{{Short description|American musician (born 1994)}} {{Infobox musical artist |name = Ruby Jane Smith |image = Ruby Jane Smith 2014.jpg |caption = Smith performing at Utopia Fest in 2014 |birth_name = Ruby Jane Smith |alias = |birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1994|11|17}} |birth_place =Dallas, Texas, U.S.<ref>{{Cite web | title = Ruby Jane | publisher = Ruby Jane Smith | url = http://www.therubyjaneshow.com/ | accessdate = 2010-01-10 | archive-date = 2010-08-13 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100813193053/http://www.therubyjaneshow.com/ | url-status = dead }}</ref> |origin = Columbus, Mississippi, U.S. |instrument = Fiddle, vocals, Guitar, Mandolin, Harmonica |genre = Bluegrass, Americana music |years_active = 2005 – Present |label = Indie |associated_acts = Willie Nelson, Big and Rich, Drake Bell, Asleep at the Wheel |website = {{URL|www.rubyjane.org}} | background=solo_singer }}
'''Ruby Jane Smith''' (born November 17, 1994) is an American fiddle player, singer, and songwriter in the traditional bluegrass and Americana music genres.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Bluegrass Fiddler Ruby Jane Smith to Perform with Big and Rich |publisher = Cybergrass: Bluegrass Music News Network |date = 2007-07-20 |url = http://www.cybergrass.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3579 |accessdate = 2010-01-10 |url-status = dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110708215233/http://www.cybergrass.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3579 |archivedate = 2011-07-08 }}</ref> The youngest fiddler invited to play the Grand Ole Opry, Smith has toured and recorded with Asleep at the Wheel’s Ray Benson, Drake Bell,<ref>{{cite web|title=Who Am I?|url=http://www.rubyjane.org/who-am-i.html|website=Ruby Jane Music|accessdate=November 26, 2014|archive-date=April 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160404144036/http://www.rubyjane.org/who-am-i.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Willie Nelson, and has performed on ''Austin City Limits''.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Corcoran | first = Michael | title = Five alive! Old is new again with these Austin musicians: Belleville Outfit, Ruby Jane, the Dedringers, Dustin Welch and the Fireants putting a fresh spin on tradition | publisher = Austin American-Statesman | date = 2008-08-18 | url = http://www.austin360.com/arts/content/music/stories/xl/2008/08/0821xlcover.html | accessdate = 2010-01-10}}</ref>
Smith was born in Dallas, Texas, to parents who are originally from Columbus, Mississippi and while still a toddler moved there, with her mother, from whom she inherited a love for bluegrass music.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Lagorio | first = Christine | title = Little Girl, Big Musical Talent: Meet Ruby Jane Smith, An 11-Year-Old Country Music Prodigy | publisher = CBS News | date = 2006-04-13 | url = https://www.cbsnews.com/news/little-girl-big-musical-talent/ | access-date = 2010-01-10}}</ref> Grand Ole Opry notable Jim Brock began instructing the seven-year-old Smith after seeing her perform onstage with Rhonda Vincent (Smith impressed Vincent and Brock with a rendering of "Boil Them Cabbage Down"<ref>{{Cite news | last = Sisson | first = Carmen K. | title = Backstory: Fiddler on the youth | newspaper = Christian Science Monitor | date = 2006-11-13 | url = https://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1113/p20s01-almp.html | accessdate = 2010-01-10}}</ref>) and at age 10 she became the youngest invited fiddler to play at the Opry.<ref name="swoop">{{Cite news | last = Swoope | first = Jan | title = Fine fiddling: Home for the holidays, Ruby Jane Smith talks about an amazing couple of years | newspaper = The Columbus Dispatch | date = 2009-12-16 | url = http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=4246 | accessdate = 2010-01-10}}</ref> She also performed in 2003 at the CMA Music Festival.<ref>{{Cite news | last = Mizal | first = Michelle | title = They've Got the Beat | newspaper = The Virginian-Pilot | date = 2003-08-28 }}</ref> After winning the 2005 Mississippi State Fiddle Championship<ref name="swoop"/> and garnering several other contest titles, in 2008 Smith and her family moved to Austin, Texas.<ref>{{Cite news | title = Modern Sounds in Old-School Music | newspaper = Austin American-Statesman | page = T.08 | date = 2008-08-21 }}</ref>
Since moving to Austin, she has been mentored by Ray Benson,<ref name="moser">"These days Ruby Jane Smith is often seen fiddling with mentor Ray Benson, but the 13-year-old can also lay claim as the youngest fiddler invited onto the Grand Ole Opry stage. No surprise that her doggedly traditional style won her the Mississippi State Fiddle Champion title in 2005 and made her the 2007 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin recipient." {{Cite news | last = Moser | first = Margaret | title = Smells Like Teen Spirit: U18 going on 21: Teen acts of tomorrow and tonight | newspaper = Austin Chronicle | date = 2008-12-24 | url = http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/print?oid=693630 | accessdate = 2010-01-10}}</ref> and she has toured with other artists (including Willie Nelson<ref>{{Cite web | last = Wilkie | first = Christina | authorlink = | title = CBS's Bob Schieffer sings at D.C. bar
| website = | publisher = Capitol Hill Publishing Corp | date = 2010-09-13 | url = https://thehill.com/capital-living/in-the-know/171123-cbss-bob-schieffer-sings-at-d-c-bar/ | format = | doi = | access-date = 2010-10-17}}</ref>) She has performed in a Ray Benson play ''A Ride with Bob'', and played on Willie Nelson’s Grammy-nominated ''Willie and the Wheel''. She has recorded four CDs; her debut album ''Road to Columbus'' was released in 2006, and the follow-up 6-song EP ''Creekside'' was released in 2007. She realized a live CD "Live at Roadhouse Rags" in 2009 and her most recent EP Feels Like Home was released in 2010. She won the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin award in 2007, named for Daniel Pearl and given by the foundation named for him, which promotes "Harmony for Humanity."<ref name="moser"/><ref>{{Cite press release | title = Country Bluegrass Winners Carry on the Journalist's Legacy of "Harmony for Humanity" | publisher = PR Newswire | date = 2007-09-04 | url = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-168330723/teen-fiddlers-mississippi-and.html | accessdate = 2010-01-10}}</ref>
She was also an official performer at the 2010 and 2011 Austin City Limits Music Festival.
==Discography== *''Road to Columbus'' (2006) *''Creekside'' (EP, 2007) *''Live At Roadhouse Rags'' (2009) *''Feels Like Home'' (EP, 2010) *''Celebrity (empire of emptiness)'' (2012)
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== *{{Official website|www.therubyjaneshow.com}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ruby Jane}} Category:1994 births Category:Living people Category:American bluegrass fiddlers Category:American women fiddlers Category:Writers from Austin, Texas Category:People from Clinton, Mississippi Category:People from Columbus, Mississippi Category:Musicians from Austin, Texas Category:Country musicians from Texas Category:Country musicians from Mississippi Category:21st-century American fiddlers Category:American women guitarists Category:American bluegrass mandolinists Category:21st-century American women