Josh Ritter

Last weekend I took a quick trip to Nashville to see Josh Ritter. If you have never heard Josh’s music you need to experience it! I first heard about Josh from a co-worker in April of last year. He heard the song “Wolves” on Sirius radio and was immediately hooked. I bought the album Animal Years and was hooked as well. I listened to that album non-stop for at least a month. I don't remember loving an album that much. I had never heard such amazing poetry set to music.

Not only do I love Josh’s music but I loved the fact that he is from Moscow, ID – born and raised. What was even better is that Stephen King wrote an article for Entertainment Weekly and said Josh’s album Animal Years was the best album of the year. You can read it here.

He came out with another album this year, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. This one is a lot more upbeat than Animal Years so it is hard to compare. They are both great albums!

Back to the concert - I arrived in Nashville around 4:30pm on Friday, November 2nd, got settled into the hotel and went to Grimey’s where Josh was a doing free, public in-store performance. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a great spot as I was crammed into the back but I was able to see him (which was better than most) and I could hear his amazing music. He is so much fun to watch perform. He always has a huge smile on his face and you can tell he loves what he does.

After the free performance I was able to meet Josh. He gave everyone he met a huge hug. The highlight of the night was gettting my picture taken with him!



After the free performance I saw him perform at the Exit/In in Nashville. Again another great performance. I own all of Josh’s albums so it was so much fun to sing along to all the songs.

If you are willing to give Josh a try here are my favorite songs (in no particular order because that would be impossible):

• Girl in the War


• Wolves


• Thin Blue Line


• Kathleen


• Me & Jiggs


• Temptation of Adam


• Right Moves