Folk Fiddle

Ruth is a violinist with specialisms in folk and traditional music as well as having a degree in Classical music from Birmingham Conservatoire. Since graduating in 2012 she has performed extensively as a folk, chamber music and theatre musician and is also in demand as a session player and writer/arranger, featuring on many folk recordings and albums.

Having first picked up a violin aged 6 whilst growing up in Scotland, Ruth was introduced to traditional music through her father’s ceilidh band. She began playing with the band herself at the age of 14, and made many appearances on BBC Radio Scotland’s ‘Take The Floor’, as well as recording an album and performing extensively for RSCDS events across Europe. The influence of her family and fellow band members led her to begin writing traditional fiddle tunes from a young age.

Whilst gaining considerable experience as a classical solo, orchestral and chamber musician throughout her degree, Ruth continued to explore her passion for traditional folk music, playing and collaborating with many musicians on the Birmingham folk scene.

Ruth was a founding member of folk/world music band Bonfire Radicals with whom she performed until 2016. With them she toured the UK, recorded an EP and Album ‘The Albino Peacock’ (Burning Bones Records, 2016) and performed at many of the UK’s major folk festivals. The band have also been featured on BBC Radio 3’s Music Planet with Kathryn Tickell.

She has continued to perform on the folk scene as a fiddle player and has collaborated and performed with a number of artists, notably Chris Cleverley, The Destroyers and Surge Forward. In 2018 Ruth began performing with reknowned folk singer Katy Rose Bennett, and consequently became involved in the arranging and writing of Katy’s music. In 2020, Ruth appeared on Katy’s single ‘Where Does it Hurt’ which later featured on an album of the same name. The single was very well received and was featured on BBC Radio 2’s Folk Show. Folk Radio described the single as ‘A sublimely powerful song of great depth’ and ‘a superlative string quartet arrangement by Ruth Lindsay.’

As well as performing, Ruth is a fiddle teacher and founding member of ‘Birmingham Folk’ a community interest company that runs folk music workshops and sessions across the city, with the aim of connecting people through the traditional music of Birmingham’s multicultural communities. She also leads local traditional Irish folk sessions and has taken extended periods to travel abroad for her research and development as a musician. She has a keen interest in learning and sharing traditional music whilst visiting other countries and is particularly interested in music from Scandinavia and Southern and Eastern Europe, having studied with teachers Nedyalko Nedyalkov (Bulgaria), Michalis Kouloumis (Greece/Cyprus), Mia Marine (Sweden) and has taken part in many music courses and festivals abroad.