Since picking up a music career through busking on the streets of Toronto, Maddy Ringo has been a fresh voice in the timeless tradition of American folk music. The daughter of a born-and-bred Canadian and an American peacenik, Maddy learned the Rise Up Singing catalogue as a seven-year-old, creating her foundation in the works of Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan, and the like.

Now, based in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan, she brings a contemporary spirit to the folk format, with her multi-instrumental songwriting, with jazz inclinations and rich mezzo vocals. Her latest album “People of the Earth and Sea” explores vivid narratives of earth, faith, and meaning in an ever-changing world.  “I write a lot about the experience of having human emotion within a really alienating post-industrial society,” Ringo says, “so everything is set within that context of fighting against this stasis and this feeling of apathy that is so easy to access right now,  a sort of dulling of the senses”. 

Since moving to Ann Arbor, Maddy has come to prominence in the Southeast Michigan folk scene. She has headlined at landmark folk venue The Ark, and performed at renowned festivals including Sonic Lunch and the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair. You can also catch her busking at the Kerrytown Farmer's Market on Saturdays when the weather is nice.