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Q Interview: Josh Ritter - A Novel Musician

Josh Ritter is the son of two neuroscientists, but once he heard Bob Dylan for the first time as a youngster he knew his calling would be something rather different. He was instantly inspired to put down the surgical instruments and pick up musical ones, embracing his creative side. He now has a fifth UK album on the way, in a career which has spanned the last decade, but as if that was not enough he is also in the process of releasing his first novel.

Is there no end to this man's talents? Each album is a push outside of the comfort zone, an exploration into new territory, and inevitably because of this a success. After becoming an overnight success in Ireland, famed for his banter with the crowd and a palladian attitude to music, it was not long until the rest of the world caught on.

His new album, So Runs The World Away, the title taken from a Hamlet quote, is due for a full release on August 23rd. To promote the new release he will also be performing an exciting show in London with his wife, Dawn Landes, at The Barbican.

Q: I was just enjoying a nice hotel jingle there, is it a posh place you're staying in?
Josh Ritter: Nope, not at all, not very rock'n'roll.There's not much furniture, but I could write a list of things that I could throw out of the window if they were made available [laughs].

Q: Were you ever one for doing that kind of thing when you were younger?
JR: Only at the end of like 6 month tours I would do something but I think the craziest thing I did was that I had a sling shot and I fired vitamins into the ocean down in Brighton. That's pretty sad when it comes to tour craziness.

Q: And now six albums in and ten years on here you are. How has folk music changed since you've been involved in it?
JR: I never really knew what folk music really was so I feel like it'd be hard to say. I feel like music has not changed a lot in that time, there's just a lot more music out there and it's easier to find. I really don't keep tabs on acoustic genres. I don't really listen to a lot of strictly acoustic music. I love Apex Twin and Lupe Fiasco. There's a lot of other stuff that's a lot more important to me than that.

Q: What do you think about eclecticism? It's good to have a broad taste but surely music is slightly more disposable now.
JR: Eclecticism is phenomenal; I mean it far outweighs the alternative which is canonisation.

People have tried to canonise you in a way by adding you to the list of greats, the likes of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young, would you like to be remembered in this way or simply as a man who wrote some great songs?
JR: That would be great, just to be remembered as somebody who writes songs and has been doing it their whole life would be fantastic. That's where the comparisons to Dylan and Springsteen fall short because they don't take into account that those guys have been doing it for so long and I've just been doing this for ten years, not 40 or 50 so really comparisons don't work that way.

In terms of writing I feel really great about what I do and I feel like I really care about that. The songs that I put out I'm never holding it in so I feel really proud of holding on to that idea of really working hard but I could never be compared to those guys until I'm 80. [Laughs]

To be mentioned in the same sentence as Dylan is amazing though. He's the first person that really made me realise that I could do this. He changed my life.

Q:And who's to say that you haven't changed other people's as well?
JR: That would be fantastic if that was true I would love it. Really though all you can do is kind of write for yourself. The times I've tried to write for other people it hasn't worked. You have to write for yourself and be happy with what you're doing and hopefully other people will hear that kind of excitement and inspire them to recreate it for themselves.

Q: Is the writing process a cathartic one for you then?
JR: Absolutely, it's completely a cathartic one. It's a little bit like putting stuff in boxes in your attic, eventually if you don't empty your attic it's going to collapse. The great thing about what I get to do is that I can empty the attic every couple of years, get everything out and start over again.

Q: Are you completely open or do you feel there's certain things you have to hold back for yourself because people read into your music?
JR: I definitely hate autobiographical song writing. I would never write a song and claim it to be about me because I feel like there's so much of that stuff out there and because I don't like the sound of somebody's self emulation or Martyrdom.

One of the worst things is to feel sorry for yourself in my opinion when you could be changing the situation and so it's not interesting. There's so many more interesting things to write about than trying to make your diary rhyme. But at the same time I couldn't say that my life doesn't go into my writing because it does.

Q: You're also a novelist. Your first novel comes out next summer I believe
JR: Yes, I just turned it in the other day actually. I'm excited to have my whole life back. It's a lot harder than I thought. I wrote some stuff, but nothing I ever showed to anybody. I feel much more naked with this novel than with song writing, not because of being a much more personal thing. The story I feel could be in one of the songs but I definitely don't know the rules as well with this and didn't feel completely at ease.

I've written a lot of stuff and never really shown it to anybody. The story is about a normal guy from West Virginia who goes to World War One and comes home with an angel that tells him to do things and it's about their adventure over a week or so. It's a funny little book.

Q: What books do you read at the moment?
JR: Right now I'm reading a book by Neil Stephenson, I've really been on a kick of his stuff. This one's called Quicksilver but he's written great Sci-Fi and Historical fiction writer. This one's about Newton and the creation of Money as an idea.

You have a huge fan base in Ireland. It must feel like a second home.
JR: It's kind of the first place I started. I play bigger shows now in the states but it's the first place I started playing. I grew up in a way playing music in Ireland and for that reason our connection is really strong. So many of the great moments in my career came from Ireland and it's always a place where I feel I'm going back to account for myself. It's like going back to my hometown, these people knew me since when, and they know me really well so they're not going to let me get away with anything which is a good thing to have.

Q: They were the first people to believe in you and the rest of the world caught up afterwards.
JR:Yeah, they really gave me an education in music and the Irish crowd will not be forgotten about. You get up onstage and instantly it's a conversation, it feels real, important, and fun. The back and forth with the Irish crowd is just a great experience. On a good night anywhere else in the world feels like Ireland and that's all I can aspire to have.

Q: You did an American History through Music degree. How has that influenced you?
JR: I wanted to get beyond the Woody Guthrie stuff because there are some characters who exemplify a period in American History. Woody Guthrie being the best for talking about the dust bowl but it's more about social movements through music. As soon as we have an experience we have a need to talk about that experience with other people, so who rises to fulfil those needs for those songs of experience? Why was it important to people, why did everybody want this song?

It also reminds you that music is not about selling records, it's not about making money at all. For somebody that buys a record they're not saying I really like this person and I want them to be a millionaire, they're looking to buy it because there's a song on there that is important to them and that's why I buy music, it has to speak to me.

Q: With the new album getting its full release in August how do you feel about the way people will place their own analysis on it?
JR: Sometimes it's really funny and other times it's really interesting, a lot of times I get much more credit than I deserve. But really a song is like a hallway, you build the hallway and put in all the doors leading off into different directions, and people decide to walk through those doors, and when they do they're in their own place.

Q: With your parents being neuroscientists, do they think your career isn't exactly brain surgery or are they very supportive?
JR: I've been lucky in that way, they've always been so supportive and I think that's because they came from situations that were sort of similar. My dad was a guy who loved bugs and animals from a family who owned a car dealership and an undertakers. My Mom her family came from a wholly different background and they both found science to be for them as radical as me choosing music, so they always supported me and appreciated what I was doing.

The world's a lot safer without me being a scientist, or pretending to be one [Laughs]

Q: You're coming back to the UK and playing a show with your wife too Will you be trying to upstage each other?
JR: She's great. I'm sure we will try to but that's a battle I'll lose every time. She's phenomenal.

Tour Dates with The Royal City Band

17-Sep UK Oxford Town Hall
18-Sep UK Glasgow Oran Mor
19-Sep UK Nottingham Albert Hall
21-Sep UK Bristol St Georges
22-Sep UK Manchester Royal Northern College of Music
23-Sep UK London Barbican

For more on Josh Ritter visit his myspace and his website

6:31 AM | 27/07/2010