Renowned singer, songwriter, musician, artist, and best-selling author Josh Ritter’s new album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, is out today via Thirty Tigers. [Stream/purchase the album 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 performing and recording his songs. With the release of I Believe in You, My Honeydew, Ritter shares ten new tracks that further highlight the insightful and engaging artistry he’s celebrated for.

Already receiving critical attention, The Boston Globe hails I Believe in You, My Honeydew as “one of his strongest records to date,” while Americana Highways praises, “one of the most essential voices in American songwriting…The album sparkles with clever turns, rollicking stories, and irresistible hooks—proof that even the weightiest ideas can be entertaining when delivered by a master storyteller.” Glide Magazine adds, “Strange, joyful, patient, curious—these are the qualities that keep Josh Ritter’s songs alive. I Believe in You, My Honeydew is not just another record, but his reminder that creativity, like pleasure, fills all the space we allow it.”

Produced by Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Langhorne Slim), the 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).

Of the project, Ritter shares:

“I'm 48 now. Decades have passed. There have been times I felt my inspiration, my muse, had passed along with them. And then, not too long ago, I decided that instead of waiting for the muse to write me a song, I would write the muse a song instead. I started referring to my muse as my honeydew. And this album was born. The songs on Honeydew are songs for my muse, my invisible and blinding companion of long-standing. I hope it enjoys them. I hope that it experiences a bit of what it’s like to be human, a bit of what it’s like to be lonely, scared, uncertain, joyful, righteous.”

In celebration of the new music, Ritter will tour this fall with a mix of solo and full-band performances. Highlights include Los Angeles’ Masonic Lodge, Portland’s The Old Church (two nights), Seattle’s St. Mark’s Cathedral, New York’s Brooklyn Steel, Minneapolis’ Fitzgerald Theater, Philadelphia’s Keswick Theatre, and Washington D.C.’s Lincoln Theatre. He will also return to Boston for his First Annual Homecoming Dance at Citizens House of Blues on November 15. Tickets are available now at www.joshritter.com.

The new album follows Ritter’s 2024 mini-album Heaven, or Someplace as Nice, recorded with legendary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and his acclaimed 2023 full-length Spectral Lines. Paste praised Ritter as “a more open-hearted version of Leonard Cohen,” while No Depression called Spectral Lines “a hopeful tapestry that encourages listeners to sit with each other in introspection, but not to forget to sing along.”

In addition to music, Ritter is a national best-selling author of two novels: Bright’s Passage (2011) and The Great Glorious Goddamn of It All (2021), which has been optioned for film. The New York Times Book Review’s Stephen King lauded Bright’s Passage as “the work of a gifted novelist.” Most recently, Ritter launched his Substack, Josh Ritter’s Book of Jubilations, a space for reflection and exploration of ideas, stories, and creative moments that continue to shape his artistry.

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

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 15 — Boston, MA — Citizens House of Blues Boston
November 16 — New York, NY — Brooklyn Steel
March 30 — St. Albert, AB — The Arden Theatre (solo show)

*with special guest Bhi Bhiman