Melissa Ruth was born in British Columbia and raised on a balanced diet of borscht and Bob Dylan. Bones (March 2023) is an exploration of how a childhood spent in the rural mountains of Southern B.C. Canada shaped her. Melissa’s young life was at turns isolated, rugged, and joyful. Her extended family was part of an insular Russian immigrant community and she grew up listening to stories of survival on the prairies and survival in the provincially-run residential school her father and aunties attended as young children. On Bones, Ruth takes us through her formative years as a young artist through present-day. Rooted firmly in her beloved West, Bones leads us through the timber and mining towns that speckle Melissa's part of the world and weaves throughout her own story of survival, from determination to celebration.
Melissa currently calls Southwestern Oregon home where she lives on a small ranch with her husband, various critters, and her border collie named Lu. When she is not producing or performing music, she is a music educator for a local school district and is the state advocacy chair for music education in small schools, urging equity and access to music education for all children–particularly those in rural communities.
She is currently pursuing a master's degree in music education through Kent State University.