If The River Was Whiskey

It takes a special artist to snatch triumph from the jaws of disaster. Rewind to 2016 and everything was going right for Ina Forsman. The 24-year-old singer had gone from Finland’s best-kept secret to Ruf’s hottest new signing. Her self-titled debut had wowed the music press, while she’d blazed her reputation on that year’s Blues Caravan tour, and couldn’t slow the torrent of new songs that flowed from her. 
Then fate threw a curveball. While gigging in New York, Ina lost her phone – and with it, every last scrap of new material. A lesser artist would have crumbled. But as you’d expect from a road-warrior who paid her dues under blues heroes like Guy Verlinde and Helge Tallqvist, Ina stood tall, breathed deep, wiped the slate clean and took two more years to pen a fresh batch of songs. “At the end of the day, I’m happy I lost my phone. I lived a little more life – and wrote better songs with more emotion.”
Some listeners will focus on Ina’s incredible vocal, as she slips from the feline purr of Be My Home and the rapid-fire punch of Get Mine, to the conversational flow of Figure. But perhaps still more impressive is the quality of her songwriting. As on her debut, Ina is a creative force, penning all the lyrics and co-writing the music, on an emotional rollercoaster that swerves between the acid-jazz of All Good, Genius’s speaker-rattling soul and the shivering slow-blues Miss Mistreated. 
She’s full of surprises. Try the Latin rhythms of Every Single Beat, or Chains, with its throbbing beats and gang-chant vocals. Even when she writes a love song, Ina twists the template, with Whatcha Gonna Do and Why You Gotta Be That Way giving two perspectives on sexual harassment. “The first song is the situation from a man’s point of view,” she says. “He sees a girl, tries to get her attention and ends up making some fucked-up decisions. The next song tells the story from the girl’s point of view: she just wants to carry on with her stuff but this dude won’t leave her alone.”
It all ends with Sunny – a smoky acapella masterclass, written entirely by Ina, that sends you off into the world ready to spread the word about this extraordinary artist. Been Meaning To Tell You is the second album that you hoped Ina Forsman was capable of – and then some. Let us all be thankful that she lost her phone…

Been Meaning To Tell You

All Good

Long live the King. Four years since the passing of the great B.B. King, his towering influence over the blues world – and beyond – remains undimmed. From the long-standing fans still held spellbound by 1965’s classic Live At The Regal album, to the young guitarists adding a shiver of vibrato to an emotive solo, King’s music will never be forgotten. And this year, the iconic bluesman’s presence is felt stronger than ever, as his spirit imbues a star-studded new album, The Soul Of The King.  
	The term ‘legend’ doesn’t do justice to B.B. King. The eight-decade story of how a Mississippi cotton-picker rose to the heights of the blues – changing the genre forever with his soul-drenched voice and ‘one-note’ touch – is told by his acclaimed studio catalogue and fabled live shows. Now, as the men who walked alongside him every step of the way for over 35 years, The B.B. King Blues Band writes the next chapter, on an album that salutes King’s classic songs and showcases their own. “It’s important,” nods executive producer Terry Harvey, “to continue what he started.”
Boasting several world-class songwriters in their ranks, The Soul Of The King finds the lineup supplying material that stands alongside their late leader’s catalogue – along with guests that include Joe Louis Walker’s soulful tribute on Regal Blues and Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s masterful solo on opener Irene Irene. Meanwhile, as King’s faithful sidemen, this band of blues lifers have the great man’s music under their fingernails, and made a bracing return to his greatest cuts. There’s a heartfelt turn from Michael Lee on The Thrill Is Gone. Mary Griffin and Taj Mahal combine their vocal and guitar talents on Paying The Cost To Be The Boss – while Kenny Neal lends poignant vocals and licks to Sweet Little Angel. “Our approach was not to stray too far from the original, but still to make it fresh,” says Harvey. “I want the world to remember B.B. and to introduce his music to the youth of today.”
They might have an illustrious history, but The Soul Of The King reminds us that The B.B. King Blues Band are a lineup moving forward, writing a love-letter to their fallen leader while staking their own claim in the modern era. “When we started this album, we wanted to let the world know the B.B. King Band is live and well,” explains Harvey. “And that we are continuing B.B.’s musical legacy…”

