Ruby Dee proves she's "real deal" country

Ruby Dee Philippa has truck-stop attitude and a juke-box voice. The feisty Seattle singer is deeply rooted in '60s country, what you might call "the real deal." This was when it was just country — without a modifier.

There's no small amount of country-esque music around Seattle. There's alt-country, Americana and/or neo-country: Laura Veirs, the brilliant, folksy songwriter who plays hometown Tractor Tavern on July 27, the former Carissa's Wierd drummer Sera Cahoone (Capitol Hill Block Party), former grunger Mark Pickerel (West Seattle Street Fair on Sunday; at the Tractor Aug. 4) and Sonny Votolato's Blue Checkered Radio Player (www.bcrpmusic.com).

Country-punk, twang-rock, rockabilly, punkabilly — Seattle's got hearty doses of those, from younger bands to veteran cowboy punkers the Supersuckers.

But country-country? Straight-up, old-school country? There's not a whole lot of that lurking around Seattle, which is one of the reasons Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers are so fascinating.

As shown the other night at Highway 99, Ruby Dee and company don't tip their caps or wink at country, they deliver it up with sincerity — though not without humor.

"We're gonna start off a little swampy for ya," said Philippa, a spunky brunette who likes to dance around the stage when not singing.

As sassy as a roomful of seventh-graders, she's prone to pithy introductions, such as, "This next one's about a wife beater — y'all know who you are." Very country.

If you made her stand still and keep absolutely quiet, she might jump out of her skin ... and yet, she also can be tender and hushed, as when singing, "I will always return/by the by/to your side."

She was raised in a small town in rural, northeastern California, far from the big-city lights and big-city music. "I grew up playing banjos and fiddles on the back porch."

Philippa did have a brief hiatus from country, playing punk rock on the streets of San Francisco before moving to Seattle and returning to her country roots. She sang for cover bands for years, then "I got tired of singing other people's songs and wanted to do my own."

Ruby Dee's Snakehandlers are acoustic-guitar player/back-up singer Liz Smith, bass player Pete Smith (no relation to Liz), drummer Lewis Warren and electric-guitar man Jorge Harada.

It started about four years ago when, at the Green Lake honky-tonk bar Little Red Hen, a friend told Ruby Dee that Harada was her guitar player of destiny. "I walked up to him and said, 'I heard you're my new guitar player.' He said, 'Yeah? Let's see what you got!' "

They clicked, and the core of the band was formed, with minor lineup changes over the years. "Liz left the band when she got married," Philippa says, "and came back when she got divorced."

Told that sounds like a country song, the singer answered, "I wrote one about it!"

"So Lonely" is one of the selections on "North of Bakersfield," Ruby Dee and the Snakehandlers' debut full-length. The band has a CD-release show at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at Highway 99 ($10). For more info, see www.rubydeemusic.com.

• Back to big-city music: Jurassic 5, one of L.A.'s progressive hip-hop crews, plays from its new album "Feedback" at 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Showbox ($25). The show kicks off a national tour, so the set might be a little loose, but the players — MCs Marc 7even, Chali 2na, Zaakir and Akil, DJ/producers Cut Chemist and Nu-Mark — should be fresh. Highlights of the new work: "Work It Out" has a soul groove, "In the House" is a straight-up party jam.

• Full, which set up shop in Seattle after blowing out of Detroit, plays its unique brand of electro-acoustic, funky chamber rock at 9 p.m. Tuesday at the Vogue ($7).

• The Valley — leaders of a neo-grunge movement ready to bust out around Seattle — rock out at 9:30 tonight at the Funhouse ($5).

• Ballard's star club the Tractor Tavern hosts a pair of quirky acts this week: Russian rockers the Red Elvises kitsch it up at 9 p.m. Saturday ($18), and Freedy Johnston — a Midwestern Elvis Costello — serves up his poignant stories at 9 p.m. Monday ($12).

Tom Scanlon: tscanlon@seattletimes.com