Ask Josh Ritter - March 11, 2013 discussion
Ask Josh!
This morning, I was watching a video of a performance you gave in 2003. You've really built something amazing in the past ten years. Was the path what you expected? Do you feel like you've "made it?" How do you know?I'll be at your show at the 9:30 Club in DC on May 10. The tickets were a gift for my birthday (today)! I love your shows for the same reason I love your music, your emotion is contagious - both the excitement, and the sadness, and the soul. Thank you.
Hey Josh! We met briefly at Clearwater last year. I'm the guy who told you the pizza place in katonah burned down. It's rebuilt by the way. Do you feel that it is better for writers (song and/or book) to explain their intentions or leave their work ambiguous and let it speak for itself?See you at Terminal 5 in may!
Hey Josh,I'm from Moscow, too. Just wondering if you have a favorite movie, TV Show, or book. Also, what was Rainn Wilson like in person?
Mod
first off, let me say how happy and honored i am to be here!
Also, please forgive my typos and grammar trangressions, as i am going fast to get in as many answers as i can!
rock on!
and thank you Margo!
josh
Hi Josh. I first want to start off by saying you're an amazing singer-songwriter. My wife and I love your music! The Beast In Its Tracks is one of my favorite albums to date. My wife is an amazing singer, but she really struggles with songwriting -- can you talk a little bit about your methodology for creating new tracks and matching music with beautiful lyrics?Another note: My wife and I absolutely love "Bone of Song" and we talk a lot about what it means. I know it's a little older, but I was hoping you could share a little bit about what inspired the song and what it means to you.
Can't wait to see you in April in Chicago!
Hey Josh,I've been a big fan of yours for years, and absolutely love "The Beast In Its Tracks". My first question to you is a little strange, I guess, but I can't help but notice the sheer number of equine metaphors used in your songs, and obviously, in Bright's Passage. Is that just a coincidence, or did you grow up around horses?
My second question is more straightforward - you've toured with a ton of fantastic bands and acts. Who's been the most fun? What's your favorite story from the road?
Thank you!
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How have you found writing songs and stories to be different? What was the single most challenging aspect of writing Bright's Passage?"
the single greatest difference between prose and lyrics is length. concision still rules as the most important virtue of writing for me. I want to know clearly, what is happening, and who it is happening to. i want the story, even at its most ornate , to be clearly communicated. i love songwriting for the concision, and great novels value it as well.
Hiya Josh. Loved the book and loved meeting you at Politics and Prose in DC last year. My question: Any interest in turning Brights Passage into a screenplay? I'm a producer/writer/director. :)
Josh - Is there any connection between Bringing In The Darlings and The Beast In Its Tracks? Thanks!
I'm a Moscow Idaho native as well. I've been to a number of amazing shows of yours all over the US, but I think my favorite will always be the one you did in the MJHS field house in support of Jim Lafortune. He was one of my favorite teachers, too.Like you I no longer live in Idaho, but our quirky little town has left its mark on me. I sense that in you, too. How do you think Moscow/Idaho have impacted your art? Has that influence changed or faded over time?
Hi Josh! Your work (both music and writing) have inspired a lot of my own writing. I was wondering if you ever get inspired by other works of art--like other books or paintings, what have you--and if they ever work their way into your own work? And if so, are there any really influential works?
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There seem to be 10 careers I could spend my life in and sincerely enjoy, including as a singer/songwriter (my current pursuit), writer, politician, professor, and an author. I feel you migh..."
cool question!
i don't really see any of the stuff i do as a career. i picture the words inside me as water and songwriting, and novel writing as buckets to hold the water. they're forms capable of holding the love. Without them, I wouldn't be a happy person. I just love doing what i do, and its never seemed like a job.
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Just want to start by saying I love the new album. :)
I am wondering whether "New Lover" is a follow up song to "Rattling Locks"?
There seem to be connections in the lyrics from one song ..."
there certainly, in hindsight, strong connections between the two songs, and rattling locks is certainly a rager of a cathartic song to play live. i didn't write them as cousins, but it turned out they were. that's an amazing thing about writing. in the moment you never know the deeper elements of what you're writing down. only later do those kinds of craggy bits jump out for what they are.
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I was very lucky to see in the UK a few years ago with the wonderful Joan Baez. How much influence does performing with such artists have on your music and songwriting and when will we see..."
Joan is an amazing artist and human being. She's just a badass. she taught me how to swear, drink, and tour. i love her. like the best influences, joan has taught me about how to make a LIFE in music, not just how to make a living. more and more as time goes by the greats shine out as people who have made a choice to live a good life, not being victims of a life in absentia or as caricatures of the tortured artist. I feel similarly about John Prine and Bruce Springsteen.
Josh -I know you're not old, but looking back on your life, what's one thing you know for sure?
Josh? Thanks! And please come back to Hartford; we miss you.Linda
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I've been writing songs since I was young and I'm currently sorting through a fe..."