THE SOUL OF THE KING

The Thrill Is Gone feat. Michael Lee

Enough manufactured pop princesses. Vanja Sky is the real deal: a fire-voiced blues-rock gunslinger, armed with a troublemaking new album of modern classics. You’ve already seen the Croatian-born bandleader blow up Ruf’s 2018 Blues Caravan with songs from that year’s acclaimed Bad Penny album (“A first-class debut that’s well-placed to revitalise the scene”). Now, Sky returns with a hard-rocking second release that dares you to be her partner-in-crime. “If you asked people close to me,” she says, with a mischievous grin, “they’d say Woman Named Trouble is describing me.”
	Sky knew she wanted to play guitar “right then and there” after a 2014 show near her hometown of Buzet, and she soaked up the influence of Rory Gallagher, Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. But it was two years before she took a leap of faith, leaving her hometown and a career as a pastry chef to brave the music scene of Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb.
Even then, it took all Sky’s rebel spirit to fight her way into contention. The eyes of the music industry rarely turn towards Eastern Europe, and for all its merits, her homeland is no rock ‘n’ roll launchpad (“Everything is a challenge in Croatia”). But talent wins out, and label boss Thomas Ruf’s faith in Sky was quickly repaid by Bad Penny, plus Blues Caravan appearances that challenged tour veterans Mike Zito and Bernard Allison to raise the bar. 
Building on the momentum, Woman Named Trouble debuts eight original songs penned by Sky with guitarist Robert Wendt, plus three classic covers – and a fistful of attitude. “This album has a classic blues-rock vibe, but with my own touch,” she explains. “And it’s much heavier than Bad Penny.”
Tracking at Hamburg’s Schaltona Studios with producer Roger Inniss, Sky caught her songs in the bottle with a studio band completed by Artjom Feldtser (bass) and Hanser Schüler (drums). For heavy riffage, try opener Rock ‘N’ Rolla Train, complete with a bee-in-a-bottle lick worthy of Angus Young’s playbook, and Turn It On, whose vicious intro breaks into a seductive vocal (“Can you stand the heat crawling up your spine,” Sky sings, “when she moves her hips, sucks your fingertips?”)
But Sky and Wendt’s songcraft goes far beyond blues-rock. Myriad genres are explored here, from the gorgeous Stonesy country-blues chime of Hard Times, to What’s Going On’s leap into trilling folk, and the mesmerising bass-led funk of Troublemaker. Elsewhere, there’s the stormy Voodoo Mama and the heartache of Call Me If You Need Me, while the rockabilly rave-up of Let’s Go Wild will make you do precisely that. “That song is about last New Year’s Eve in Stuttgart,” Sky grins – leaving the rest to our imagination.
Even when Sky takes on the titans of blues, she makes these covers her own. Her funky spin on Luther Allison’s Life Is A Bitch would surely make the great Chicago bluesman smile down, while Fleetwood Mac’s Oh Well rattles along with an instrumental virtuosity worthy of its creator, Peter Green. Finally, there’s Shadow Play – a highlight of Rory Gallagher’s 1978 album Photo-Finish, dragged thrillingly into modernity with a high-velocity new treatment. 
Still just 26, Vanja Sky’s early career has moved equally fast. From dive bars and dead-ends to headline tours and supports with the mighty UFO – not to mention “meeting so many beautiful people on the road” – the highlights since 2017 would make that young Croatian gunslinger pinch herself. Now, Woman Named Trouble leaves no doubt there’s plenty more trouble to come. “Besides being tons of fun to make,” she reflects, “I think we did a great job with the music. I’m very proud of this album…”

Woman Named Trouble

Voodoo Mama

Spin Doctors
If The River Was Whiskey
Released April 30th, 2013 on Ruf Records
Spin Doctors NEW CD out on Ruf Records! "If The River Was Whiskey" available everywhere TODAY... -> https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/if-the-river-was-whiskey/id621834201 • www.rufrecords.de

