Words: Ruby Friedman 
Music: Ruby Friedman/Joshua Valleau
Produced by Joshua Valleau, Ruby Friedman 
Recorded at The Glass Wall, Brooklyn, NY
Guitars: Rob Bailey, Rich Hinman
Bass: Joshua Valleau
Cello, Violins: Ysanne Spevack
Piano, Mellotron: Joshua Valleau

I gave Los Angeles my youth 
The world will get the rest in Truth, forever 
I gave my body, gave my mind to alcohol 
Bathed in brine, et cetera 
I trusted a mentor with my muse 
He burned and raped the patron saints, left embers 
But he should’ve checked me for a pulse before he left for Denmark-town and stole my leathers… 

I’ll wait. Believe that something’s  working hard behind the scenes to bring it all together. 

I fell in love, I lost love 
Forbidden clichés don’t come any better 
I had a child , I gave  her up to RocknRoll 
I sold my soul unfettered. 
Grew fired of complaining so I sat down and I wrote an honest letter 
To G-d, I wrote “What am I doing here?” 
He said, “Keep singing it will get better!” 

It’s a bittersweet world 
What a tangled web we weave 
Next stop Tibet 
But first: New Orleans. 

I’ll wait. Believe  that something’s  working hard behind the scenes to bring it all together. 
There’s more to life than Heaven and Earth 
We dare to dream 
Wings made of more than feathers.

Fugue In L.A. Minor

"Modern vintage sounds that will make you laugh and cry and dance like there’s no tomorrow, Ruby Friedman is an electrifying performer and songwriter"-- KCRW, Gary Calamar  
“You don’t need to know Ruby Friedman’s life story to get a sense of who she is. Just hearing her, and better seeing her perform, tell enough. Her voice and manner are as bold and brash as her flame-red hair. But she’s telling you anyway, with ‘Fugue in L.A. Minor,’ the opening song of her long-in-coming first album, Gem…It’s quite the curtain-raiser, fitting as what follows has some theatrical punch, Vaudevillian in some spots, Brechtian in others. Well, really it’s Vaudeville-y and Brecht-y, not fully either, or any one thing at any time. Bluesy also applies. Jazzy maybe. But brassy, always…another highlight is a last-minute addition to the album, the powerful ‘Ballad of Lee Morse…’ Friedman sings the tale with a kind of force that can only come from someone who sees something, or a lot, of herself in it. It’s part celebratory, part cautionary. And all Ruby Friedman.”
--Steve Hochman, KPCC (NPR Affiliate)
"One hell of a frontwoman with a completely unique and transfixing voice laden with passion... {Gem} is a necessary addition to your music collection." --  POP MATTERS, Sarah Zupko  
"Songs of Quiet Devastation - Gem is full of intense emotion, dark and menacing, full of violent frustration and shattered expectation"  -- MAGNET MAGAZINE, J Poet

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