Pickin' new life

Pickin' new life
El Reno woman begins banjo career

By Robert Medley
Staff Writer, oklahoman.com

Ruthi Hedge has overcome her fear of banjo picking.

The Oregon native, now living in El Reno, has tuned up her own country music career at age 49, a bit later in life than most rising stars.

It took her more than three decades to trust the instrument that brings grins and foot-tapping to those in her audiences.

She's shaped her act, "Ruthi & Her Banjo” with the help of her drag-racing husband, Frank Hedge, a southern California native. The couple have become a favorite at a barbecue restaurant in Bethany and an American Legion Post in El Reno.

In a Western outfit, boots and a cowboy hat over her short blonde hair, the banjo-slinging gal no longer fears the instrument's five strings.

As a 16-year-old growing up in Klamath Falls, Ore., she first played the piano and sang. Her father, the late Robert Edward Schmoe, introduced his children to old country music and bluegrass. When her father asked what instrument she wanted, she told him, "I love the banjo, and I really want to play the banjo.”

Soon he gave her a Kent banjo.

Her first set of banjo lessons ended after her teacher was killed on a U.S. Army mission to Panama about 1975, she said. Ruthi Hedge found a new banjo instructor, but he died of a heart attack a short time into her lessons.

The banjo reminded her of untimely death for a spell, so she put it aside until the unpleasant association passed over the years.

Ruthi Hedge spent time in the Army, serving in the Persian Gulf in the early 1990s, and later enrolled in school in California. From time to time, she would pick up the banjo and pluck a few tunes.

The more she played, the more she noticed another negative phenomenon. Her ex-husband would leave for days at a time when she played. Eventually, he left her with her banjo.

Frank Hedge heard his future wife singing "Crazy” at a party in 1997. Impressed by her voice, he encouraged her to perform live. He also asked her out and the couple dated steadily.

Frank Hedge learned she still kept a banjo, and he noticed when she played it.

He urged her to play banjo when she sang. The couple married in 2000. For her new husband, Ruthi Hedge pulled out the banjo. Nothing bad happened.

"He's my No. 1 fan and the one who believed in me even when I didn't,” Ruthi Hedge said.

Frank Hedge, now 65, owns a drag racing car, and the couple traveled the country to enter races. While in Oklahoma, they found a house for sale in El Reno. The asking price would barely buy a small house in a bad neighborhood in southern California, Frank Hedge said. They soon became Okies.

"We loved it here,” Ruthi Hedge said. "We saw red dirt. It is so beautiful with the green grass.”

Ruthi Hedge started banjo lessons again 18 months ago. Her new instructor, Annie Thrower, said her pupil knows how to entertain.

"She is wonderful with people and the simple things,” Thrower said. "She can tell you a story about putting on a pair of shoes and make you laugh.”

Each Monday, Ruthi Hedge can be seen at Swadley's Bar-B-Q, 4000 N Rockwell Ave., in Bethany. Thursday nights, she plays the Swadley's location in south Oklahoma City, 824 SW 89.

Friday, she'll play her regular third-Friday-of-the-month show at American Legion Post 34 in El Reno. Showtime is 5 to 8 p.m. at the post, 2101 Sunset Drive.

Post Commander Gene Dozier gave Ruthi Hedge her first gig about three years ago.

"We sure hope we can keep her here,” Dozier said, "but she keeps getting so good.”