See Lera Lynn’s Menacing Live Version of ‘Little Ruby’

Looking to close ranks and create her most insular album to date, Lera Lynn didn’t use any studio musicians on this year’s Resistor, sharing the record’s instrumental duties with producer Joshua Grange instead. In a new live clip of “Little Ruby,” though, she’s back with her band, leading a four-piece lineup through a mix of blue notes, slapback echo and slowed-down, country-blues strut.

“I thought you were just a pretty little waitress,” she sings in the second verse, delivering the song to a mysterious figure who’s avoiding Lynn’s advances. Dark, deliberate and sexually ambiguous, the song moves forward on the back of Grange’s descending guitar line, a recurring riff that’s punctuated by one of Resistor‘s most pop-friendly choruses. Bassist Robby Handley chimes in with vocal harmonies during the refrain, and Tommy Perkinson bangs out a simple pattern on the snare and kickdrum, leaving plenty of room for Lynn’s voice – which occupies the middle ground between a croon and a smoky huff – to take the spotlight.

Lynn, who performed early versions of Resistor stand-outs like “Drive” during last year’s AmericanaFest, will skip the festival this year in favor of a month-long, cross-country tour. The trek kicks off tonight in Birmingham, Alabama, and draws a loose arc around America before ending, appropriately, in her adopted hometown of Nashville on October 8th.

Lera Lynn 2016 Fall North American tour dates:

September 13 — Birmingham, AL @ the Workplay Theatre

September 14 — New Orleans @ the Parish at House Of Blues

September 16 — Houston @ McGonigel’s Mucky Duck

September 17 — Austin @ 3TEN Austin City Limits Live

September 18 — Dallas @ the Kessler

September 20 — Santa Fe @ Skylight

September 21 — Phoenix @ Musical Instrument Museum

September 22 — Los Angeles @ Bootleg Theater

September 24 — San Francisco @ Slims

September 25 — Sacramento, CA @ Harlow’s

September 27 — Seattle @ the Tractor Tavern

September 28 — Portland @ Aladdin Theater

September 30 — Salt Lake City @ the State Room

October 1 — Denver @ Daniels Hall at Swallow Hill Music

October 4 — Minneapolis @ the Cedar Cultural Center

October 6 — Kansas City, MO @ Knuckleheads

October 7 — University City, MO @ Duck Room

October 8 — Nashville @ the Basement East