Nashville singer-songwriter, Ruthie Collins, will release her latest studio album, Cold Comfort, tonight at 7:00 pm CT. Brought to you live from her mother’s couch in upstate New York, viewers can expect an atmospheric, full record performance.
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This live stream event is the second in a weekly trio she has scheduled. Self-described as “Woo Woo Spiritual,” Collins brings a vital component of her album creation to her fans with “Past,” “Present,” and “Future” themed events. Beginning last Friday night, she introduced this soul-stirring mini-series with a “Past” themed party. The performance centered around the Three of Swords Tarot Card. According to Collins, this particular card is griefful, representing trials she faced with past relationships and her sad, singer-songwriter phase.
The spiritual stuff is more than a fun theme for Collins. “It’s definitely something I’m into. I think that, honestly, that without, this record would not exist. I was stuck in that female country singer land where, like many others in my circle, country radio refused to play my music, and I couldn’t seem to get anything going in Nashville,” she shared.
“It felt oppressive,” Collins described, “It was almost like everything bad in my life was country radio’s fault. I got so sick of it. I knew I needed to tell a new story to myself because this is not good for me.”
Collins revisited her past as she departs into her more positive present with the upcoming album.
For tonight, Collins drew a Ten of Cups card. Representing this “Present” event is a hopeful card about coming into your own, unapologetically. This energy of not caring what other people’s opinions are, and standing on your own two feet, is the foundation of Cold Comfort.
“So, I basically snuck into my record label studio,” Collins began. “I’ve been with Curb since 2011, and they’re amazing. But with the climate of females in the country over the past few years, I get why it was a challenge to think about releasing a female to country radio. So I’m sort of sitting around writing a ton of songs, and every time I would be like, what should I be focusing on? The answer was writing and recording. So one day I was just like, well, I’ll go record like they’re telling me to.”
Collins entered the studio with friend and producer Wes Harllee and cut eleven songs in a week. About halfway through the process, the CEO caught wind of their experiment. “He was like, what are you doing? People have gotten dropped for this before. And I told him he wasn’t releasing my music right now anyway, so I thought what’s the worst that can happen?” What followed expanded beyond her realm of possibility.
“Like six months later, I looked around, and I was like, there is an entirely new team that, not only is excited about working on America, but some of these people are experts. It was bizarre,” Collins shared. With the full support of the Curb team behind her record, they knew they needed to expand to market her new genre. The result was her own sub-label, Sidewalk Records.
“So, when left to my own devices, it turns out they really liked it…thank goodness,” she laughed. “It felt good to finally be heading in the more Americana direction that’s always drawn me, despite some prior pop-leaning nudges from the label.”
Collins recorded the eleven-track album nearly two years ago. She credits a book, The Game of Life and How to Play It, for extracting her from negative thinking and introducing meditation, journaling, and affirmations.
“I finally realized that if I’m not really singing my truth and being my most authentic self, it’s never gonna work anyway, so might as well not be scared just to try it,” Collins remarked.
Each song is a meaningful stop on her celestial journey, coming into herself as an artist. “There’s ten sad songs, then one angry,” she shared. “Joshua Tree” was the first single released, and a wistful ode to Gram Parson’s, recorded in Joshua Tree in the room where he died. She recalls the experience being “pretty spooky.”
“There was a dream catcher that fell off the wall right when I started singing the first take, and everyone was like ‘Oh, Gram’s here,” she shared.
This song and title-track, “Cold Comfort,” were co-written with Luke Sheets. “Dang Dallas,” debuted between those two, and her latest release “Bad Woman.”
There are a few songs Collins is particularly excited to share tonight. “Hey Litte Girl” is a song that I wrote about my ex-boyfriend who would drink like one hundred Bud Lights and then leave me voice messages of Bruce Springsteen songs. It’s a fun track, a little different for me,” she laughed. “That’s the angry one. I got annoyed with that.”
The album closer, “Beg Steal Borrow,” made her list of favorites. Co-written with Rick Brantley, the track features a heart-wrenchingly simple set. Acoustic guitar and mournful vocals tell the story of a girl who is at her wit’s end with a relationship gone wrong, taking what she can get when there is nothing left.
“I think we’ve all been there,” remarked Collins, “where we’re so deep in a relationship, we can’t see a way out. I understand none of this is good for me anymore, but I will literally take the crumbs off your table to still be in this with you. It’s a good reminder to me and anyone else who listens of ‘never again.”
Finally, next Friday, Collins will host her “Future” event. Brought to you by The World card, the audience can expect a sense of completion, accomplishment, travel, and new ideas. The set will feature all-new, unreleased music from the past two years.
Tune in tonight as Ruthie Collins unrolls her most authentic work yet, from home. Set a reminder for next week’s event to get a glimpse of what the future of her music.
