''So Runs the World Away'' is the sixth full-length studio 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 released on

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...

on April 17, 2010, as a part of

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

in the United States. The vinyl record came packaged with a CD version of the album as well. The official album release was April 23, 2010, in Ireland, and May 4, 2010, worldwide. Ritter said of the album that it "marks the beginning of a new period in islife," and that overall, "the songs are larger and more detailed, and feel to me as if they were painted in oil on large canvasses." Ritter got the title from a line in the third act of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''.

Release and reception

The record's release was met with high anticipation and covered by multiple news and media publications.

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

reported looking forward to the album. Irish music magazine ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a fortnightly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who co ...

'' featured "Josh Ritter week" with free track downloads from the album, front cover picture, and interviews. Upon its release the album was met with very strong reviews. The ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' called it "Ritter's most intriguing and rewarding album to date, it's easily his most diverse."

Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (b. April 10, 1953 in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He is the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts series. In 1979 Bob Boilen pl ...

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 ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online multimedia program started in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' director Bob Boilen. At first, the show featured information and streaming audio about the songs used as bumper music on '' ...

'' said of the album, "I've come to expect good records from him...but this one took my breath away."https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=37 ''National Public Radio''

Track listing

All songs written by

, except "Folk Bloodbath" written by Ritter based on a traditional song by

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), better known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer and guitarist. Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself to play the guitar around the age of nine. He wo ...

. # "Curtains" – 0:57 # "Change of Time" – 4:04 # "The Curse" – 5:03 # "Southern Pacifica" – 4:24 # "Rattling Locks" – 4:25 # "Folk Bloodbath" – 5:16 # "Lark" – 3:04 # "Lantern" – 5:15 # "The Remnant" – 3:56 # "See How Man Was Made" – 3:26 # "Another New World" – 7:34 # "Orbital" – 3:29 # "Long Shadows" – 2:20

Charts

Personnel

Musicians

* Josh Ritter – vocals and guitars, violin * Zack Hickman – double bass, electric bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, hi-strung guitar, omnichord, vibraphone, organ, bass clarinet, percussion, euphonium * Austin Nevins – electric guitar, acoustic guitar,

baritone guitar The baritone guitar is a guitar with a longer scale length, typically a larger body, and heavier internal bracing, so it can be tuned to a lower pitch. Gretsch, Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, ESP Guitars, PRS Guitars, Music Man, Danelectro, Schec ...

e-bow The EBow, short for electronic bow or energy bow, is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It is manufactured by Heet Sound Products, of Los Angeles, California. It was invented by Greg Heet i ...

lap steel The lap steel guitar, also known as a Hawaiian guitar, is a type of steel guitar without pedals that is typically played with the instrument in a horizontal position across the performer's lap. Unlike the usual manner of playing a traditional ac ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone. The glo ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, mando guitar,

baritone ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrume ...

, percussion * Liam Hurley – drums, percussion * Sam Kassirer —

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument which produces sounds when a performer presses the keys of a piano-style musical keyboard. Pressing keys causes mechanical hammers to strike metal strings, metal reeds or wire tines, leading to vibrations ...

, piano,

organs In biology, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to act together in a fu ...

, synthesizer, vibraphone, percussion, samples

Additional musicians

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 ...

— backing vocals *

Allie Moss Allie Moss is an American songwriter and guitarist from Jersey Shore. She released her own EP entitled ''Passerby'' in 2009. In 2011, Moss released her debut album ''Late Bloomer''.

— backing vocals * Jesse Neuman – trumpet, electronics * Rob Jost —

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

* Tony Barba —

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

, flute

Production

*Produced by Sam Kassirer *Recorded at the Great North Sound Society,

Parsonsfield, Maine Parsonsfield is a town in York County, Maine, United States. The population was just 1,791 at the 2020 census. Parsonsfield includes the villages of Kezar Falls, Parsonsfield, and North, East and South Parsonsfield. It is part of the Portland& ...

, from August 2008 to October 2009 *Mixed by Brandon Eggleston at Secret Society,

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

*Engineered by Sam Kassirer, Brandon Eggleston and Dan Cardinal *Additional recording by Jim Smith at Saltlands Studio,

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, and by Austin Nevins at Austin's Studio in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

*Mastered by Jeff Lipton at Peerless Mastering

References

External links

Josh Ritter official websiteLyrics
{{DEFAULTSORT:So Runs the World Away Josh Ritter albums 2010 albums Record Store Day releases