The celebrated singer-songwriter brings the tour behind his new album to St. Cecilia Music Center for a special 5 p.m. Sunday show. The Local Spins Q&A, with two of his recent videos.
Josh Ritter: ‘A desire to be awed and filled with curiosity about other worlds and ways of being.’ (Courtesy Photo)
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Josh Ritter has traversed the world with his heartfelt songs as a troubadour since 1999.
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Still at it crafting beautiful songs, Ritter has expanded into painting and writing novels. Ritter also has geared up to hit the road behind his new record, “I Believe in You, My Honeydew,” which MOJO calls “one of Ritter’s best” and Narc Magazine describing him as “one of Americana’s best singer-songwriters.”
He performs at St. Cecilia Music Center with The Royal City Band at 5 p.m. Sunday (Nov. 2). Tickets — $40-$70 — are still available online here. Soulful folk and blues singer Tré Burt opens the show.
Local Spins recently caught up with the 49-year-old Idaho-born musician over the phone for a Q&A.
Local Spins: How do you spend your time when you’re waiting for a song to develop?
Josh Ritter: You can’t just sit around going nuts waiting for something original to show up. I work best and have the most fun if I feel like a constant amateur. I paint, write novels, cook, hang out with my kids and partner and try hard to live the life that someone would who writes these songs.
Back in GR: Ritter last performed at St. Cecilia in 2023. (Photo/Jeffrey Wilkinson)
Local Spins: You’ve leaned into painting & writing novels as additional creative pursuits. What drew you to those two artforms and how do those mediums differ from crafting a song?
Josh Ritter: Both pursuits came from a desire to be awed and filled with curiosity about other worlds and ways of being. I don’t write to impress myself or others. It’s just that the world that I’m making in a novel or a painting feels as livable to me as one of the songs.
Local Spins: How has getting older influenced your work as a songwriter and musician?
Josh Ritter: Life is about experiencing the unexperienced. As time goes by, the search for new fascinations has only deepened. It makes me so happy that observation only grows more keen.
Local Spins: You hail from a small town in Idaho, which I’ve read that you still have an adoration for. You live in Brooklyn now, but I’m wondering in what ways that small town upbringing affects who you are on a day to day basis?
Josh Ritter: I grew up way outside of Moscow, Idaho. Being bored was never a concept I grew up with. The woods were all around me, my best friends on the other side of the mountain. I could wander up there forever. That has never left me. I still go back to it when I daydream.
Local Spins: What do you hope people take away from listening to your music or attending a show?
Josh Ritter: There are other grounds upon which to stand, other values upon which to live and love in this world. Joy is a vehicle and community is a blessing and an invitation, always, to change and see the world anew. Also, it’s fun rock ‘n’ roll with lots of words. What could go wrong?
VIDEO: Josh Ritter, “Noah’s Children” (Live Solo Acoustic)
LISTEN: Josh Ritter, “Wild Ways” (Lyric Video)
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