Another quality set of stories and tunes from the American songwriter.
A new Josh Ritter album is a time for celebration and excitement. His latest includes ten well-crafted songs with exceptional writing, which we have come to expect from the American troubadour. Following on from 2024’s mini-album, “Heaven, or Someplace as Nice”, where Ritter collaborated with Bill Frisell, this collection leaves behind the jazz-infused guitars. Back with the Royal City Band and produced by long-time collaborator Sam Kassirer, this set takes us somewhere completely different. Kassirer plays keyboards and accordion, Zachariah Hickman is on bass and mandolin, Rich Hinman plays guitars and the excellent pedal steel, whilst Ray Rizzo keeps it all together on drums and percussion.
Ritter explains how, as the decades have passed, and now at 48 years old, he feels his muse has gone with them. He playfully refers to his muse as My Honeydew, hence the title, and these songs are for them. On first listen, this feels like a collection of old songs. None of them are, but the feeling is that Ritter has mined and chipped loose old feelings from years past. ‘Wild Ways’ feels like ‘Wolves’ from the critically acclaimed “The Animal Years” record. Then there is the narrative of the stunning ‘Truth is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding)’, a poetic journey into star gazing and solar cluster mapping, which has you on the edge of your seat throughout, not unlike ‘The Curse’ from “So Runs The World Away” or ‘Wings’ from “Hello Starling”. That isn’t to say that Ritter is looking backwards; he knows what works, and together this is a strong set of tunes, produced beautifully to allow Ritter’s lyrics to shine. He kept the details from Royal City Band until the night before recording to keep everything fresh.
‘Truth is a Dimension’ tells the tale of an astronomer heading to map star system 611 armed only with a telescope, ham sandwiches, coffee and memories of a lost love, Tonya. It would be spoiling the narrative too much to tell more, but there are revelations regarding truth, a parallel universe and a bloke named Neil. It is Ritter storytelling personified.
The bossa nova feel to ‘Honeydew (No Light)’ feels brooding and a little bit sinister, in keeping with the whole song. “Dark days / Lead to dark nights / Lead to dark years / No Light”, sings Ritter with lyrics that seem to mirror what is happening in the world today. The strong message is to be cautious of the snake oil salesman. Cutting off the tale will only get us so far.
‘Noah’s Children’ has some crying guitar throughout and channels Steely Dan for the “Mother Mary” chorus line. A biblical painting by El Greco helped Ritter to unlock the words to a melody that was already in his subconscious. Shocking things can happen even in the quietest corners of the world, and the lyrics suggest justice has been served with the chilling lines “We’re back up to the river in the pick up truck / He’ll be dead forever and he ain’t getting up”.
There is much to enjoy for the die-hard Ritter aficionado, and the record would be a perfect stopping off point for anyone wishing to know what the artist is like if you have never heard his music. Never lost for spiritual or even biblical imagery, Ritter continues in that vein throughout. It never feels heavy or overburdening, leaving you with plenty to muse on yourself, and the tunes are entertaining. ‘Kudzu Vines’ with its heavy blues riff exemplifies Ritter when he cuts loose.
The suite ends with the mighty ‘The Throne’, which asks the big question (you know the one) and uses the throne as a symbol of divine justice. One of the standout tracks challenges the listener to look for their own throne. There is a throne for us all, but as far as any ultimate judgement, Ritter claims, “I have been to the throne and there was nobody there.”
Settle down for a ride through Ritter’s vivid imagination that brings at the same time joyful, perturbing and questionable characters to life. Ritter has created so many interesting individuals over the last quarter of a century, including a polar explorer, an Egyptian archaeologist, a silent movie actor, and now an astronomer gazing into the vastness of space, watching collapsing stars. There will be many more to come, but until then, if you see Tonya, tell her he still loves her and there’s a flask of coffee waiting for her.
