Rich Ruth

Rich Ruth is a Nashville-based composer and producer whose dynamic music traverses ambient electronic, spiritual jazz, minimalism, and rock. After earning critical acclaim for his self-released debut album, 2019′s Calming Signals, Ruth joined the roster of Third Man Records which released his dramatic follow-up, I Survived, It's Over, in 2022.
Originally from Toledo, Ohio, Michael Rich Ruth established himself in Nashville’s vibrant indie scene playing and touring with various bands while composing ambient music on the side. After being held at gunpoint while being carjacked outside his home, Ruth invested himself more deeply in his solo instrumental music, using it as a form of mediation and creative therapy. The resulting songs were released under the title Calming Signals in 2019. Mixing lush synthesizers with sprawling saxophones, flutes, and electric guitar, Ruth created a wide-ranging and personal sound that borrowed from Kosmische and Coltrane while abstractly honoring his American rust belt roots.
A six-song EP, Where There’s Life, appeared in 2021 after which Ruth signed with Third Man to release his sophomore full-length. Recorded during the depths of the global pandemic after a series of tornadoes struck his neighborhood, 2022′s I Survived, It's Over bore an appropriately cathartic tone. ~ Timothy Monger