John Paul!
the most important thing i've found is that songs are just songs. to us, while we're working on them, they mean the world, but in the end, as Tom Waits has said, "songs are just fun things to do with the air."
All original works of art are brand new to the world. as such, they cannot be judged against any other original work. the only one who knows when the work is done is you. so you do walk a line while trying to decide if the song is done, but remember the song is just a song. get it as good as you can, record it and move on to the next one!
JoshIn Everything is Illuminated Jonathon safran foer writes that the only way to write a sad story is through humor. Do you find that to be true?
Curious about the images in your songs, merch, and album art, particularly the anchor and the steamboat. What do you see in those images and how are they valuable to you as a storytelling tool? Best,
Carolyn
josh, i'm curious about your songwriting process. do you start with a melody? a lyric? and a question i always wonder about songwriters - do you ever get your own song stuck in your head? what's that like?
xo. see you in may.
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Having also grown up in rural Moscow, I have a question: Would you consider the remoteness of the Viola area to be influential in shaping the direction of your creativity, particu..."
growing up so far from town, with two tv channels and (still) the slowest internet speed in the nation gave me this most important gift. I learned how to entertain myself for long periods with few props. I threw rocks at trees, rocks at other rocks, rocks at anything. i became a good rock thrower. i lived in the woods. I didn't see a lot of people outside of my family and my friends across the mountain. i read and read.
when the guitar came along, songwriting, with its solitary nature and teenage awkwardness, really appealed to me. it still does. i have Moscow and Viola, Idaho to thank for that.
Hi Josh, I'm putting together a playlist to introduce a few friends to your music. What song do you feel I should absolutely include? Looking forward to the Terminal 5 show.
Jake
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i get all my inspiration for my songs from you and i was wondering who is your inspiration? And i would just like to say i really love right moves and rumors, there easily my favorite so..."
well thank you!
inspiration for me seems to rest in the recombinant bent of my mind. i usually benefit from days full of lots of activity, only squeezing in a bit of playing here and there. I read alot, listen to books on tape and music, run, and am lucky enough to hang out with friends and bandmembers who are really interesting folks. cool ideas go into my head and get all mixed around in there, and what comes out is a wild combination of all those things mixed with ambition to do something new and exciting that i haven't done before.
but busy, busy, busy, that is how i think our lives should be as writers of any kind.
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My daughter Faith and I were so happy to meet you in Albany NY! We were so happy we forgot to ask you this question! We've wondered about the curse...does the mummy transfer his curse t..."
i like to be vague on occasion....
"hoo ha ha ha," he laughed, creepily.
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Will you marry me?
-Paige"
i'm not allowed!
Hello Josh! Thank you for allowing all of us Ritter fanatics to ask you questions here! Your music is truly a vagary and wonderfully refreshing. On to my question. In "Thin Blue Flame", I have heard many different translations, but I would like to know what your orignial thoughts were whilst writing it. At one point it sounds as if you are bitter towards God "ever since He's been a walkin' away", but then you also have a sense of hope "it's hell to believe there ain't a hell of a chance". What was going on in your head when you wrote this?
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Thanks for the opportunity to pick your brain, and many thanks for the amazing music you continue to create and share with the world. I just saw your SoulPancake interview and would like ..."
hiya!
i would love to go to Teddhy Roosevelt's South Dakota, circa 1895. what a time to be alive that must have been. almost as exciting as our own time!
Josh, My brother and I are huge fans of yours. Our favorite song is Another New World. Just wondering where the inspiration came from. It is such an incredible story.
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I have been a fan since Hello Starling, and have sort of been able to track your sound[s] by listening to each new album as it's released since then. In a lot of ways, So Runs the World Aw..."
i've never really believed in honesty in art. i've actually never really believed much in honesty at all. we all tell the stories to each other that we want to tell, and when we make art, the only feeling we go for is satisfaction. some might call satisfaction honesty, but I don't. I write until i feel the least annoyed with myself. then I put the pen down and fell satisfied.
but i love orchestration! it's so fun! i'm sure i'll go back that direction sometime, but i don't know when it will be. never knowing is so exciting.
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I am a huge fan of your music and have loved seeing you live (We would love you back in Des Moines, IA!), but I wanted to talk to you about Bright's Passage.
I have always been so int..."
I was intrigued with the hubris of the time leading up to WWI. one instant we had the world figured out, the next we were shoveling eachother under the earth's lid. it was dazzlingly horrible and fascinating to read about.
Hi Josh - I'm working full time as well as completing a Humanities degree in about 9 weeks here in Dublin. Thing is, I should be writing right now, instead of reading all these great questions and answers!With that in mind, I'm wondering what you do to avoid procrastination? I'd imagine you'd need quite a bit of perseverance to write - so what are your tips?!
Best wishes,
John
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The relationship, overlap, and identity of animals and humans seems to play a role as metaphor and symbol in a lot of your music (ie. Wolves) as well as in Bright's Passage. I've been read..."
thank you!
I have not read the book, but would like to and have heard a bunch of good things.
