''Josh Ritter'' is the debut album by American singer-songwriter

Josh Ritter Josh Ritter (born October 21, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and author who performs and records with the Royal City Band. Ritter is known for his distinctive Americana style and narrative lyrics. In 2006, he was named one of ...

. It was self-released in 1999. Humorous

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

-inspired songs such as "Hotel Song" and "Stuck to You" evoke comparisons to

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

, while ballads "Letter from Omaha" and "Leaves and Kings" seem inspired by

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

, whom Ritter frequently cites as influences. Three versions of this album have been pressed; a digipak in 1999, followed by a jewel case package in 1999, then a digipak again in 2008. Superficially the 1999 and 2008 digipaks are similar, but the interior artwork and disc art differ among all three versions.

Track listing

All songs written by

. #"Leaves and Kings" – 3:26 #"Beautiful Night" – 2:42 #"Hotel Song" – 2:08 #"Paint Your Picture" – 3:41 #"Angels on Her Shoulders" – 3:21 #"Morning Is a Long Way Down" – 3:30 #"Potter's Wheel" – 3:20 #"Letter From Omaha" – 3:09 #"Last Ditch Effort (See You Try)" – 3:11 #"Paths Will Cross" – 3:02 #"Pretty Polly" – 3:52 #"Horrible Qualities" – 11:25 (contains bonus track "Stuck to You")

Personnel

*Josh Ritter –

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

, guitar, piano *Zack Hickman – bass, organ,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

*Tom Graves – cello *Darius Zelkha – drums, "spooky sounds"

References

External links

Josh Ritter official websiteLyrics
{{Authority control Josh Ritter albums 1999 debut albums Self-released albums