If you don't know that Deena Rubinson is a singer-songwriter, and a particularly gifted one at that, that's all right. She's still getting used to the idea herself.
A performer from an early age (she was a national champion synchronized swimmer in the 10 and under category), Rubinson spent her musical adolescence in the grind of New York, composing songs, clinging to the guitar, and frequenting small clubs like The Bitter End and CBGB’s. But it wasn't until she moved to Los Angeles that t...
If you don't know that Deena Rubinson is a singer-songwriter, and a particularly gifted one at that, that's all right. She's still getting used to the idea herself.
A performer from an early age (she was a national champion synchronized swimmer in the 10 and under category), Rubinson spent her musical adolescence in the grind of New York, composing songs, clinging to the guitar, and frequenting small clubs like The Bitter End and CBGB’s. But it wasn't until she moved to Los Angeles that the Maryland native fully turned her attention to playing her own songs.
With the release of her second full length album, Turn It Silver, word is fast getting out about the doe-eyed, dark-haired songstress. On the strength of her disarmingly smart and provocative songs and her easy, intimate performances, audiences have been enthralled, critics have been charmed, and even the tough-on-herself Rubinson pronounces herself optimistic…for now, at least.
Rubinson feels simply that, "if a song can stand up with just a voice and a guitar, it's a good song." Her influences include singer-songwriters such as Patty Griffin ("with two words she can make me bawl"), Elvis Costello, and Lucinda Williams--musicians who she says, "are storytellers, first and foremost.”
Rubinson's own songs often have a cynical skin but always immense heart. Nearly all of her songs detail the simple hum and surprise of human relationships--the bonds people make and the bonds they sometimes break.
Rubinson confesses surprise at herself at writing such directly heartfelt material. Indeed, in songs such as "Turn It Silver", "Happy's Not My Style", and "Blinking", hope co-exists in an uneasy peace with hard-forged reality and, at times, it's not altogether clear which gets the upper hand.
Whether or not she’s accepted the fact, Rubinson is a gifted singer-songwriter--a storyteller, first and foremost. "I fought against playing my own stuff tooth and nail," says Rubinson, "but it's a funny thing. Sometimes you have to know when things are wrong in order to know when they're right."
Deena Rubinson plays regularly in Los Angeles and is working on her third cd.
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