I think animals are in my conciousness because of the agricultural setting i was raised in, and because my father was trained as a veterinarian and my folks teach vet students. I was read stephen Jay gould from the cradle and i just plain love animals. except spiders, who i understand are crucial to the ecosystem but freak me out.
Question- If you could have one of the following hats, which one would you choose?: Davey Crokett's coonskin hat OR John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn cowboy hat?
See you in Missoula MT in a few weeks, brosef!
Josh, Whose music have you been listening to lately?
Chad
What is an Appleblossom Rag? Driving down from Phoenix to see you in Tucson next week - can't wait!
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thank you so much! i like doing the two forms separately, just so that one can give me relief from the other when i need it!
Hi Josh,When I first heard "Thin Blue Flame" I thought that it would make a fantastic novel, and upon reading "Bright's Passage" I feel like I got that novel. It's beautiful and I hope you continue writing fiction. My actual question though has to do with one's own internal road blocks. I've been struggling with writing a novel for a while now and know that my problem stems from my own expectations of what I'm capable of producing and the fear that comes with the possibility of failure. Did you encounter anything like that when the time finally came to write "Bright's Passage" and if so, how did you snap out of it?
Thanks for doing this and I look forward to your show at Belly Up in Solana Beach on the 18th!
- Mila
PS: New album is fantastic!
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When are you going to write a space western song or story? I love the weirdness of your subject matter pitted against the folk style and hope to see more of it. What creatures have you been ..."
Space Western has got to be coming down the pike. I like a combination of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Richard Brautigan's The Hawkline Monster!
Hi Josh, looking forward to the Seattle show. Love Joy to You, Baby. Best song for me on the new one.I love how much you mix landscape and memory in your writing of songs, and how much it plays into your writing of fiction and if you're working on a new novel.
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I think I read someplace that you're working on another novel. Will you give us a hint as to plot, setting, anything?
We're looking forward to seeing you in Dallas very soon!
Lucy in..."
it's gonna be a big fun dirty-mouthed novel. i am loving the writing!
Josh,you're my muse. thanks, man.
really straightforward question which i doubt will get a straightforward answer (if it gets one at all): which of your songs, in particular, are you most proud of? i know you're not a prideful guy, but which is more fulfilling: hammering out a song over a few days/weeks, or having a flash of divine inspiration and getting it all down quick?
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the change in subject matter has less to do with any conscious choices than with the general progression from one kind of interest to the next. still, there's plenty of folk weirdnesses that keep on creeping into my work, no matter what!
Hi Josh - I've always admired your way with words, and your songs are richer for the stories you tell in them. Just wondering - what do you think happens to the people in your songs after you leave them? Do you think they will ever move on and you'll sing about them in different songs, or are they stuck in the same loops and lyrics forever? Seeing you last year in Sydney was such a life highlight. Thanks for inspiring us all with your music, and I hope you can come visit us again in Australia real soon! As always, thank you for your stories and your songs.
Sharyn :)
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It's extremely difficult to carve out a career as a musician or a writer, yet you have found success in both fields. What advice do you have for aspiring musicians/writers?
Sheryl"
1. be honest with where you're at. don't be afraid to start at the bottom.
2. write down your biggest goals and work backwards until you know what you have to do tomorrow.
3.get embarassed on stage. then move on. keep working through your shyness.
4.always remember that the world doesn't need your work. be happy if it finds a place.
Josh, Huge fan. Saw you at a small concert in Regina, Canada and have been to several shows since.
What was it like for your band to compose an album about your divorce? It seems like it would be hard share intimate songs without feeling vulnerable. Have they forbid you from dating?
When you bring songs to the band, how complete are they. Is there some collaborative writing going on or is everything already worked out. How important are the band to your sanity and what are your feelings about solo gigging compared to touring with the full band?
Any plans to crowdsource using something like Kickstart?
Josh,Youre always so grateful at your shows, I appreciate that heart. How does an appreciative fan get a chance to shake your hand and tell YOU thank you so much?? Ill be seeing you on your Pacific Northwest route. Your music has carried me west and on some big adventures - Roll On especially, and Id love tell you in person how special you are. How does a ramblin cowboy make that happen? Jake
Hey Josh,Probably don't remember me, but I had the awesome pleasure to chat with you during your small performance at Carroll College in Helena, MT before your sold-out show there at the Myrna Loy
First, thanks for sharing part of your life with us on this new album. I was wondering if you could comment on the simplicity and directness of the lyrics on "Beast". Phrases like " . . . and I'm happy for the first time, in a long time" seem easy on the surface, but in context can be a real emotional gut-punch. Could you maybe talk about how the process of writing such personal, simple words is different than maybe a more elaborate song like "The Curse" or "The Temptation of Adam" which seem allow you some distance
P.S. I live Moscow and can totally understand your appreciation of the "big sky, which is empty most of the time." Moscow would love to have you back for a show!
Absolutely love the new album
Rock!
Kenny
You are a master storyteller in your songs I just love it!
Love from Idaho -Caitlin