''Sermon on the Rocks'' is the eighth full-length studio album, by 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 released October 16, 2015 on Pytheas Recordings. Ritter described the record as "messianic oracular honky-tonk."

Background

American singer-songwriter

released his sixth full-length studio album, ''

The Beast in Its Tracks ''The Beast in Its Tracks'' is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Josh Ritter. It was released on March 5, 2013. Background and production On April 17, 2010, American singer-songwriter Josh Ritter released his sixth full-le ...

'', on March 5, 2013, via

Pytheas Recordings Pytheas of Massalia (; Ancient Greek: Πυθέας ὁ Μασσαλιώτης ''Pythéas ho Massaliōtēs''; Latin: ''Pytheas Massiliensis''; born 350 BC, 320–306 BC) was a Greek geographer, explorer and astronomer from the Greek colony of ...

. The album, inspired by Ritter's 2011 divorce from fellow musician

Dawn Landes Dawn Landes (born December 5, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally from around Louisville, Kentucky but spent many years living and performing in Brooklyn, New York. As a recording artist she has released five f ...

, intentionally ended on a hopeful note, as Ritter told ''

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

'', "I do believe that in all my records, I've never ended it on a 'down' note. I just don't believe in it. I want to leave a little fire to carry on into the next record."

Critical reception

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's Stephen Thomson said the album contains "some of Ritter's slipperiest, nimblest wordplay"Stephen Thomson
"Review: Josh Ritter, 'Sermon On The Rocks'"

, October 7, 2015. and Jonathan Bernstein of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' commented that the record used "Eighties textures" and "vivid character sketches" to yield a very different result from its predecessor, ''

''.Jonathan Bernstein
"Sermon on the Rocks" (review)
''

'', October 29, 2015.

Track listing

All songs written by

. #"Birds of the Meadow" – 3:15 #"Young Moses" – 4:08 #"Henrietta, Indiana" – 3:43 #"Getting Ready To Get Down" – 3:16 #"Seeing Me Round" – 4:58 #"Where the Night Goes" – 3:49 #"Cumberland" – 2:17 #"Homecoming" – 5:31 #"The Stone" – 3:55 #"A Big Enough Sky" – 2:47 #"Lighthouse Fire" – 3:12 #"My Man on a Horse (is Here)" – 3:50

Personnel

Musicians

— acoustic and electric guitar, lead and harmony vocals * Zachariah Hickman — upright and electric bass, acoustic and classical guitar, percussion, vocals * Matt Barrick — drums, percussion, vocals * Sam Kassirer — piano, electric piano, clavinet, synthesizer, Hammond and Farfisa organs, percussion, vocals *

Josh Kaufman Josh Kaufman (born November 9, 1976) is an American soul singer and singer-songwriter. A native of the Tampa Bay area in Florida, Kaufman is based out of and resides in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is best known for winning the season 6 of NBC's ' ...

— acoustic, electric, 12-string Rickenbacker and slide guitar, electric mandolin, bongos, vocals *

Trina Shoemaker Kathryn "Trina" Shoemaker is an American mixer, record producer and sound engineer responsible for producing/engineering and/or mixing records for bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Something for Kate, Nanci Gri ...

— percussion

Production

* Recorded at The Parlor, New Orleans, January 5–17, 2015 * Produced by

and

* Recorded by Trina Shoemaker with Eric Heigel * Mixed by Trina Shoemaker * Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering * Assistant Mastering Engineer: Maria Rice

Charts

References

External links

Josh Ritter official websiteLyrics
{{Authority control Josh Ritter albums 2015 albums