Ruby Vance

★ About the writer

"I don't sing my songs. I write them and let other people find them."

Ruby Vance writes about working-class Americana — abandoned rail towns, the South after the textile mills closed, women who held things together. She doesn't think of herself as a performer. Her demos are usually one mic, one guitar, one take. The magic happens when other singers find her work and make it their own. Six versions of "Rust on the Rails" exist on SongMonkey. Ruby has heard her own song sung by a soul artist, a bluegrass duo, and a Spanish-language reinterpretation she calls "the best version of all of them." She earns 45% from every play of every version, forever.