LONG BIO

The Mammals lush 2020 album Nonet featured nine musicians and was “nothing short of sublime” according to Americana UK, bringing “the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world” as reported by No Depression Magazine. In 2024 the band is honored and thrilled to be performing these songs - and even newer ones - for live audiences.

Dynamic range is a hallmark of any concert by The Mammals. The quintet ensemble effortlessly spans the horizons of Americana, from soulfully harmonized indie-folk ballads to zealous fiddle and banjo-driven foot stompers.

The band’s core and founders Mike Merenda & Ruth Ungar write songs to heal hearts and rouse minds. They have recorded and performed together for two decades, as the duo Mike + Ruthy and with The Mammals. They make their home in the lush Hudson River Valley of New York where they host a thriving community folk festival called The Hoot.

Mike Merenda’s poignant lyrics paint pictures of the world we want to live in, inspired in great part by his favorite author, Daniel Quinn. With songs like What It All Is, and Beyond Civilization, his songs embrace the notion that we are all connected, to each other and to the Earth.

Ruth Ungar was raised in a folk music family and learned the fiddle at a young age. Her father is fiddler/composer Jay Ungar, known for his composition Ashokan Farewell which the band performs. She’s a courageous, earthy singer with deep roots in tradition, contributing songs of unity and empathy like Someone’s Hurting and East Side West Side.

A 2019 tour of the UK prompted this concert review from Celtic Music Radio:

“Hailed by many as Americana trailblazers, Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda, happily married and exuding togetherness on stage, are also gently-mannered activists with well-crafted songs that successfully ask potent questions of politicians and raise issues to probe how we can improve the planet. They deliver their material persuasively and in an eloquent manner with enjoyment of their music underpinning the approach overall. The music is the motivator throughout.”

‘Nonet’ Album Bio. May 22, 2020

The Mammals can hear the Earth calling, and they’re asking us to listen. Why is the societal pain and political-environmental challenge in this album actually so listenable? Our ears can hear it because it’s been composed with great care by two of folk- Americana’s most heartfelt topical songwriters and lovingly performed by an ensemble of nine musicians.

The Mammals are a warm-blooded party band with a conscience, equally inspired by their folk predecessors and Americana peers. One wintry week in New York’s Hudson Valley, they descended upon the studio with an abundance of emotionally potent songs and an expansive nine-piece ensemble to create an album worthy of their nearly 20 year history.

At the creative heart of the project are songwriting multi-instrumentalists and founding members Mike Merenda and Ruth Ungar Merenda. While they generally tour as a quintet they chose a “more the merrier” approach to this session read more…

SHORT BIO

The Mammals are folksingers Ruth Ungar, Mike Merenda, and a cohort of compelling collaborators who form a touring quintet on the fiddle, banjo, guitar, organ, bass, and drums. Over the past 20 years they have quietly composed a canon of original songs (“Some of the best songwriting of their generation” - LA Times) that both reflect our culture and offer a vision of how the world might yet be. “These days we sing about what we’re for over what we’re against,” says singer/songwriter, Mike Merenda, and what they're for is "nothing short of sublime” according to (Americana UK).

A rough and tumble decade in the 00's forged The Mammals identity as "subversive acoustic traditionalists" (Boston Globe) or a "party band with a conscience." Re-emerging in 2017 from a hibernation period during-which the band's founders explored new songwriting terrain as the duo Mike + Ruthy, The Mammals “don’t suffer from multiple genre syndrome, they celebrate it as if gleefully aware that the sound barriers separating old-timey music, vintage pop and contemporary folk are as permeable as cotton” (Washington Post). Their latest album, Nonet, "marshalls the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world" (No Depression).

In 2023 they released a series of singles recorded at their own Humble Abode Music, as well as issuing bonus material from 2020’s landmark album Nonet. A new album is expected in 2025.

You can catch The Mammals semi-annually at The Hoot, a folk festival they curate and produce at The Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, NY.

Ruth is the daughter of legendary fiddler, Jay Ungar, composer of the storied “Ashokan Farewell.”

"In the vanguard of today's vibrant folk revival" - PopMatters

“Hailed by many as Americana trailblazers and exuding togetherness on stage, [The Mammals] are also gently-mannered activists with well-crafted songs that successfully ask potent questions and raise issues to probe how we can improve the planet. They deliver their material persuasively and in an eloquent manner with enjoyment of their music underpinning the approach overall. The music is the motivator throughout.”

Like a superhero called to the scene of a crisis, The Mammals have returned with encouraging words of compassion and hope just when they’re needed most… “Nonet” was recorded before the pandemic, yet the timeless concerns it addresses — the common good, environmental responsibility, and resistance to injustice — feel especially relevant now… Nonet marshals the defiant spirit needed to heal a damaged world… With so much uncertainly in the air right now, The Mammals’ clear-eyed optimism is especially valuable. If “Nonet” won’t solve the world’s ills, it surely makes it easier to face them. - No Depression

“A collection of songs that drip with raw humanity… Nonet is a welcome reminder of the intuition that can bounce off the walls when a group of people get together and make art… something you can crank up with the windows down. Something that can feel a little like freedom, even when you’re not leaving the house. - Folk Alley

[Nonet], the new and sensational album from the Americana band, The Mammals . . . It is highly polished, it is beautifully constructed and arranged, and you’ll be hearing a lot more of it.” - BBC Scotland

[Nonet] is big and free and uplifting me at the perfect time! A great fuckin’ record.” - Ani DiFranco