JOSH RITTER - Animal Years Review

Josh Ritter hails from Moscow, Idaho, a part of the country once home to Russian and French settlers, Civil War refugees, and several Indian tribes; in an interview with the online publication Three Monkeys, Ritter described it as a "melting pot in the middle of really nowhere." With his third album, Ritter seems to have taken his homeland to heart....full text Idaho-born singer-songwriter Josh Ritter is a huge star in Ireland, but in the United States he's just another semipopular sensitive dude with a guitar. Hopefully that will change with The Animal Years, Ritter's third album, as he finally has the sumptuous, sweeping arrangements to go along with his ruminative road stories and stream-of-consciousness, Dylanesque folk. ...full text He's an old soul, Josh Ritter. On his last album, Hello Starling, his evocative Americana invaded Dylan's territory, but now he has turned to the even more ancient prose of Mark Twain and Thomas Jefferson for inspiration. Apparently it's the chaotic state of the world that has him scurrying to the safety of nostalgia, but whatever the reason, he rarely puts a foot wrong....full text