Ruby Jane Smith (born November 17, 1994) is an American

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

player, singer, and songwriter in the traditional bluegrass and Americana music genres. The youngest fiddler invited to play the

Grand Ole Opry The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a weekly American country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, founded on November 28, 1925, by George D. Hay as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM. Currently owned and operated by Opry Entertainment (a divis ...

, Smith has toured and recorded with

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted more t ...

’s

Ray Benson Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United St ...

Drake Bell Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...

, and

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...

, and has performed on ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

''. Smith was born in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, to parents who are originally from

Columbus, Mississippi Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, on the eastern border of Mississippi, United States, located primarily east, but also north and northeast of the Tombigbee River, which is also part of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterwa ...

and while still a toddler moved there, with her mother, from whom she inherited a love for bluegrass music. Grand Ole Opry notable Jim Brock began instructing the seven-year-old Smith after seeing her perform onstage with

Rhonda Vincent Rhonda Lea Vincent (born July 13, 1962) is an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Vincent's music career began when she was a child in her family's band The Sally Mountain Show, and it has spanned more than four de ...

(Smith impressed Vincent and Brock with a rendering of "

Boil Them Cabbage Down "Boil Them Cabbage Down" (also "Bile 'Em Cabbage Down") is an American folk song. Hoecakes are small cornmeal cakes that were baked over a fire on the blade of a hoe. A breakfast of hoecakes and cabbage soup testifies to the humble origins of th ...

") and at age 10 she became the youngest invited fiddler to play at the Opry. She also performed in 2003 at the

CMA Music Festival The CMA Music Festival is a four-day music festival centered on country music, hosted each June by the Country Music Association (CMA) in Nashville, Tennessee. Beginning in 1972 under the name Fan Fair, the event now draws over 400 artists and c ...

. After winning the 2005 Mississippi State Fiddle Championship and garnering several other contest titles, in 2008 Smith and her family moved to

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. Since moving to Austin, she has been mentored by

,"These days Ruby Jane Smith is often seen fiddling with mentor Ray Benson, but the 13-year-old can also lay claim as the youngest fiddler invited onto the Grand Ole Opry stage. No surprise that her doggedly traditional style won her the Mississippi State Fiddle Champion title in 2005 and made her the 2007 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin recipient." and she has toured with other artists (including

) She has performed in a Ray Benson play ''A Ride with Bob'', and played on Willie Nelson’s Grammy-nominated ''

Willie and the Wheel ''Willie and the Wheel'' is an album from American country music artists Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel. This album was released on February 3, 2009, on the Bismeaux Records label and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Americana A ...

''. She has recorded four CDs; her debut album ''Road to Columbus'' was released in 2006, and the follow-up 6-song EP ''Creekside'' was released in 2007. She realized a live CD "Live at Roadhouse Rags" in 2009 and her most recent EP Feels Like Home was released in 2010. She won the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin award in 2007, named for

Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.' Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...

and given by the foundation named for him, which promotes "Harmony for Humanity." She was also an official performer at the 2010 and 2011

Austin City Limits Music Festival The Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Zilker Park in Austin, Texas on two consecutive three-day weekends. Inspired by the KLRU/PBS music series of the same name, the festival is produced by Austin-based ...

Discography

*''Road to Columbus'' (2006) *''Creekside'' (EP, 2007) *''Live At Roadhouse Rags'' (2009) *''Feels Like Home'' (EP, 2010) *''Celebrity (empire of emptiness)'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ruby Jane 1994 births Living people American bluegrass fiddlers Writers from Austin, Texas People from Clinton, Mississippi People from Columbus, Mississippi Musicians from Austin, Texas Country musicians from Texas Country musicians from Mississippi