When Ruth Cipes sings, you can hear the earnestness of a 1960s folk singer. Or, depending on the tune, you might find the smoky sounds of a jazz chanteuse.

There鈥檚 depth to her style, but she takes on less heady material than her like-sounding predecessors.

Instead of heartbreak and angst, she sings about the love of daddy-daughter days and peanut butter鈥攋ust to name a couple themes鈥攁nd the music accompanying her voice is playful. It鈥檚 hard not to smile, maybe even laugh at some of what鈥檚 being put out there.

Considering Ruth is in elementary school, it鈥檚 a perfect mix.

Ruth, as her dad Ezra said, is a real natural. She can get in front of a crowd and she knows what to do and she can joyfully slip from one style of music to another.

She鈥檚 鈥渢he Michael鈥� of a family who perform under the name the Oot 鈥檔鈥� Oots and while she鈥檚 front and centre at live performances their debut CD, Songs and Tales from the Great Blue Whale, offers only a taste of her budding talent.

On a video for the song 鈥淭oo Many Cookies,鈥� 鈥� produced by Claire Donati Simmons鈥� Ruth explained, she only 鈥減lays the phoney marimba.鈥�

鈥淲hen we were finishing this album, Ruth was just learning skills in studio,鈥� said Ezra. 鈥淣ow that we鈥檙e in studio for our second album, we鈥檙e working on something where she can contribute vocals now.鈥�

Until then there鈥檚 lots for the Oot 鈥檔鈥� Oots growing fan-base to dig into. They鈥檒l be performing live this weekend at the Lake Country Children鈥檚 Festival. And they鈥檙e currently contenders in the CBC Music spotlight competition.

Last week they, along with seven other bands, were featured for being a family act.

In their case it鈥檚 a significant sibling act 鈥� Gabe, Ezra, Ari and Matt Cipes have performed together for years.

They toured and worked for years as session musicians with acts such as Tegan &Sara and Bif Naked.

Then the brothers returned to their family鈥檚 organic farm in 91大黄鸭, to start their own families.

It wasn鈥檛 long before the need to play music took over again.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak for my brothers, but I got very depressed (after leaving music) and it took me awhile to figure out why,鈥� said Ezra.

鈥淪o we started making sure we had some project on the go. We played in a country music band and a bar band.鈥�

The Oot 鈥檔鈥� Oots, however, is the best of everything they tried.

鈥淲e have a creative outlet to directly express joy and inspiration,鈥� said Ezra.

鈥淭hat makes you feel good, like you鈥檙e living a good meaningful purposeful life.鈥�

While the music is purposeful, it鈥檚 not pandering.

Ruth said she鈥檚 happy that her family is producing music her friends can listen to with their families and nobody is bored by it.

It鈥檚 something unique and special, and why the Cipes鈥� brothers finished off an album that they started in 2007.

鈥淚t was a loose end,鈥� said Ezra. 鈥淲e always thought it was a bit of a magical album.鈥�

To have a listen to the album go https://www.theootnoots.com/ or to vote for the band in the searchlight competition go to http://www.cbcmusic.ca/searchlight/835