Posts Tagged ‘Josh Ritter’

JOSH RITTER – ” Rare & Unreleased Songs “

Posted: August 31, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Like everyone, I’ve been thinking a lot about the times we’re in. Sometimes those thoughts come to me as lyrics:

“These days have made a change in me”

I had written a song with that line in it a while back, and recently, I listened back and I realized that it felt very relevant to me now. “Time is Wasting” became the nucleus around which I imagined a mini-album / EP / whatever that brought together several recordings and a few live performances from the last several years that I was proud of but hadn’t found a recorded home for. See Here, I Have Built You A Mansion is a collection of eight of those songs.

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There is a lot of time and distance and farewell on these recordings. “Miles Away” is all about physical and emotional distance. “Brothers In Arms,” one of my favourite Mark Knopfler songs, is a pathos-filled, Shakespearian rumination on battle and memory; this version was recorded during a soundcheck. I initially wrote “Be of Good Heart” for Joan Baez’s final album, but I loved it so much that I wanted to do a recording with my band as well. “Haunt,” “Heaven Knows,” and “Waiting on You” were recorded with the Royal City Band during the Gathering sessions. And “Lawrence, Kansas,” which was recorded live in Lawrence, Kansas, is one of my earliest compositions and a reminder of how much I miss playing live with my incredible band.

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I am indebted to the phenomenal musicians and producers that I am lucky enough to work with and call my friends. I am also very grateful to you for listening and giving me the opportunity to continue making music. Finally, a huge thank you to my incredible family! Be of good heart everyone. – Josh

JOSH RITTER with the 400 UNIT – ” Fever Breaks “

Posted: February 8, 2019 in MUSIC
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Fever Breaks Cover

Last fall, I went to Nashville and made a record. My friend Jason Isbell produced it and the 400 Unit backed me up. It was a blast to work on.

It’s a rainy November evening in Nashville and Josh Ritter and Jason Isbell are huddled in front of the console at Sound Emporium Studios, an historic space located in an otherwise nondescript building in the city’s Belmont neighborhood. It’s the last recording session for Ritter’s new album, which Isbell is producing and playing on as part of the 400 Unit, and they’re in the thick of adding fiddle to one of the album’s tracks.

The song, an optimistic, mid-tempo rambler called “In Passing,” is the group’s penultimate to finish after a week in the studio, following initial sessions held back in August. “In Passing” is anchored by the acoustic warmth and unpretentious erudition (“Love the thorn and hate the rose,” Ritter sings in the hook) endemic to Ritter’s earlier work, with a gently twangy, studiously meaty heft lent by the 400 Unit. It’s classic Ritter on Muscle Shoals-bred steroids.

Jason’s Wife Amanda Shires layers three fiddle parts atop one another, the second and third layers played ever-so-slightly more loosely than the first, making for a sound that’s at once fat and chiming, stretching across the backing music like thick, lustrous strands of taffy. Shires isn’t hearing what she’s wanting after the first couple of takes and has a few choice words for her fiddle in the interim.

The album is called ‘Fever Breaks’ and it comes out April 26th. I’m so excited to share it! You can listen to “Old Black Magic” now.

‘Fever Breaks’ – new album out April 26, 2019.