Meet Ruby Golden Tiger, Needham’s 12-year-old electric bass sensation
The sixth-grader earned a following with contagious enthusiasm for throwback funk and an Instagran m daccount that will make you smile
By day, Needham’s Ruby Adams is a sixth-grader who plays softball and participates in the school orchestra. But on social media and on stage, she’s Ruby Golden Tiger, an electric bass player with 139,000 Instagram followers and some high-profile fans (Taylor Swift’s bassist among them). Adams comes from a musical family: Her dad, Dave, is a music teacher; her little sister, Mabel, plays drums. (You can find her at Mabel on Drums.) Ruby’s stage name is a childhood reference to her hair color, and the catchy stage name stuck.
Adams plays shows locally, at spots like Needham’s Hearth Pizza. Her next gig is at Gracie’s Ice Cream in Somerville as part of the city’s Porch Fest on Saturday, May 11. But she really shines on Instagram, covering funky throwbacks and dancing while she plays. In an age where kids’ hobbies can feel more like a resumebuilder than pure fun, her enthusiasm is refreshing — and contagious. I talked to Ruby and her mom, Rachel Adams, about the path from everyday kid to local musical sensation.
Rachel, I’d love to talk about how to help your child find a passion. Recently, my son told me, “I don’t want to play guitar anymore. It’s boring!” I had a weak moment as a parent where I thought: But you must play an instrument! How did you help Ruby find what she actually loved?
Rachel: You know, we tried all the regular sports-related activities, gymnastics and soccer. We tried things that the other kids were doing, and she just really didn’t like it. She’d wander off on her own and not really engage. I think we were feeling some sense of: Why doesn’t she want to do what the other kids are doing, like organized sports, that are more the norm?
Her dad’s a music teacher, and we always had a lot of music in our home. We started her off in some music classes. She came upon the bass at 7. We were able to find something that she did really gravitate to, and we’ve figured a way to navigate helping her move that forward — which is a little bit outside the norm at this age.
For the first time, in fifth grade, she decided she wanted to try to play softball with friends. It’s the first time she ever expressed interest in going back to a sport. I do think that the process of allowing to build self-esteem and to do something she really loved helped her open up and want to try other things down the road.
How did you discover the bass?
Ruby: It was one day after piano practice. I was in the basement and found this old bass my dad originally bought for himself to just try out. Once I held it, I just knew, basically, that I wanted to play it. And my dad just got so excited to start finding all these tutorials and books. I did a little bit every day to start. We started slow. And then — I don’t know, we picked up the pace, and it just kind of led all the way to this.
It’s rare for kids to have such a following, but also to have such a commitment to something at such a relatively young age. How did you get to where you are now, with such a following, playing so many gigs?
Ruby: My dad created an Instagram account for me on his phone. He just started taking videos of me playing songs that I really liked. I started playing some Khruangbin songs, and then Laura Lee, their bass player, found the videos. She shared them, and that’s how people found me. It was pretty awesome.
What’s your schedule?
Ruby: I try to practice every day for an hour or so. My dad sometimes finds me a gig I can play at. A week before, we create a setlist, and I start practicing. Sometimes I get paid. Normally, I don’t actually get to keep that money. I put it in a savings account. It’s mostly the tips that I get to actually keep.
Rachel: We’ve started a specific college savings account that’s just earmarked for college, her Ruby Golden Tiger funds that come from gigs, or a little bit of marketing stuff, or from Instagram. … It’s nice, because we’re sort of tracking it together and keeping it for her. But there’s a fun little incentive for her that, at some of her gigs, people give tips, and she gets to keep that money. We’re thinking about different ways to do performances to raise awareness for different social groups or for other kids playing music.
Social media and kids is such a fraught thing. How do you manage that in a healthy way? I know you have lots of fans — but I’m sure there are jerks, too.
