Read the full article by Rachel Leibrock at Sacramento News & Review
Ruby Copher was 15 the first time she played for a crowd. It was the summer of 2021 at Swabbies on the River, and she was there with a band put together during a weeklong stint in G.I.R.L.S. Rock Sacramento, a local nonprofit music organization.
Copher was excited for the chance, but also, perhaps, a little bit anxious. She’d been playing guitar for two years, but this would be her biggest show yet.
“It was nerve-wracking,” she says now. “But we’d spent all this time building community and there were all these people who’d come out. I felt like I was being taken care of and set up for success.”
Now 18, Copher remembers the experience as unique — not just because of the venue or the audience but because she had the chance to play to a crowd at all. Since COVID, she says, the number of places for under-21 folks to perform — and listen to — live music, has shrunk.