Artist Spotlight: Rue Snider

Rue Snider was born in the cave of a dragon, he joked at first. Actually he came from outside of Pittsburgh where he was the smarty-pants kid of an elementary school music teacher and was afforded all of the advantages such a position allowed. Naturally, the economics of supply and demand would color Rue's abundance of music lessons and opportunities in an undesirable light, so he rejected them for a different sort of path early on. Retrospectively, he is deeply grateful to those yearling lessons and to his parents for their unwavering support.
His roguish and raw look invites an approachability, whether cultivated or natural, that encourages folks to open up to Rue. His melodic, confessional repertoire has been largely about his own journeys until recently, but “The more I travel, the more I'm trying to incorporate other people's stories and paint with a broader color palette. My songs have been about my experiences and struggling with alcohol abuse and how I make my living traveling around the country,” said the indie folk/rocker by phone early this week.
He explained that the music industry has the infrastructure to support emerging artists after the first year, but they are typically asked to demonstrate and ability to tour and gig and earn for a few seasons before that network becomes available. He's mostly lived on the road for the past two years, subletting his Brooklyn apartment, and has enjoyed success in the Floridian climes. Late last year he was gigging around when he met Lesa Silvermore, the 23 year-old phenom with an electric and undeniable magnetism.
The pair have been traveling together for a couple of months now, but the hometown Lesa hails from Jacksonville, so the Yankee has a southern friend for this leg of his trip. Traveling with a woman has awakened a sensitivity to gender issues in Rue, an already impressible type of guy. The two of them are about to make their virgin run as a duet later this week, and until now have just been playing one night stands together and had not yet taken the stage as one.
“Lesa's energy is very infectious and she has a beautiful voice. The crowds have really opened up to her in a different way to me. She's dynamic in her delivery and her ballads seep in emotion. That’s exciting to see-- it's an interesting yin and yang dynamic that's been really positive.”
The seeping, seething affect of Rue's lyrics strums the heart strings informing: plucking and twanging at the memory of throes. Whether the poetry is waxed or polished doesn't seem to matter; he's pulled this musical momentum into locomotion.
 “At my shows, the most important thing is for me to develop a rapport with the audience and remind them that life is short; we must never give up on our dreams. That’s the story of my life: going to play songs and encouraging people to be their best. That’s my mission right now. At the end of the day and we're all gonna die but while we're here we need to remember to love the people you love and don’t give up.”
Catch Rue Snider and his companion Lesa Silvermore at Little Fish, HUGE Pond this Sunday evening for a free show at 9 p.m.

- Jessica Pirani, Herald Arts Columist, JessieBerger@yahoo.com.