Love Frequency: Ruthy Ungar + Mike Merenda of the Mammals

As part of our Love Frequency series this February, we continue celebrating the enduring unions of the Hudson Valley. Few feel as naturally in sync as Mike Merenda and Ruthy Ungar, best known to music lovers as the creative heart of the Americana band The Mammals and the founders of The Hoot, their biannual festival of song and community at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge.​

As The Mammals, Mike + Ruthy deliver high-energy, heart-forward Americana that unites audiences of all ages. With string-band fire, indie-folk depth, and fervent, socially conscious storytelling, they create a live experience that’s both a celebration and a call to connection. The duo and their musical compatriots are known for rafter-raising performances, pin-drop balladry, and a rare ability to move crowds from dancing to deep reflection and back again. The 2025 double album, Touch Grass Vol. 1 & 2, the latest on their label Humble Abode Music, explores freedom, kinship, and ecological repair. It is the 20th album in total released on Humble Abode, including recordings by The Mammals and Mike + Ruthy.

​As you will read, Mike + Ruthy’s love story began at the kind of event that some of us tend to ignore, an alumni party with some of their friends and former classmates from Bard. From that evening, they were destined to be united in song and spirit. The couple has gone on to build a life in Ruthy’s native Hudson Valley, at a homestead where they have raised two children and recorded twenty acclaimed albums and EPs, works praised by critics at the Los Angeles Times, No Depression, PopMatters, and Americana UK, to name a few.

​The duo is celebrating the success of their recent Winter Hoot, an event that featured national acts such as Jim Lauderdale and the Guthrie Family Singers, along with local artists including The Restless Age, James Felice, and Ruthy’s renowned fiddle virtuoso dad, Jay Ungar. They will soon announce the lineup for their Summer Hoot, taking place August 28 – 30. You can also catch The Mammals when they return to one of their favorite local venues, Colony Woodstock, on May 17.

LOVE FREQUENCY

The First Harmony

Ruthy Ungar: Having recently graduated from Bard and moved to NYC, I met up with friends at a December alumni holiday party, and they brought their new roommate, Mike. By the end of the night, we were hanging out at their apartment, and he was singing his songs for everyone. I sang some harmonies and went back the next night to do it again. His friend Carter lived upstairs and came down to join in on the mandolin. We formed a trio, and things took off from there. It took a few months before we found romance beyond the musical connection. I tend to live in the moment rather than decide that something is destined to be forever. So even though we’re now 28 years in, I don’t think I’ve taken any of those years for granted.

Mike Merenda: Yes, it was at a Christmas party for NYC Bard College alumni in December of 1998. I was tagging along with some Bard graduates I had met in London the year before. Ruthy was all dolled up in a beautiful white vintage dress for the occasion. We were introduced, and upon seeing us talking, my roommate Bridget remarked, “How the f*&k did I not realize already that you two should be singing together!?” At the afterparty at my apartment, a guitar was passed around, and I sang one of my songs. By the second chorus, Ruthy was already singing a beautiful, effortless harmony.

Inside the Partnership

Mike Merenda: We create an atmosphere of trust. Ruthy is very emotionally honest, whereas I’m somewhat more veiled; but we’re both very forthcoming about what we think of a new song or arrangement the other brings to the fold – encouraging the other to follow through with an idea, or vice versa. We trust each other’s creative and emotional instincts pretty thoroughly.

Ruthy Ungar: Mike and I are particular about songwriting and honest about our lyrical and musical ideas. We bring songs to each other when we’re proud or excited about them, and we have fun helping each other sound even better by giving feedback, adding arrangement layers, or sometimes just giving space. Our bandmates also provide a helpful sounding board for new material and always enhance the creative process. Audiences do that, too.

What Still Surprises

Ruthy Ungar: Mike likes to write in a room all by himself, where nobody can hear him. I have always found that endearing and inspiring. I tend to come up with ideas in a crowded public place or while walking or driving. Home is filled with too many mundane household tasks for me to sit down and create. My mind lets me create on the road or in an airplane. ​

Mike Merenda: Ruthy doesn’t dwell on the more stressful sides of this business. For her, music is a lifestyle and not a competition. It’s the way she was raised. A life in music is very normal for her and her family. I can easily get caught up in the grind of constantly proving myself in this industry. Ruthy is very even-keeled about it all, which is a stabilizing force in our relationship and in our careers. As a result, Ruthy puts a lot of care and attention into making our home beautiful. She cares about things feeling settled, making nice meals, being orderly, for us, but particularly for our kids – giving them a sense of security in the midst of an at times unconventional life on the road. Whereas I’m prone to live in a pile of endless guitars, cables, notebooks, and microphones. 

