What’s Up El Paso - August 13-19, 2007

Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers headline ‘Desert Crossing Live’
By Marina Monsisvais

It could be argued that growing up amongst cowboys and ex-cons isn’t necessarily the best thing for a lady.

But for Ruby Dee, lead singer of Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers, that’s where her penchant for honky-tonk was born.

“I grew up in northeast California where there are cowboys and ex-convicts galore, with summers and Christmases spent in the panhandle of Texas,” Dee said. “You can’t help but hear that (honky-tonk) sort of music growing up in those places, and I never stopped loving it.”

The four-piece combo, made up of Dee, Jorge Harada, Sean Hudson and Kipp Crawford, will be returning to El Paso when they bring their americana/honky-tonk/rockabilly sound to Ardovino’s Desert Crossing on Tuesday.

It’s the latest installment of “Desert Crossing Live,” a new live music series at the Sunland Park restaurant’s Sunset Hall.

The road for this tough chick with a cool voice and a soft spot for ex-cons and cowboys didn’t lead to singing right away, but it sure gave Ruby Dee the gumption to live the colorful life that she writes and sings about on a daily basis – living in Central America, fishing in Alaska, going from backup singer to the leader in her own band. These experiences, and then some, come through in her music.

“The goal is to reach out to folks with kindred thoughts and experiences, or at least to those who can ‘grock’ what I write about and have it actually mean something to them,” Dee said. “Also, basically, to have folks enjoy the music for what it is — lively, fun, high octane, danceable, or at least thigh slappable.”

Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers came to fruition when a chance meeting at an open mic night in Seattle brought the two leaders of the band together. Ruby got up and sang, and Jorge Harada got up and played guitar, but not at the same time. Not right away, anyway. Harada – an ex-punk rocker from Mexico City by way of Las Vegas who played in several bands, most notably with Rolling Rock Records’ rockabilly band Dragstrip 77 – was a somewhat familiar face in the Seattle scene and was quickly “snatched up” by Ruby Dee that fateful night.

“I came up to him and said, ‘I hear you’re my new guitar player,’” to which Harada said, “Let’s see what you got.”

A couple of records and several European and U.S. tours later, Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers are “road tested and approved” as they embark on a big year with big plans — relocating from Seattle to Austin, releasing a record and hitting the road again.

The band decided on Austin because touring from the Northwest is too expensive and gigs are far apart, and as they get ready to release their upcoming record, “Miles From Home,” they’ll need to hit the road in a major way. The band’s slowly building a following of European “repeat offenders” that continue to show up and see them play.

“Was it a Spinal Tap thing where they say, ‘We’re big in Belgium?’ Well, we’re actually big in Belgium,” Dee said with a laugh. “Miles From Home” is scheduled for release in May, but you can catch a sneak peek when you go to the show at Ardovino’s Desert Crossing.

We couldn’t leave Ruby Dee without asking her a very important question: Her favorite shade of red lipstick? “Ha! Crimson Joy, because it doesn’t wear off on the microphone.”

Ruby Dee
and the Snakehandlers
with Raw Deal
Ardovino’s Desert Crossing in
Sunland Park, N.M.
Tuesday, March 18 – doors at 7 p.m.
$10 at the door
For info call 505-589-0653