Following from the release of first single ‘It’s So Cruel’, Ruby Boots unveils the video for the second single and title track from her forthcoming album Don’t Talk About It. The song reinforces the assertive and assured direction of her second album, nodding to her Americana roots whilst making a bold step in an Indie-Rock direction.
The video drops as news is announced that the Nashville based artist has been added to the official showcase line up at SXSW 2018 in Austin, Texas in March. Ruby has also been selected to showcase at the 2018 Folk Alliance International in Kansas City next February, where she’ll head after an official US album launch show at The Hideout in Chicago. The first of her Australian tour dates have also been unveiled and will include gigs in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth in May.
One of two co-writes with Nikki Lane that feature on the album, ‘Don’t Talk About It’ had its inception around Lane’s table and was finished on the last day of mixing. Ruby Boots says, “It’s a song that broaches our ability to move on and through life without constantly looking back at what has bitten us, but realising that if you keep turning a blind eye, instead of dealing with past trauma’s, they’ll come back to bite you in the end.”
At 14 years old, Ruby Boots—real name Bex Chilcott— left a conflicted home in Perth to do grueling work on pearling boats and she hasn’t stopped migrating since, traversing the wide-open landscapes of her homeland and exploring the most remote and wondrous corners of Europe and North America. The Nashville based Western Australian artist is a hard woman to pin down, enchanted by the idea of travel and escape and driven by an insatiable desire to understand matters of the heart and soul. As she prepares to release her second full-length album, Don’t Talk About It, this is an artist determined to keep moving to prevent malaise setting in.
The album – her first for Island Records Australia – unfurls like a mystical sonic map that covers diverse musical, geographical and emotional terrain. Ruby’s arresting voice tells tales of defiance and resilience, delivered with the wisdom of a drifter who’s seen more in her years than many witness in a lifetime. Early childhood touchstones such as Nirvana, Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan shimmer to the surface and there are nods to the great rock songbooks of Tom Petty and T Rex, but Ruby sits in a different, more contemporary space, spiritually closer to wise women such as Angel Olsen and PJ Harvey.
Earlier this month Rolling Stone USA listed the album in their 2018 Music Preview of 30 Most Anticipated Albums and Tours, sitting Ruby Boots alongside key Americana album releases from acts including Josh Hedley, Margo Price and Lindi Ortega.
In the December Rolling Stone USA feature 10 New Artists You Need to Know, Ruby says of the album: “Sonically, I was missing a rockier, grungier feeling to my live show, so I set out to straddle the two worlds of rock & roll and Americana. Lyrically, I wanted the album to have a sense of defiance and fierceness whilst still showing that it can be achieved through vulnerability.”
Ruby Boots 2018 Tour Dates
Feb 9: Record Release Party/Show – The Hideout, Chicago USA
Feb 14-17: 2018 Folk Alliance, Kansas City USA
Feb 24: Grimeys Records Instore, Austin TX USA
March 12-18: SXSW, Austin TX USA
May 4: Northcote Social Club, Melbourne AUS
May 5: Leadbelly, Sydney AUS
May 11: Rosemount Hotel, Perth AUS