Born in Houston, Patria spent her early years learning guitar, taking music lessons, and yearning for a horse. As a teen, she and her parents relocated to the edge of the piney woods, in a small East Texas town called New Caney. She got her horse, tended to her Dad’s small azalea nursery, and began to study classical guitar at the renowned Guitar Gallery. After being active in community politics in high school and interning for a U.S. Congressional campaign, Patria experienced a brief, if bizarre, stint at an ill-suited provincial college. After surviving two years at Baylor in Waco, she returned to Houston to work a myriad of jobs (from waitressing to a law firm) and began nightclubbing in the gay Montrose scene. Shortly after, with a one-way ticket, she took a 180-degree turn and fled for San Francisco. After a few months discovering the new city by the sea, she read a want ad for a guitarist for an “all-girl band,” bought her first electric guitar, and the rest was history.

Patria is best known as the singer and principal songwriter for the dreamy, atmospheric rock band Rubyfish, a band that flourished in Silver Lake just as L.A.’s music scene began to shift from the Sunset Strip to the more unpredictable and volatile Silver Lake alternative/grunge scene. The band performed at Spaceland, Al’s Bar, the Roxy, the Pik-Me-Up, and numerous other venues. Jacobs and Rubyfish mined the same rich vein as nineties college bands Sonic Youth, Throwing Muses, and Stereolab, hinting at Jefferson Airplane’s psychedelia, and releasing an EP and the 7” single “Mr. Toad,” which received considerable airplay.

Finding herself obsessed with Southern dialect during a year’s stay in Arkansas, Patria wrote and recorded spoken word lyrics that became her first solo CD EP and 12” vinyl release “Do the Pink.” The demo was remixed by The Mighty One, Trendcoma and others, and eventually landed in Cheeba’s studio (of Mackrosoft, Cheebacabra). An animated video was released (directed by Allison Foust) and internationally distributed by RockAmericaVideo, and selected for the E3 Expo. The single charted on L.A., SF, Chicago, and Seattle DJs’ Top 50 lists.

Post-Rubyfish, Patria’s collaborations with Stew and Marc Doten ultimately led to the recording and co-production of her first full-length solo release Poison of the Sea. The release was named one of the Top 10 CDs of the Year by KPFK’s Music Never Stops (a.k.a. Head Room) and nominated as a “Homegrown” favorite by Amoeba Records. Poison features pop, moody ballads, and country-flavored tunes with performances by Probyn Gregory (Brian Wilson Band), Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald (Passing Strange, The Total Bent), Paul Lacques (I See Hawks in L.A.), and legendary jazz harpist Corky Hale.

Patria is at work on her newest release that promises to deliver her signature tangled and lush sound. The newest recordings feature epic performances by a stellar list of musicians including Derrick Anderson (Bangles), Probyn Gregory (Wondermints, Brian Wilson) Skip Heller, Brandon Jay (Quazar and the Bamboozled, Orange is the New Black), Carey Fosse (Possum Dixon) and Nelson Bragg (Brian Wilson).