Josh Ritter - The Animal Years - you may not know him, but you should.

I find it borderline criminal that Josh Ritter is not a household name.  A critic’s darling, often considered one of the finest living songwriters, he flies under the radar of the general public.  He has released seven studio albums and several live ones but this gem should have become a massive hit.  Alas, no.

His lyrics have a timeless, articulate quality without the pretentiousness that so often creeps into the work of the less accomplished.  Ritter most often draws comparison to Dylan and Springsteen and I’ll buy into that.  Like those giants, he is able to throw of casual poetry that becomes more elegant upon close inspection, like a rose opening to reveal its beauty.   Like Dylan, he searches for new sounds and perspective on each successive album.   Like Springsteen his work often describes an everyman but under wide open rural skies rather than on Jersey’s mean streets.  And like the Boss, his Royal City Band provides the perfect platform for his songs.

Born in Idaho, but educated at Oberlin College in Ohio.  He traveled northeast and began his professional music career.   He tells stories with a literate quality.  I often feel they are set in the vague past, like a Hemingway novel or a Faulkner story. 

The Animal Years collects some of his finest songs, creating little self contained worlds populated by real characters.

Lillian, Egypt is the story of unrequited love between a silent movie star and an everyman cast as the villain' driven by Scott Kassier’s piano.  The tracks seem to breathe like the breeze on a warm day, the intensity surging on Wolves, hushed on In The Dark and reaching a cacophonous boil on Thin Blue Flame.  Good Man and Monster Ballads flow with a casual grace that belies the underlying craft of their composition.

In interviews and in concert, he bubbles over with a thankful joy, as if humility won’t let him accept that his success thus far could be due to anything but luck.  He has set course creating an exceptional body of timeless work, crafting one exceptional album after the other.  

The Animal Years is as good a point as any to enter Josh Ritter’s stream, to float along through history, love and loss and always hope.  Personally, I hope more listeners will have the chance to experience his music.