Ruth Moody is an Australian-born soprano singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian folk trio The Wailin' Jennys. Moody grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her parents and three siblings. She was trained classically from the age of four but unlike her two sisters and brother she did not take to a stringed instrument, and from her mid-teens began to train vocally instead. In 1993 she began to study English and French literature at university with the intent of becoming a teacher like both her parents. She changed her course in 1996 and decided to forge a life out of folk music instead. Moody's first band was the Juno-nominated roots band Scruj MacDuhk, for whom she was lead singer from 1997 until the group's break up in 2001. After this split Ruth began to focus on her songwriting and picked up the guitar, adding it to her repertoire of piano, bodhran, accordion and banjo. It was also at this time that she started a musical collaboration with Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft. In 2002 the three took to the stage as The Wailin' Jennys. The Jennys (now Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and New York-based Heather Masse) have won international critical acclaim and numerous awards including a Juno award for their album 40 Days. They have toured in North America, Europe and Australia. Since 2002 Moody has released two full-length albums and an EP with The Wailin' Jennys, a solo EP called Blue Muse and an album with two ex-members of Scruj MacDuhk, Jeremy Penner and Oliver Swain, called South Bound. She is currently working on a full length solo album.
