VIENNA — Ruth Hill will return to perform at the Union Hall at 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27.

Hill has performed in places ranging from Antarctica to Alaska.

When Ruth was 8 years old, her longshoreman father came home from Boston one weekend and asked each of his kids what instrument they’d like to play.

“The banjo!” Hill immediately answered.

Looking back, she said, “I don’t know where my pull to the banjo came from. Growing up in rural New Hampshire, the only banjo I’d ever heard or seen was on ‘Hee-Haw.'”

Growing up, she sang with her family at community events in the small village where she grew up, picked up guitar at age 12, and began writing songs as a teenager. She sang her first paying gig as backup for her brothers’ rock ‘n’ roll band from behind the curtain in a smoky bar before she was legally allowed to be there.

She now lives in Chesterville. Inspired by growing up in a large, colorful family and a wandering spirit that’s taken her to both poles of the globe, her songs are packed with powerful imagery and beautiful melodies.

Over the past two years, she has studied songwriting with Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls), Mary Gauthier, Jonatha Brooke (The Story), Catie Curtis and Grammy Award-winning songwriters Don Henry and Gretchen Peters.

Her second CD “Reunion of Broken Parts” is scheduled for release in October.

Tickets cost $8 in advance and $10 at the door.

FMI: 207-293-2674.