. Over the next few years, I learned that my marriage was exactly what I needed to prepare my heart and mind for the journey ahead. I was left with scars, of course, but I was stronger for them. I got a lot of songwriting material out of it, too.

I’ve had to make other pivots since then, and I expect many more in the future. I will make decisions that will alter my course and timeline and leave me feeling anxious about the road ahead. But I am learning to give grace to myself, believing that every switchback and side-trail is an opportunity for new growth. And I hope whoever is reading this will learn to give themself grace, too.

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

A couple years ago, I would have told you that the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is that golden rush of pride you get when you finally finish a song. But now, I think the reward extends beyond just the finished product.

There’s this song I wrote during the pandemic. In short, it’s about a friend of mine being taken advantage of by a church leader. It’s passionate, angry, and sarcastic. I was proud of it, but I didn’t understand how the song might impact the people who heard it. As I sang it for the first time to my friend I had written it about, I saw a wash of peace come over her. She had felt heard and seen and defended. Later, I played it for other friends and then at a few gigs. Each time, the response is the same. Someone comes up and tells me that they have a similar story and thanks me for writing it. I guess there’s something about being understood in song form that just hits deeper than regular words.

I am discovering that my favorite part of being an artist is more than the creation of the art itself–It’s the look on people’s faces when they have felt seen and empathized with. That’s the beauty of art: we can feel understood by strangers and loved by songs. And that is, without a doubt, the most rewarding.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ruthiecraft.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/ruthiecraft
• Facebook: facebook.com/ruthiecraftmusic
• Youtube: youtube.com/ruthiecraft
• Other: https://spoti.fi/3BUYEyo

Image Credits
Lavender Bouquet Photography