Rich Ruth

Michael Ruth operates under the performing name Rich Ruth as a Nashville-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work spans ambient electronic textures, loops, spiritual jazz, minimalism, and rock. Positive notices for his independently issued debut Calming Signals in 2019 led to his addition to the Third Man Records roster, which issued the intense follow-up I Survived, It's Over in 2022. Water Still Flows arrived the following June.

Born in Toledo, Ohio, Michael Rich Ruth gained footing in Nashville’s active indie community through performances and tours with assorted bands while developing ambient material independently. A carjacking at gunpoint outside his residence prompted deeper commitment to solo instrumental work, which functioned as both meditation and creative therapy. The resulting pieces surfaced as Calming Signals in 2019. Rich synthesizer layers combined with expansive saxophone, flute, and electric guitar lines to shape a broad yet intimate sound that drew from Kosmische and Coltrane while subtly acknowledging his American rust belt origins.

The six-song EP Where There's Life emerged in 2021, after which Ruth signed with Third Man for his second full-length. Captured during the pandemic’s lowest point following tornadoes that struck his neighborhood, I Survived, It's Over from 2022 carried a fittingly cathartic character. The seven-track Water Still Flows in 2024 proved even more cathartic and musically weighty while retaining every measure of the composer’s characteristic elegance.