Renowned singer, songwriter, musician, artist and best-selling author Josh Ritter releases his new song, “Noah’s Children,” today. Listen/share HERE.
Of the track, Ritter shares, “‘Noah’s Children’ is a song about finding human justice for an unspeakable crime. I had the rhyme scheme and melody for years, but no story. One day, I was looking at a painting by El Greco in an old art book of mine, and the whole idea fell out. I guess that I’d been writing it in the back of my mind for a long, long, while. My band understood this song almost immediately, and they sounded so good I kept listening to them and almost forgot to sing.”
The song is the latest unveiled from his anticipated new album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, out September 12 via Thirty Tigers (pre-order/pre-save here).
Throughout his decades-long career, Ritter has established himself as “one of the most perceptive artists making music today” (American Songwriter), releasing twelve albums to date and earning the respect of countless music legends, with artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Bob Weir having performed and recorded his songs.
With the release of I Believe in You, My Honeydew, Ritter shares ten new tracks that further demonstrate the insightful and engaging artistry that he’s celebrated for, including “You Won’t Dig My Grave” and “Truth is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding),” which were released earlier this summer. Produced by Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Langhorne Slim), the new album features Ritter alongside his Royal City Band: Kassirer (piano, organ, synthesizer, accordion), Zachariah Hickman (acoustic and electric bass, thumb piano, mandolin), Rich Hinman (guitars, pedal steel, mandolin) and Ray Rizzo (drums, percussion).
In celebration of the new music, Ritter will tour through this fall including newly confirmed solo shows at Los Angeles’ Masonic Lodge, Portland’s The Old Church (two nights), Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, and full band shows at New York’s Brooklyn Steel, Minneapolis’ Fitzgerald Theater, Philadelphia’s Keswick Theatre and Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre among others. See below for complete tour itinerary.
The new project follows Ritter’s 2024 mini-album, Heaven, or Someplace as Nice, which he recorded with legendary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and his acclaimed 2023 full-length project, Spectral Lines. Of the record, Paste praised, “Josh Ritter is like a more open-hearted version of Leonard Cohen. His lyrics draw on the divine, but he seems to see a little heaven in all the people around him,” while No Depression declared, “a hopeful tapestry that encourages listeners to sit with each other in introspection, but not to forget to sing along.”
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.” Most recently, Ritter launched his Substack, Josh Ritter’s Book of Jubilations, as a place to reflect and explore the ideas, stories, and creative moments that have shaped him.
I BELIEVE IN YOU, MY HONEYDEW TRACK LIST
1. You Won’t Dig My Grave
2. Honeydew (No Light)
3. Truth is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding)
4. Noah’s Children
5. Wild Ways
6. Thunderbird
7. Kudzu Vines
8. I’m Listening
9. The Wreckage of One Vision of You
10. The Throne
JOSH RITTER CONFIRMED TOUR DATES
August 20—Westport, CT—Levitt Pavilion*
August 21—Portland, ME—State Theatre*
August 22—South Burlington, VT—Higher Ground*
August 23—Easthampton, MA—Arcadia Folk Festival
August 24—Lowell, MA—Lowell Summer Music Series*
October 1—Los Angeles, CA—Masonic Lodge (solo show) (SOLD OUT)
October 2—Los Angeles, CA—Masonic Lodge (solo show)
October 3—San Francisco, CA—The Chapel
October 3-5—San Francisco, CA—Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
October 7—Portland, OR—The Old Church (solo show) (SOLD OUT)
October 8—Portland, OR—The Old Church (solo show) (SOLD OUT)
October 10—Seattle, WA—St. Mark’s Cathedral (solo show)
October 11—Moscow, ID—University of Idaho Admin Auditorium (solo show)
(SOLD OUT)
October 12—Moscow, ID—Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre (solo show) (SOLD OUT)
November 1—Rochester, NY—Concerts at Beston Hall
November 2—Grand Rapids, MI—St. Cecilia Music Center
November 3—Ann Arbor, MI—The Ark
November 4—Cincinnati, OH—Taft Theatre
November 6—St. Louis, MO—The Sovereign
November 7—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall
November 8—Minneapolis, MN—Fitzgerald Theater
November 9—Des Moines, IA—Hoyt Sherman Place
November 12—Pittsburgh, PA—Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
November 13—Washington, D.C.—Lincoln Theatre
November 14—Philadelphia, PA—Keswick Theatre
November 16—New York, NY—Brooklyn Steel
March 30—St. Albert, AB—The Arden Theatre (solo show)
*with special guest Bhi Bhiman
