Young Audiences Artist Gives Old Songs New Life
Dave Ruch (pronounced Ruck), a folk musician and singer who specializes in traditional material taken mainly from upstate New York sources, released his first solo CD entitled “The Oldest Was Born First” in September, 2008.
His new CD features venerable old folksongs, ballads, dance tunes and ditties from rural New York State interpreted with guitar, mandolin, Jew’s harp, 5-string and tenor banjo, concertina, fiddle, spoons, voice and more. It also includes a 12-page booklet of song notes and historical background.
Dave’s first solo recording has received great reviews, like this one from Vic Smith of fRoots Magazine, UK. “Here is an album that comes as a very pleasant surprise. (It) covers the localized songs of (New York’s) canals and lumber camps as well as wider known items such as Bald Headed End of the Broom and Our Goodman. The mixture of thoughtful and humorous songs is interspersed with some sprightly instrumentals on banjo, mandolin and guitar.” Rod Stradling of Musical Traditions Magazine, UK, states that Dave’s CD is: “Well done! This is a very nice record.”
Dave has been a Teaching Artist with Young Audiences of Western New York for over 20 years, as a member of The Hill Brothers and solo. A Western New York resident, Dave is widely noted for his ability to engage audiences of all ages. He travels regionally from his home in Buffalo, giving more than 325 concerts and workshops each year for schools, music festivals, libraries, historical societies, professional conferences, folk music organizations, museums and community events across New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Equal parts historian, educator, comedian and folklorist, Dave finds his song material in dusty archives, obscure songbooks, diaries, old recordings, scholarly journals and sometimes from his own children. Whether singing in the old unaccompanied style or backing himself on 5-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, lap dulcimer, washtub bass or jaw harp, Dave combines joyful songs with stories and humor to captivate audiences young and old.
He is a member of the New York State Historical Association, New York State Council for the Social Studies, Canal Society of New York State, New York Folklore Society, Western New York Association of Historical Agencies, the Association of Teaching Artists and the New York State Reading Association.
To learn more about Dave’s Young Audiences programs, look here. To buy his new CD, visit daveruch.com.
