Like John Muir’s move to Yosemite Valley or E.B. White’s move to a Maine farm, sometimes a simple next step in life’s journey becomes the focus of a writer’s career. Clearly without the hindsight of those two examples, I wonder if a similar pivot is happening with Gunnison, Colorado-borne, but now resident of Austin, bassist and songwriter Ruby Dice. She’s about to release her first full-length album, Take Me Back, and a related documentary film, Making a Life Out of Art. They’re both collaborative works celebrating the support and ecosystem for creative artists in Austin.
The record opens with Stories, a shout out–“this town’s got some stories to tell”–to places around Austin. With a Caribbean beat and twangy guitar it’s the kind of stylistic mashup common there. With a retro, country doo-wop vibe, Grey Horse is the story of the Sixth Street Cowboy, and features spoken word from the real-life character of the same name. Little Big Town addresses the tension between growth and artistic freedom when Austin “became a city overnight”, but “don’t tell me this town ain’t got no heart.” The closer title track is a boom-chicka country number that highlights Dice’s bass and vocals. It’s an observation about the rose-colored glasses view of history because “we all remember things a different way.”
The middle of the CD focuses more on character tales than their locale, and features some of those aforementioned collaborators. Suzanna Choffel takes a turn on vocals on Country Show. It’s a country ballad about life on the road as a musician (she also sings harmony on 3-4 other cuts). Garrett Jay Brown contributes vocals on Cosplay Cowboy, a fun, outlaw power pop tune about the all-hat, no-horse crowd that knows more about Texas parties than about Texas. There’s an even giddier number called Dress To Impress. It’s a collaboration with fashion peacock and musical icon Shinyribs where “I might be a hot mess, but I couldn’t care less because I’m dressed to impress.” The Shinyribs playfulness shows up in a spoken word bridge about perfume and sneakers.
There are plenty of records honoring the music of Austin. All of them I’ve heard take the outside-in view by choosing songs from various Texas artists. Ruby Dice has taken the opposite tact. She’s reporting while in the belly of the beast and trying for the success of those songwriting legends. It will be years, or more likely decades, before we know if she rises to that level. In the meantime she cut a record with a clear Austin profile that shows she’s absorbed in its music scene, not just observing it, and that makes Take Me Back a compelling snapshot of local music.
About the author: I've actually driven from Tehatchapee to Tonopah. And I've seen Dallas from a DC-9 at night.