Ash Ruder Invites Listeners On A Golden-Hour Road Trip with 'Miss California'
Rising singer-songwriter Ash Ruder invites listeners on an introspective road trip through memory and transformation with the release of her new EP, Miss California, available today via Riser House Records.
A coming-of-age concept album, Miss California unfolds like a cinematic drive down Highway 1 " where nostalgia rides shotgun and the horizon hums with possibility. The opening track, "The Valley (Cinematic Cut)," sets the tone with the crackle of a radio turning on, tuning between childhood recollections and the restless ache to grow. Each song serves as a mile marker along Ruder's journey " pit stops, open roads, and reflections on love, identity, and the bittersweet passage of time.
"Miss California started as an inner monologue I couldn't keep to myself," Ruder shares. "A wrestling with the tension of two opposing feelings: grief that I wasn't a child anymore and excitement to finally begin chasing the thing I dreamed of as a little girl. Every song is the embodiment of the real conversations I've had with myself and others along the way " what if I fail? what if I regret leaving? but what if I find myself?"
"MISS CALIFORNIA" TRACKLISTING
The Valley (Cinematic Cut) - Ashlyn Ruder, Jared Hampton, Vinnie Paolizzi
Miss California - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Jeff Pardo
Blue Genes - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Fran Litterski
Countryside - Ashlyn Ruder, Melissa Fuller, Fran Litterski
In the Cards - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Jeff Pardo
Gypsy - Stevie Nicks
The EP's title track, "Miss California," arrives at the heart of the journey"a tender moment of longing for what's familiar, even as the road stretches ahead. On "Countryside," Ruder trades Malibu's golden coasts for the quiet calm of farmland, reminding listeners there's more to her home state than cityscapes and ocean views.
"Blue Genes," Ruder's viral breakout, wrestles with the inherited patterns that shape us, a raw and resonant reflection on "emotional hand-me-downs." "In the Cards" follows as a wistful 1970s-style radio ballad that captures the sting of change with graceful honesty, while "Gypsy" closes the record like a soft exhale " a reflection of who we were and who we're becoming.
Dreamlike, cinematic, and sun-faded in tone, Miss California is both a love letter to the places we come from and an ode to the courage it takes to leave them behind. Through Ruder's evocative storytelling and vulnerable lyricism, the project captures the ache of leaving, the beauty of arriving, and the freedom of becoming.
You can connect with Ash Ruder by visiting her website.
A coming-of-age concept album, Miss California unfolds like a cinematic drive down Highway 1 " where nostalgia rides shotgun and the horizon hums with possibility. The opening track, "The Valley (Cinematic Cut)," sets the tone with the crackle of a radio turning on, tuning between childhood recollections and the restless ache to grow. Each song serves as a mile marker along Ruder's journey " pit stops, open roads, and reflections on love, identity, and the bittersweet passage of time.
"Miss California started as an inner monologue I couldn't keep to myself," Ruder shares. "A wrestling with the tension of two opposing feelings: grief that I wasn't a child anymore and excitement to finally begin chasing the thing I dreamed of as a little girl. Every song is the embodiment of the real conversations I've had with myself and others along the way " what if I fail? what if I regret leaving? but what if I find myself?"
"MISS CALIFORNIA" TRACKLISTING
The Valley (Cinematic Cut) - Ashlyn Ruder, Jared Hampton, Vinnie Paolizzi
Miss California - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Jeff Pardo
Blue Genes - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Fran Litterski
Countryside - Ashlyn Ruder, Melissa Fuller, Fran Litterski
In the Cards - Ashlyn Ruder, Jonathan Gamble, Jeff Pardo
Gypsy - Stevie Nicks
The EP's title track, "Miss California," arrives at the heart of the journey"a tender moment of longing for what's familiar, even as the road stretches ahead. On "Countryside," Ruder trades Malibu's golden coasts for the quiet calm of farmland, reminding listeners there's more to her home state than cityscapes and ocean views.
"Blue Genes," Ruder's viral breakout, wrestles with the inherited patterns that shape us, a raw and resonant reflection on "emotional hand-me-downs." "In the Cards" follows as a wistful 1970s-style radio ballad that captures the sting of change with graceful honesty, while "Gypsy" closes the record like a soft exhale " a reflection of who we were and who we're becoming.
Dreamlike, cinematic, and sun-faded in tone, Miss California is both a love letter to the places we come from and an ode to the courage it takes to leave them behind. Through Ruder's evocative storytelling and vulnerable lyricism, the project captures the ache of leaving, the beauty of arriving, and the freedom of becoming.
You can connect with Ash Ruder by visiting her website.
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