Josh Ritter

Posted on Indierecordshop.com

JOSH RITTER – Sunday, June 11th – 2:00pm
Wow. I know I’ve said it before, but that moment when you’re in the throes of “can’t get enough” with an artist right as their tour comes to town, it is truly magical. For us to have the final stop on the tour be at our humble little home away is completely over the top. Josh Ritter has been in heavy rotation since his debut album, the Golden Age of Radio came out, at the time, I think I called it a small history of everything good in alt-county. Then came Hello Starling and Josh found his voice and made one of the best records of 2003. Now with The Animal Years, Josh has again taken a step forward. While the songs range from ballads to burn-wreckers and cover subjects from the sad state of radio, an imaginary love affair with a silent era film star, frustration with having someone you love “in the war”, and a nine minute opus on politics, religion and culture, among other much lighter topic, and most importantly, it is all done very subtly. I read somewhere that Leonard Cohen can spend years perfecting a single song, and while Josh makes it look too easy and joyful to ever give the impression that he thinks of songwriting as work, the finished product resonates with care and detail. It is this song-craft, and his ability to make it look like the most natural thing in the world, that has garnered Josh comparisons with the greats of songwriting, Dylan, Springsteen, Cash, and the above mentioned Cohen.

Some Recent Press:

"An album that could very well be the best of 2006...."
- Paste Magazine

"Melodic, understated, yet with much natural warmth too, Ritter's time has surely come." - Q Magazine (****)

Check out a few tracks at his myspace page.

Or peep Josh’s video for the song "Lillian Egypt" (Quicktime file)