Myshkin has stories to tell and the means to tell them. She writes with a dark and subtle wit, raw honesty, and a painters eye. Her compositions bear the mark of an artist who finds inspiration all over the map and incorporates far flung musical ideas with a passionate ease. Who always has an ear out for beauty but pays little attention to trends. The result is an uncommonly timeless modern music.

Myshkin's Ruby Warblers is an ever-evolving crew of genius gamblers whose fort? range from tango to electronica, old time to modern classical to jazz, and each leave an imprint of their unique talents on the music. Myshkin plays an 80 year old martin tenor guitar, a vintage gibson six string, and a jumbo lowden acoustic. Her voice is her finest instrument though, and she wields it like a fortune teller, an acrobat, a hunter, a gift.

Former and current ruby warblers:
scott magee - drums
john lutz - bass
neti vaan - violin
ben schenck - clarinet
christopher trapani - piano
laura freeman - harmonica
brent martens - bass
nick jaina - guitar
leila chieko - drums
skip von kuske - cello
enion pelta tiller - violin
nathan langston - violin
edwin severijn - drums
helge slikker - bass
lara michell - guitar
sailor banks - bass, beats, guitar, piano, production
jesse brooke - drums
paul evans - soprano sax, alto sax, melodica

Discography --
Myshkin's Ruby Warblers: sigh semaphore 2006 / corvidae 2004 / rosebud bullets 2002 -- Myshkin: why do all the country girls leave? 1999 / blue gold 1998

Quotes --
"Fiercely talented, elegantly skewed" - Time Out UK
"A giant among songwriters " - City Life, Manchester UK
"A poet who has something to say; dense, dark songs rendered beautifully" - Dirty Linen
"Smart, sad and weird" - Village Voice
"Dusky, haunting gems, an excellent CD" - All Music Guide
"Darkly joyous, endlessly restless, and spellbinding. Gypsy, Celtic, cabaret and punk influences, a masterfully mercurial, seductive voice" - Sing Out

Biography --
Myshkin was rooted in the lowlands of Europe, conceived in Paris, born and raised in the cornfield flatlands of the midwestern US. At fifteen, she picked up her sister's guitar and began to write songs. At twenty, a theater school dropout, she took a year off to live in the woods of southern Indiana, before setting off on a lifetime of travel and musical exploration. She roamed through New Mexico, New York, Texas and Tennessee, and landed in New Orleans in 1993, a solo record ("Slate") in hand, determined to start a band.

For the next nine years, Myshkin based herself in that musically rich city, while touring nationally and internationally. She wrote songs about ordinary, extraordinary people, drawing on her own experiences and stories she picked up on the road, and explored and combined elements of the many genres and eras of pre- and post-rock american music, from folk to jazz to pop. Her collaboration with songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Mike West resulted in 4 cds (Myshkin Impossible - "Dr. Plague and Other Lullabies" / Mike West and Myshkin - "Econoline" / Myshkin - "Blue Gold" / Myshkin - "Why Do All the Country Girls Leave?") and countless shows. Myshkin most often performed with an electric trio at home, and as an acoustic duo on the road, playing approximately 300 nights a year. Although an anomaly in the New Orleans music scene, her song writing skill and powerful voice attracted a strong following in the press and public, and she was the recipient of several of the city's music industry awards. During this period she also leant her talents to various projects, recording and touring with the Mike West Band, the Ez Bake Organs, the Kirk Rundstrom Band ("Wicked Savior" / "Blue China",) the Road Dog Divas ('Everythings In Boxes"), and doing session work for many other artists.

In 2002 she cut herself loose from all these projects to concentrate solely on her own music. She dubbed the new band Myshkin's Ruby Warblers, and the first record, the self-produced "Rosebud Bullets", took even long time fans by surprise with it's broad musical vision, passionate delivery, and rich arrangements. Reviewers of the record were all in agreement that Myshkin's restless curiosity and skills had reached a new level. In the summer of 2002, missing the physical beauty of the american west and seeking a place with a more progressive social climate, she relocated to Portland Oregon, her long time drummer Scott Magee following later that year. In Oregon she began working with multi-instrumentalist / producer Sailor Banks, aka Sugar Short Wave, and their 5 year collaboration brought new dimensions to the sound of the Ruby Warblers, introducing electronic elements and a more cohesive sonic aesthetic. The band continued to tour nationally and throughout Europe, and the albums "Corvidae" and "Sigh Semaphore" were born of this period. Both records concentrate lyrically on political and humanist themes, and show an artist exploring wider worlds of sound while growing ever more subtle in her art.

Myshkin is currently living in Portland, working with some of the city's finest players, and focused on completing her newest and most ambitious album, a bird's eye view of the mad world that continues to inspire her.

see concert footage and videos on the Ruby Warblers youtube page
mp3s available on the free music page of this site
more music - and some interesting folks - on the Ruby Warblers myspace page

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