Always on the lookout for cutting edge folk talent, the Salmon arm Roots and Blues is pleased to welcome a performer that has been hailed by critics for his thoughtful, intelligent and unique lyrics.
Renowned singer-songwriter, guitarist and author Josh Ritter was interested in music as a child but it wasn’t until, as a teenager, he first heard Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan singing Girl from the North Country, that his passion was ignited.
“Hearing that record was like meeting the person you’re going to marry,” says Ritter, who then bought his first guitar. After graduating from college in 1999, Ritter recorded and released his self-titled debut.
Signature Sounds Recordings gave him exposure on a national level, and the four- and five-star reviews started rolling in.
Over a 14-day span in 2003, Ritter recorded his third album, Hello Starling. His much anticipated follow up, Animal Years, arrived in March 2006. This was also the same year Paste Magazine named him one of the “100 Greatest Living Songwriters” alongside names like Dylan, Springsteen and Neil Young.
Other albums followed: The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (2007), So Runs the World Away (2010) and The Beast in Its Tracks (2013).
The Beast in Its Tracks continues Ritter’s longtime collaboration with producer and keyboard player Sam Kassirer.
“Far from the grand, sweeping feel of the songs on So Runs the World Away, these new songs felt like rocks in the shoe, hard little nuggets of whatever they were, be it spite, remorse, or happiness.
“I hadn’t composed this stuff, I’d scrawled it down, just trying to keep ahead of the heartbreak,” Ritter says.
Tickets for Roots and Blues Festival are available at 250-833-4096 or at www.rootsandblues.ca, where the full lineup can be found, along with other information about Salmon Arm’s premier music festival.
