LONG BIO

Mike + Ruthy (of The Mammals)

When it comes to chemistry, Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar have plenty to spare. Onstage, they are Mike + Ruthy, a husband-and-wife duo setting the folk scene ablaze. Singers and storytellers, poets and parents, the two tour with their children in tow, embodying a down-home approach to Americana that is honest, beautiful and raw. Bouncing between festivals and intimate venues, these troubadours bring harmony-driven fiddle and banjo tunes to more than 100 shows a year.

Road-tested material such as the pair’s celebrated reharmonizing of Woody Guthrie’s “My New York City” cement Merenda and Ungar’s status as a “national treasure,” according to peer Anaïs Mitchell.

Merenda’s poignant songs paint pictures of the world we want to live in, inspired in great part by his favorite author, Daniel Quinn. With songs like What It All Is, and Beyond Civilization, his lyrics embrace the notion that we are all connected, to each other and to the Earth. His crowd-pleasing piece, Sunshiner, is an ode to clean living which simultaneously honors the past and looks to the future with the sing-along lyric, “Yes, my Daddy was a miner, but I’m gonna be a sunshiner” and was nominated for an International Folk Music Award for Song of the Year.

Ungar’s unique vocal style ranges from a capella balladry to earthy soul and country. She was raised in a folk music family and learned the fiddle at a young age. Her father is fiddler/composer Jay Ungar, best known for his composition Ashokan Farewell which she also enjoys performing. Like her father’s evocative fiddling which is well known to elicit tears from many a rapt audience, so too does Ruthy weave a magical spell with her sonorous and emotional singing - as they like to joke: “making people cry is the family business!”

Mike + Ruthy have recorded and performed their exquisite, original folk music together for two decades as the duo Mike + Ruthy and with their seminal folk rock quintet The Mammals. They make their home in the lush Hudson River Valley of New York where they and friends host their a thriving semi-annual community folk festival called, The Hoot.

A recent tour of the UK, prompted this concert review from Celtic Music Radio, “Hailed by many as Americana trailblazers, Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, happily married and exuding togetherness on stage, are also gently-mannered activists with well-crafted songs that successfully ask potent questions and raise issues to probe how we can improve the planet. They deliver their material persuasively and in an eloquent manner with enjoyment of their music underpinning the approach overall. The music is the motivator throughout.”

Mike + Ruthy concerts blend artistry and authenticity, with fiery fiddle & banjo, emotionally potent harmonies, and dynamic stories that deepen the experience. Tap your toes, dance, or sit back sing along as Mike + Ruthy “roam effortlessly through the whole span that is Americana, from alt-country to folk to bluegrass." (The Bluegrass Situation)

SHORT BIO

Mike + Ruthy (of The Mammals)

The Mammals are folksingers Ruth Ungar, Mike Merenda, and a cohort of compelling collaborators who form a touring quintet on the fiddle, banjo, guitar, organ, bass, and drums. Over the past 20 years they have quietly composed a canon of original songs ("Some of the best songwriting of their generation.” -LA Times) that both reflect our culture and offer a vision of how the world might yet be.  “These days we sing about what we’re for over what we’re against,” says songwriter, Mike Merenda, and what they're for is "nothing short of sublime” according to Americana UK.

A rough and tumble decade in the 00's forged The Mammals identity as "subversive acoustic traditionalists” (Boston Globe) or a "party band with a conscience." Re-emerging in 2017 from a hibernation period during-which the band's founders explored new songwriting terrain, The Mammals “don’t suffer from multiple genre syndrome, they celebrate it as if gleefully aware that the sound barriers separating old-timey music, vintage pop and contemporary folk are as permeable as cotton” (Washington Post).  Their latest album, Nonet, "marshalls the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world" (No Depression).  In 2023 they released a series of singles recorded at their own Humble Abode Music, as well as issuing bonus material from 2020’s landmark album Nonet. 

Ruth is the daughter of legendary fiddler, Jay Ungar, composer of the storied “Ashokan Farewell.” You can catch The Mammals semi-annually at The Hoot, a folk festival they curate and produce at The Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, NY.

”Some of the best songwriting of their generation.” High Times

"Some of the best folk-rock music you will ever hear.” - TapeOp

”A national treausre.” - Anais Mitchell

“One of New York State’s finest treasures.” - Americana UK

"Easily a new favorite." Daytrotter

"In the vanguard of today’s vibrant folk revival.” Pop Matters

“These two will shatter any preconceived stereotypical notions of what it means to be a folk musician.” - Coastal Journal