Rachel: We started that account pretty much because we were flooding our own social media accounts with videos of Ruby playing songs. We thought: Why don’t we just start a separate thing to track her progress for our family and friends? There were a few other child musicians who had accounts like that, run by parents. We had a model. Kids under 13 aren’t allowed to have accounts, anyway. It’s managed by us. Every single comment is reviewed. Anything that’s at all inappropriate gets deleted, and the person gets blocked.
I will say: We’re really pleasantly surprised that 99.99 percent of the engagement with her site is amazingly positive. People are so supportive, generous, and positive. As she’s gotten older, she reviews what we say and the wording of the post. She helps us craft the messages. But she’s not going in and reviewing every comment herself. That’s not something that I think is appropriate for her age. It’s just too much.
You have such a palpable enthusiasm. I hesitate to say it, but: What is your brand? Why do you think so many people have started to follow you?
Ruby: Honestly, many people say that when they see me play, they see how much I love music. And honestly, that’s what I try to show them, because I do really feel passionate about what I’m doing. And I love to dance while playing. I love to get in the moment and just play. I feel they like seeing that a kid my age can be so passionate about something like that.
How does it fit into your ordinary life as a kid?
Ruby: When I get home from school, I try to practice an hour every day, if I can, and it definitely takes up some of my time. It’s something where I have to kind of put it before some after-school stuff. And I feel like it’s worth it.
Is it because you enjoy it so much? Is there a bigger goal in mind, like making your own album?
Ruby: I really love to play bass, and I feel like it’s a big bonding moment for me and my dad. That’s just really important to me.
I think a lot of kids at this age might wonder: What’s my “thing”? What do I love to do? Maybe they haven’t found that yet. Do you have advice for kids who haven’t found that special hobby?
Ruby: I want to say that it’s totally OK not to know what you’re passionate about just yet, especially at my age. I feel like I’m pretty lucky that I found something that I love. Trying something new can be really scary sometimes, but it’s worth it. And it can be really fun. You have to jump off that cliff, and you just have to go for it.
Do you get nervous before gigs?
Ruby: I still get nervous. It depends on where I’m playing. Sometimes, I don’t get as nervous, because I’ve been doing gigs for a little while now. But I still get pretty nervous. And honestly, I’ve learned just to deal with it, because I know it’s a normal thing. And I feel like sometimes if I don’t feel nervous, I get nervous about not feeling nervous, because I feel like it’s normal for me to feel nervous!
Have you gotten offers from people to play bigger shows?
Rachel: The music community has really taken her in, in a very loving way. And she’s connected to a lot of professional female bass players around the world. There are not that many of them. A big piece of this is that she’s a girl electric bass player, and that’s just really uncommon. … Lenny Kravitz follows her. Flea follows her. She’s also been messaging with Taylor Swift’s bass player and Olivia Rodrigo’s bass player, whom she met at the Garden a few weeks ago. People are being very supportive. She’ll play a song from these people, and then we always tag the bass player to acknowledge the bass line. They often respond and get in touch and they’re just so supportive of Ruby. It’s not necessarily gigs now; it’s just the general encouragement from the music community, which feels really special.
Ruby: I think bass is definitely not a common instrument. And women aren’t in music that much, and I think that’s because women aren’t always treated equally to men. And we are trying to fix that, and it’s slowly getting better. But it’s still not quite equal. I want that to change. I’m trying to say that women should be in music as much as men are.
What else do you like to do?
Ruby: I play softball in the spring. Honestly, I love going to school. I just love learning, and I’m into science, writing, and reading, and I like playing in my school orchestra.
Rachel: With the transition to middle school, which started this year in sixth grade, having a lot more homework, seeing friends, and just being a middle school kid, we’re really trying hard to make sure that the bass time stays fun, and I think we’re doing a good job with that.
What’s your favorite song to play of all time?
Ruby: It’s just so hard to decide. I love playing so many songs. I love playing songs by Kool and the Gang. I also love “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire. I like playing a lot of upbeat songs and just being able to dance to them.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin.