Josh Ritter

Joshua B. Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band.

Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics.

Ritter was born on October 21, 1976, in Moscow, Idaho, to Robert and Sue Ritter.

His fascination with music began when he first heard Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan's "Girl from the North Country" on his parents' copy of Nashville Skyline, and he purchased his first guitar at a local K-Mart.

After graduating from Moscow High School in 1995, Ritter attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio.

He initially enrolled in Oberlin's neuroscience program, as his parents were both neuroscientists, but he later created the independent major "American History Through Narrative Folk Music."

At the age of 21, Ritter recorded his self-titled debut album at a recording studio on campus.

Following his graduation from Oberlin, Ritter moved to Scotland, where he attended the School of Scottish Studies for six months.

From there, he moved to Providence, Rhode Island, working odd jobs and playing open mics in Boston.

It was at one such open mic that he met Irish musician Glen Hansard, who invited Ritter to Ireland as an opening act for his band, The Frames.

A year and a half after recording Josh Ritter, Ritter recorded his second album, Golden Age of Radio, for $1000 and self-released it.

The album was recorded in three different studios: Soundgun in Philadelphia, Electric Cave in New Hampshire, and a friend's basement studio.

While promoting Golden Age of Radio, he met Jim Olsen, head of independent record label Signature Sounds, who offered to remaster and re-release the album after hearing Ritter play.

The song "Me & Jiggs" was subsequently released as a single in Ireland, where Ritter was quickly becoming a word-of-mouth success, first opening for the Frames, then headlining his own shows.

Ritter's third record, Hello Starling, produced by former Frames guitarist Dave Odlum, debuted at No. 2 on the Irish charts.

Ritter claims to have not realized the success of the Irish performances until stopping for a drink between cities and hearing the local band play a set covering his songs, something he was told they did frequently.

In 2003, Ritter shared top billing with the French Kicks at Sepomana, the annual music festival produced by WRMC 91.1 FM. Ritter and Ron Sexsmith headlined the Friday night singer-songwriter event at the Hotel Viking at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival.

He also appeared at Oxegen 2005, and has headlined with artists such as Joan Baez, who later released her own version of Ritter's song "Wings" on her album Dark Chords on a Big Guitar.

He was signed by a British label, V2 Records, in 2005 and Hello Starling was subsequently re-released.

He began performing and touring in a crossover duo with the classical violinist Hilary Hahn in 2005.

In 2006, he was named one of the "100 Greatest Living Songwriters" by Paste magazine.

In 2006 Ritter released his fourth album The Animal Years.

2006 also saw the release of Ritter's first full-length live album and DVD In the Dark – Live at Vicar Street which was recorded over two nights in May 2006.

Both The Animal Years and Historical Conquests received a warm critical reception with Stephen King calling The Animal Years the best album of 2006 in his column for Entertainment Weekly.

In support of Historical Conquests, Ritter appeared as a musical guest on such high-profile television shows as Late Show with David Letterman in America and Later... with Jools Holland in Britain.

Ritter released his fifth album, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, in 2007.

Ritter re-issued his second and third albums, Golden Age of Radio and Hello Starling, on April 7, 2009 and January 17, 2010, respectively.

Each re-issued album was packaged as a two-disc deluxe edition.

The deluxe editions contain both the original studio album as well as solo acoustic versions of all the original tracks, live and remixed bonus songs, and never-before-seen photos and artwork.

The deluxe editions also feature liner notes written by Ritter fans, including Dennis Lehane and Cameron Crowe.

In Autumn 2009 Ritter toured with Love Canon String Band, where he reinterpreted his songs with a band composed of banjo, double bass, mandolin and guitar.

This tour included three nights in Whelans Dublin, where he performed his albums Golden Age of Radio, Hello Starling, and The Animal Years in full.

In 2009, Ritter also provided the soundtrack for the documentary film Typeface, by Kartemquin Films.

Ritter's sixth album, So Runs the World Away, was released April 23, 2010 in Ireland and May 4, 2010 worldwide.

The vinyl version of the album had an earlier release on April 17, 2010 as a part of Record Store Day celebrations.

The vinyl record came packaged with a CD version of the album as well.

To promote the album before its release, Ritter made one of the songs, "Change of Time", freely available online.

The song also appeared in the March 23, 2010 episode of the television series Parenthood and the trailer for the 2011 Natalie Portman film The Other Woman.

In support of the new album Ritter toured with his newly named Royal City Band – starting with six dates in Ireland – including a sellout performance at the newly opened, 2100-capacity Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin, and continuing with an extensive tour of the United States.

So Runs the World Away largely garnered positive reviews.