Turlock native makes ‘American Idol’ debut this weekend, dedicates audition to father
After making her “American Idol” debut this weekend, Turlock native Ash Ruder probably didn’t need to get her father a birthday present — or a Father’s Day present for that matter.
The Pitman and Turlock Christian high alum dedicated her appearance, which will air Sunday night on ABC, to her father. The 22-year-old sings a song she wrote for him, simply called “Bryan’s Song,” before the panel of celebrity judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan.
Ruder, who spoke with The Modesto Bee over the phone from her home in Southern California where she is attending college, auditioned for the show last November on the day of her father’s birthday. Not only did she sing a song she wrote for him, she also brought him as her one allowed guest to the event.
The emotional moment has been previewed in clips of the episode as a “tear-jerker,” and Ruder said that her father joked that he’ll be known as a crier on national television. But she hopes instead that people see her audition, and her family’s journey, as a story of hope.
The song about her father, Bryan Christenson, chronicles his two-decade long struggle with addiction. He has been clean going on three years now, and Ruder said it has brought them and their family closer.
“I’m really hoping people will be able to watch and see the redemption and the hope that can happen when facing a family member who struggles with addiction,” she said.
Singer got start in Turlock church, schools
Ruder, who went by her maiden name Christenson while growing up in Turlock, got her start in singing young. she said her nana lived down the street and “The Sound of Music” and other musicals were always on in the house. So by age 3, she new all the words to her favorite productions like “My Fair Lady.”
As she got older she started writing her own music, making notes in her journals, and performing on her father’s truck bed like a makeshift stage. She started performing publicly as a freshman in high school on worship teams for Crossroad Church in Turlock. She was also in theater productions while at Pitman.
Then she started posting her own music on her YouTube and Instagram channels. At age 14 she even auditioned for another nationally televised singing competition, “The Voice,” but the draining experience where she ultimately failed to make the cut left her soured on reality shows.
It was her husband, Dylan Ruder, who found the casting information for the new season of “American Idol” and convinced her to try out. They met in the cafeteria at Azusa Pacific University, where they were both students and got married in the summer of 2019.
“I’m just the proudest husband I ever could be,” he said. “I am just so incredibly proud of her and all the work she’s put into it. It’s been very taxing and just takes a lot of work to get to the level where you might be featured on the show. “
‘American Idol’ followed COVID safety protocols
After making it through the untelevised preliminary rounds, Ruder was moved to the national auditions for “American Idol,” now in its 19th overall season and fourth on ABC. Due to COVID-19 safety precautions, contestants were booked into a hotel for a week and tested regularly before their auditions. Luckily, her tryout was held in the serene Southern California resort town of Ojai so it was more like a vacation than quarantine, she said.
The pandemic also meant she could only take one family member with her to the audition, despite her mother Julie Christenson making the trek down from Turlock with her husband. Still, it was obvious who she would pick to be with her when it came time to perform.
“To have that and share in that experience has been incredible,” she said. “He’s been one of my biggest musical advocates. He would sit and listen to me play for hours at a time. I knew if there was one person I could bring it would be my dad.”
Ruder said she started writing the song even before her father was in recovery. Over the years his alcoholism and other addictions had made it difficult to have a relationship. But that changed more than two years ago with his sobriety.
“When I started writing I didn’t know how I was going to finish the song,” she said. “But once he turned his life around, I knew that as the ending to the song.”
Ruder, who plays guitar and piano, describes her music as country folk. She is studying music and business at Azusa Pacific and hopes to parlay her “American Idol” appearance into a career in the industry. She can’t reveal how she does on the show, or if we’ll see more of her in future episodes. But even if we don’t, she said she’ll treasure the time with her father.
After her audition on his birthday last November, they celebrated her birthday the very next day together. Her parents will also travel down to have a watch party with her for Sunday night’s episode, and friends will be holding watch parties in Turlock as well.
“I think one big thing that is lacking today is a father figure in the home. And I definitely struggled with that growing up, having a void of my dad not being there,” she said. “So I want people to know that’s real and I relate and I understand what people are going through if they don’t have their dad there. I want people to walk away with hope in knowing there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Ruder’s episode of “American Idol” airs at 8 p.m. on ABC. For more information on Ash visit her Instagram www.instagram.com/ashruder.
