Premiere: Ruby Friedman, ‘Ain’t Got Your Money’

Roy Jurgens on May 27th, 2020

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Times are tough, indeed, and Ruby Friedman has brashly gifted us with a timely ditty you can play loudly the next time the creditors come callin’.

“Ain’t Got Your Money” is a protest song about late-stage American capitalism. The genesis for the song comes from a true-to-life experience. While attempting to dodge calls for cash, she noticed that the podunk towns these calls came from weren’t the typical big bad cities where the tops of skyscrapers are adorned with the names of banks.

Friedman starts the track by calling out the banks for their shoddy lending practices. By the third verse, she’s either inquiring for a job or asking the debt collector to walk out and join her in protest. She explains: “The banks have been bailed out, but they’re still coming after the little people for the money. We are the government, we paid them, they already got their money, am I wrong?”

The blistering track was produced by Nicholas Allen Johns (The Motels, Ben Lee) and features some feral guitar work by session maestro Fernando Perdomo, along with honking harmonica by Jack Rudy. Johns and Rudy co-wrote the music with Friedman.

Friedman has made a career out of penning poignant and yet darkly jovial tunes. Gifted with a voice straight out of the holler, the Los Angeles-born firebrand has recently planted roots in Portland with her trusted Frenchy Clovis, but she’ll always be an artist that L.A. claims as one of their own. She’s been putting out a steady stream of outstanding work, and the new single is the follow-up to last year’s “Teardrop Trailer.”

“Ain’t Got Your Money” is the first single off Friedman’s upcoming EP “Late Afternoon Highs,” which has yet to be given a formal release date.

||| Stream: “Ain’t Got Your Money”