Renowned singer, songwriter, musician, artist and best-selling author Josh Ritter will release his anticipated new album, Spectral Lines, April 28 via Thirty Tigers (pre-order here). In advance of the release, two album tracks are debuting today: “Sawgrass” and “For Your Soul.” Watch a video for both songs, created by flatspot and filmed in Alaska and Brooklyn, HERE.
Produced by Ritter’s longtime collaborator Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Langhorne Slim), Spectral Lines finds Ritter expanding beyond the bounds of his previous work to create a record both atmospheric and profound. Dedicated to the memory of his mother, Ritter searches for commonality across these ten seamless tracks by exploring life’s most universal ideas—love, devotion and what it means to be connected, to both each other and to ourselves.
One of today’s most thoughtful and prolific voices, Ritter has released ten studio albums including 2019’s widely acclaimed, Fever Breaks, of which NPR Music praised, “He remains a hydrant of ideas while embodying an endless capacity for empathy and indignation, often within a single song.” In addition to his work as a musician, Ritter is also a national best-selling author, having released two novels to date: 2011’s Bright’s Passage and 2021’s The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All, for which the film rights have recently been optioned for development. Released to critical attention, Stephen King wrote in The New York Times Book Review that Bright’s Passage “shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime…This is the work of a gifted novelist.”
In celebration of the new record, Ritter and his band, the Royal City Band, will return to the road this spring with headline shows at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, Washington, DC’s Lincoln Theatre, Philadelphia’s Keswick Theatre, Boston’s House of Blues and New York’s Beacon Theatre among others. Ritter will also perform a series of solo acoustic shows in March. See below for complete itinerary. Tickets for the spring dates go on-sale this Friday, January 27 at 10:00am local time. Full details can be found at www.joshritter.com.
In addition to Ritter (vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar) and Kassirer (piano, organ, mellotron, synthesizers, drums), Spectral Lines also features Jocie Adams (clarinet, synthesizers, background vocals), Matt Douglas (woodwinds), Zachariah Hickman (upright bass, electric bass), Rich Hinman (electric guitar, pedal steel), Shane Leonard (drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass), Kevin O’Connell (drums, percussion, electric bass, electric guitar) and Dietrich Strause (acoustic guitar, electric guitar).
SPECTRAL LINES TRACK LIST
1. Sawgrass
2. Honey I Do
3. Horse No Rider
4. For Your Soul
5. Black Crown
6. Strong Swimmer
7. Whatever Burns Will Burn
8. Any Way They Come
9. In Fields
10. Someday
JOSH RITTER CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
March 2—Grand Rapids, MI—St. Cecilia Music Center*
March 3—Cleveland, OH—Music Box*
March 4—Buffalo, NY—Asbury Hall*
March 5—Albany, NY—The Egg*
May 5—Woodstock, NY—Levon Helm Studios+
May 6—Reading, PA—Miller Center for the Arts+
May 7—Norfolk, VA—Arts Festival+
May 8—Charlottesville, VA—Jefferson Theater+
May 10—Munhall, PA—Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead+
May 12—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall+
May 13—Nashville, TN—Ryman Auditorium+
May 14—Atlanta, GA—Variety Theater+
May 16—Durham, NC—Carolina Theatre+
May 17—Washington, DC—Lincoln Theatre+
May 18—Glenside, PA—Keswick Theatre+
May 19—Boston, MA—House of Blues+
May 20—New York, NY—Beacon Theatre+
June 1—Park City, UT—Egyptian Theatre*
June 2—Park City, UT—Egyptian Theatre*
June 3—Park City, UT—Egyptian Theatre*
June 4—Park City, UT—Egyptian Theatre*
*Josh Ritter solo acoustic
+Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band