Where Creativity Cross-Pollinates

Ruthy Ungar: Mike writes more poetically, and I tend to be more literal or direct. Sometimes it’s fun, though, when one of us will flip that and do the opposite. Lately, we’ve started learning and posting “folkier” covers of pop songs, and it’s fun to encourage each other to step out of our normal comfort zones since it’s just for “fun,” like Mike singing super high on a Radiohead song, or me playing more banjo. ​ 

Mike Merenda: Ruthy has helped to bring my repertoire above ground, so to speak. Left to my own devices, I would make sadder, more experimental music. Ruthy’s influence has helped me embrace a more “social” approach to songwriting, rather than appealing strictly to the fringe.

Grounded at Home

Mike Merenda: We are very fortunate to own a darling stone cottage in West Hurley, NY (the home Ruthy grew up in) that we lovingly refer to as Humble Abode Music. There’s a studio above our garage with a gabled ceiling and woodstove (“Studio B”) where we’ve self-produced most of our records over the past 25 years. It’s the coziest studio you’ve ever seen. We’re nestled in the forest, walking distance to the beautiful Ashokan Reservoir, but still only 15 minutes from Kingston or Woodstock. It’s a pretty magical location and a huge part of how we’re able to make things work as artists. ​ 

Ruthy Ungar: I grew up here, and Mike grew up on the New Hampshire seacoast. I know he misses the ocean and the “live free or die” vibes, but the Hudson Valley has been a remarkable place to make our home. For 20 or so years, we spent so much time on tour that we didn’t always get to enjoy all the nicest seasons. I remember one year, coming back from a tour, noticing that the big orange day lilies had already bloomed and drooped in our absence. Over the past several years, we have become much more grounded and connected here. You can hear it in Mike’s song “Rolling Stone Refugee.” 

The Art of Autonomy

Ruthy Ungar: We have always been a couple who enter a party and walk in different directions. I don’t judge the folks who stand arm in arm, but we tend to explore the world more as individuals and cover more social ground that way. We experience a lot of togetherness in the activities we do with our kids or our parents – making tons of food, expanding holiday traditions, attending hockey games and ballet recitals, and throwing our Hoots, in summer and winter. ​ 

Mike Merenda: Because we spend so much time as a unit on the road and in the studio, we seem to thrive on autonomy when we’re at home. When we rejoin, we have new things to share. 

The Sacred Everyday

Mike Merenda: Our relationship was born of creativity; we tend to be happiest when we’re having adventures on the road, arranging new music, or creating an album. Having raised two kids over the last couple of decades, we used to joke that “date night” was when we were alone together on stage playing a show. ​ 

Ruthy Ungar: I think we don’t do that kind of stuff for better or worse. Like date nights? Probably a good idea, but it’s more of an annual thing on our anniversary. Really, when the van is packed, and we’re heading out on tour, or the moments on stage singing together. Those are pretty sacred and elevated for us. We do have nice, slow mornings over here, too. 

A Perfect Day, Right Now

Ruthy Ungar: Booking requests are flowing in; emails are answered; Hoot tickets are selling like hotcakes; kids are engaged and happy; the garden is bursting with food; we find time for a sauna and a swim; maybe have folks over and sit around the fire as the sun goes down. ​

Mike Merenda: Sitting around the kitchen table, working up new songs. 

The Love Frequency Speed Round

INSIDE+OUT: Sweet or savory?

Ruthy Ungar: Savory

Mike Merenda: Same, and organic, please.

Hugs or kisses?

Ruthy Ungar: Hugs

Mike Merenda: Yes, always.

Early mornings or late nights?

Ruthy Ungar: Nights

Mike Merenda: Early mornings.

Summer or winter in the Hudson Valley?

Ruthy Ungar: Summer

Mike Merenda: Summer, too.

Your forever food?

Ruthy Ungar: Potatoes

Mike Merenda: Spaghetti and meat sauce.

A smell that feels like home?

Ruthy Ungar: That metallic guitar string smell

Mike Merenda: Woodsmoke.

A song you both love on repeat?

Ruthy Ungar: Hugh Masekela, “U, Dwi”

Mike Merenda: Our song “Big Ideas.”

One small thing your partner does that means everything?

Ruthy Ungar: Cleaning anything.

Mike Merenda: Home-cooked meals.

Photos courtesy of Mike Merenda + Ruthy Ungar + Eric Gerard + Tania Barricklo + Tom Krueger + Megan Baker + Thomas Schnaidt (Featured)

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Contributing writer Sal Cataldi is a musician, writer and former publicist living in Hudson Valley NY.