You think you know the Spin Doctors. Think again. When the legendary New York quartet release If The River Was Whiskey on April 30th through Ruf Records, casual fans will discover the secret past the hardcore have never forgotten. To the wider world, the Doctors might be the multi-million-selling icons behind hits like Two Princes and Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong, not to mention the classic Pocket Full Of Kryptonite. But in 2013, Chris Barron (vocals), Aaron Comess (drums), Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Mark White (bass) are reconnecting with the flat-broke twenty-somethings who scraped for dollars at the sharp end of the Big Apple blues circuit. The Spin Doctors have come full-circle. http://www.rufrecords.de


Upcoming Tour Dates:

05/02/13 Neptunes - Virginia Beach, VA

05/03/13 NC Music Factory - Charlotte, NC 

05/04/13 Allure Nightlife - Greensboro, NC

05/05/13 Jefferson Theater - Charlottesville, VA

05/07/13 Brooklyn Bowl - Brooklyn, NY

05/08/13 Rams Head on Stage - Annapolis, MD

05/09/13 World Cafe Live - Philadelphia, PA

05/10/13 Mohegan Sun Casino, Wolf Den - Uncasville, CT

05/17/13 Wildflower Arts & Music Festival - Richardson, TX

06/08/13 Seven Cherokee Casino - West Siloam Springs, OK

06/09/13 Celebrate Fairfax - Fairfax, VA

06/15/13 Tropicana Express - Laughlin, NV

07/06/13 Petunia Festival - Dixon, IL

07/20/13 Blues Balls Music Festival,  Lucerne, Switzerland

07/21/13 Burg Herzberg Festival. Germany

07/24/13 Lane County Fair - Eugene, OR

07/27/13 Toronto's Festival of Beer, CNE Grounds Bandshell - Toronto, OT Canada

08/10/13 Frederick Brown Jr. Amphitheater - Peachtree City, GA

08/29/13 Monterey Country Fairgrounds - Monterey, CA

08/30/13 Sycuan Casino - El Cajon, CA

08/31/13 Moses Lake Summer Concert Series, McCosh Park - Moses Lake, WA

09/01/13 Pig Out in the Park, Riverfront Park - Spokane, WA

Spin Doctors - About A Train

It all started in the Black Forest, late at night, when it seems all great things begin. There in a small village bar, with the doors locked, window shades rolled down, an after- hours party was happening inside. Blues great, Luther Allison was jamming with a bunch of eighty-year old Black Forest folklore musicians. I was young, lucky and overwhelmed by the communicating power of music. I left the farm to pay my dues as a concert promoter, agent and manager. Soon I collaborated with Allison, eventually becoming his representative on the European side of the world. I was a student learning from a man who traveled the rocky blues road for more than thirty years. It became apparent that relationships between artists and record companies can be frustrating for the artists, with companies lacking enthusiasm and understanding of the music.

So management had a baby and it was named Ruf Records. Born of the need and love to promote what we believe in... the communicating power of music.

Now more than 10 years and 100 releases later, I couldn't be happier. And with all the terrific artists on the Ruf Records roster, we will continue to grow. Ruf Records is the label of choice for Bernard Allison, Canned Heat, Sue Foley, Friend & Fellow, Imperial Crowns, Candye Kane, Aynsley Lister, Omar and the Howlers, Ian Parker, The Nighthawks and the irrepressible Walter Trout.

We are able to help our artists expand their careers beyond their extensive tour schedules by providing them with worldwide distribution and one-on-one relationships with each and every one of us here at Ruf. The same applies to our relationships with radio broadcasters, CD reviewers, magazines, e-zines, blue societies and anyone else in this crazy business. Let us know who you are, what you need and what you think. Ruf Records wants to hear from you, and we want you to hear from Ruf Records... communicating for the power of music.

On this site you will be able to view our growing family. Stay a while and enjoy. Be sure to come back soon.

Thomas Ruf

P.S. and in case you were wondering, it's pronounced "roof"

Ruf Records

Popular tracks