Ruby Friedman Orchestra’s new single was inspired by a run-in with an ex-Beach Boy’s touring entourage.
“I was with Brian Wilson as the supporting act and wrote it after the tour ended,” says Friedman. “I’d developed a crush on the front-of-house sound guy. I had to keep it to myself since my managers also manage Brian Wilson, and I didn’t want them to think this would always be happening. That soundman was very kind to me during a devastating time.”
“Four Day Muse” can be found on Chimes After Midnight, the second RFO album and the first in almost a decade. During that time, Friedman has released sporadic singles and landed licensing deals with NBC, FX and Fox Sports, Disney+ and other networks. In 2022, she performed “Fire Down Below” on the trailer for the final season of the Netflix series Peaky Blinders. A year later, she headed into the studio with esteemed producer Mitchell Froom to record “Teardrop Trailer,” a song originally written for Wynonna Judd.
Friedman continues to blur the lines between mediums on Chimes After Midnight. Canadian screenwriter Graham Yost (Silo, Slow Horses, Justified) and his wife, Connie, serve as co-executive producers of the album, which is set for release June 13 via Label 51. Most of the tracks were co-produced and arranged by Friedman and multi-instrumentalist Ben Landsverk (Wonderly), who also cowrote a few tracks.
RFO bandmember Nicholas Allan Johns (Motels, Ben Lee) worked with Friedman to help flesh out her conflicted emotions on “Four Day Muse.” Disarmingly delicate and quietly memorable, the song keeps Friedman’s fiery persona and vocal pyrotechnics appropriately in check.
“It has since become a favorite of a lot of people at shows,” she says. “And it brings tears.”
We’re proud to premiere the video for Ruby Friedman Orchestra’s “Four Day Muse.”
—Hobart Rowland
See Ruby Friedman Orchestra live.
