The Two’s performed as Ruby & the Rogues

reuniting with percussionist Mike Ennis, and playing extensively from 2013 through 2017. To capture the “rogue” sound, this eponymous album was released. It was recorded in New Orleans at Music Shed studios in early 2014, and mixed the same year at the famous Studio in the Country. The engineers for the sessions were Wes Fontenot and Ben Mumphrey, respectively. All tracks were produced by Ruby.

 

The cover artwork was devised by Ruby and the stick figure logo further suggested the simplicity of the production and focus on a clean sound. The inside picture was from an outing the band enjoyed at a local New Orleans dive, Le Bon Ton Roule.

 

The goal of the album was to capture the live sound of the band, without any “extra” studio production. The band felt that the songs and instrumentation (vocal, guitar, cello, cajon, and percussion) presented a full, complete sonic picture. Even studio reverb was limited (though Suki uses delay on several songs as an integral part of the arrangements).

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Favorites from the album include a cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, a country-inspired song of eventual loss Without You, and an energetic instrumental version of a piece from 1893 AD,  Sicilienne, reimagined by Suki Kuehn.