Wanderer is the long-awaited new solo album from Canadian singer-songwriter Ruth Moody, founding and current member of Billboard-charting and JUNO-award winning folk trio, The Wailin’ Jennys. Open-tuned guitars (inspired by Moody’s heroes, Joni Mitchell and Laura Marling), provide the backdrop for soaring pedal steel and the otherworldly vocals and the intricate harmonies we’ve come to expect from Moody. Recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville, the self penned 10-song album was co-produced by Moody and Dan Knobler (Allison Russell, Lake Street Dive) and mixed by Tucker Martine (Madison Cunningham, First Aid Kit) and will be released May 17 on Moody’s Blue Muse Records via True North Records.
Today, Moody shares the first single from the album, “Seventeen,” along with an extended interview at PopMatters.
“It’s about that tender time, at the edge of adulthood, when there are so many feelings and so few tools to cope with them,” Moody shares. “I was thinking about that time of my life, having a lot of memories and dreams, and remembering that thrill and that pain. Looking for clues, in a way. It’s exhilarating. It’s confusing. It can be so devastating. But it’s something we all have to go through in our own way.”
STREAM/PURCHASE “SEVENTEEN” • PRE-ORDER WANDERER • PRE-SAVE WANDERER
It’s been over a decade since her last solo release, These Wilder Things, a stunningly beautiful album featuring Mark Knopfler, who subsequently brought Moody to support him on his European tours. She’d always intended to record a follow-up but shifted her focus in 2016, when she and her partner, multi-instrumentalist Sam Howard (Molly Tuttle, Joy Williams) welcomed their son, Woodson. After the release and subsequent tours supporting The Wailin’ Jennys’ 2017 album, Fifteen, Moody was ready to try again; then the pandemic hit. “The way these things happen is funny, though,” she shares with PopMatters. “Somehow, it feels right to have waited until now. For one thing, a handful of the songs that ended up on the record weren’t written until more recently.”
Moody brought together her favorite musicians for the recordings, enhanced by the rich echo-chamber reverb of the legendary Nashville studio. Musicians including Howard, who plays upright bass an provides backing vocals, her older brother Richard Moody (“He’s played on every record I’ve ever made”), Jennys’ touring member Anthony da Costa, (guitars), Jason Burger (drums), Kai Welch (Keyboards); Russ Paul (pedal steel), Adrian Dolan (string arrangements) and duet partner Joey Landreth on “The Spell of the Lilac Bloom.” The result is a transcendent collection of ten deeply powerful and personal songs that reflect Moody’s inner world and wanderings. Wanderer explores the emotional journey of motherhood, the joy and pain of life, the mysterious and complicated dance of love, and
ultimately the longing we all feel for home, wherever that might be. From the first note, the listener is immersed in a lush and intimate world, welcomed by sounds at once classic, mysterious, and enchanting. From the restless, nostalgic energy of “Seventeen,” a true life story of unrequited love and an homage to Moody’s hometown of Winnipeg, to the jaw-droppingly beautiful duet with fellow Canadian roots music standout Joey Landreth on “The Spell of the Lilac Bloom,” the album takes the listener on a mesmerizing journey through time and space. The climactic title track, “Wanderer,” embodies the true spirit of love and belonging that we all seek in its repeated final chorus, “love is calling you home.”
TRACK LISTING:
1. Already Free
2. Twilight
3. The Spell Of The Lilac Bloom (featuring Joey Landreth)
4. Seventeen
5. Michigan
6. The Way Lovers Move
7. Coyotes
8. North Calling
9. Wanderer
10. Comin’ Round The Bend
RUTH MOODY BAND TOUR:
May 21 Annapolis, MD – Ram’s Head
May 22 Philadelphia, PA – World Cafe Live
May 23 Alexandria, VA – The Birchmere
May 25 New York, NY – Joe’s Pub
May 26 State College, PA – State Theatre
May 28 Evanston, IL – SPACE
May 29 Milwaukee, WI – Vivarium
May 30 Cincinnati, OH – Ludlow Garage
Jul 11-14 Winnipeg, MB – Winnipeg Folk Festival
*More dates to be announced soon