Josh Ritter

By Ashley Spinella

Josh Ritter is best known as the opening act for Sarah Harmer. His Hello Starling, may be in the same contemplative vein as Harmer, but Ritter rises above opening act status with his classic song writing skills.


Every note of Ritter’s disarms with a bittersweet elegance. Hello Starling speaks on an intuitive level with a beauty almost evading definition. Sparse arrangements and carefully conceived layers of guitar, mandolin and piano draw listeners in.


Often compared to the likes of Bob Dylan and Nick Drake, Ritter’s voice evokes a gritty character, but retains a fragility harkening to Ron Sexsmith. Ritter is able to draw from the most memorable songwriters of the past, without being trapped by any specific era.


Hello Starling is an album full of memories of nighttime road trips, effectively drowning out the cacophony of rush hour traffic.