American folk singer/songwriter Josh Ritter built a steady following on the strength of his first two albums, but his artistic growth did not reach copious fruition until the release of Hello Starling in 2003. Second track "Kathleen" has become such a prominent icon that Ritter's handwritten lyrics were recently auctioned on eBay for charity.
"All the other girls here are stars, you are the Northern Lights" brilliantly introduces the track, though it is true the album is also suffused with sharp subjective thought as well. The solemn lamentations of "Man Burning" illustrate that quite well: "I regret the things I've done, bitter words and fiery tongues."
In 2005, Hello Starling was re-released with an extra disc that contained a four song live set including "Kathleen", "Golden Age of Radio", "You Don't Make It Easy Babe", and "Snow Is Gone." It's highly recommended, as Mr. Ritter is legendary for his colorful live performances.
When The Animal Years appeared swiftly on the heels of that re-release, pre-release samples from the album were snapped up faster than doughnuts at a weight loss convention. Mr. Ritter suddenly featured in multitudes of music periodicals, including a grand write up in Paste - and there was bounteous reason for this fervor.
"Girl in the War" fronted a delicate, yet brutally honest anti-war stance, "Wolves" featured a rolling piano intro and called to mind a successor to Neil Young's throne might be at hand, while the lyric "Best for the Best" suggested a burgeoning songwriter who has the chops to rival Dylan.
As if the world needed any more proof of Ritter's inimitable talent, fourth record The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter arrived in stores in August of 2007. The minute the jangly, excited guitar strum of "To the Dogs or Whoever" strikes the eardrum, it promises something ambitiously extravagant. It is distinctly Ritter, name dropping historical figures and following it up with profoundly mystic lines like "The stain of the sepia the butcher Crimea."
"Right Moves" could have been a hit single were the masses not hopelessly superficial, "Empty Hearts" contains one of the most accessible singalong choruses of the year, while "The Temptation of Adam" serves to exemplify Ritter's songwriting prowess.
The track is a distillation of a romance between a soldier and a woman named Marie hunkered down in a missile silo, described as a "top secret location three hundred feet under the ground." The lyric is hauntingly beautiful as it treads the course of the courtship amidst the foreboding intonations of "W.W.I.I.I.", the soldier's answer to Marie's question of "what five letters spell apocalypse?"
Occasionally, in order to fully understand an artist, it is helpful to read a bit about their background and lifestyle. Writer Josh Jackson, in the aforementioned Paste article, assists with this sufficiently with the following excerpt:
"With his curly mop, scraggly beard, sweater and secondhand corduroy jacket, Ritter looks more like a college professor than either of his parents, who both teach neuroscience at Washington State University, just across the state line.
Though he left Idaho after high school, he’s at home in the woods of the Northwest, where he first began writing songs. He points out the different types of trees—enormous cedars, cottonwoods, ponderosas, willows and Douglas firs.
Further up the mountain from Ritter’s childhood home, his best friend Rocky Weitz’s family owns hundreds of acres.
'I could disappear into those woods for hours,' Ritter says. 'Just take a book and spend the day by myself.'"
"Song for the Fireflies" from Golden Age of Radio (2001)
"Kathleen" from Hello Starling (2003)
"Wolves" from The Animal Years (2006)
"The Temptation of Adam" from The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007)
BONUS TRACK
"Peter Killed the Dragon" from Live at the Record Exchange EP (2007)
