Josh Ritter - Biography

Josh Ritter is an American singer-songwriter born in Moscow, Idaho in 1976. Ritter began writing songs while attending Oberlin College. He eventually changed his major from neuroscience and graduated in 1999 with a self-created American History through Narrative Folk Music major.

His style is in the tradition of folk music and ballads - clearly influenced by Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Leonard Cohen, among others - with an emphasis on simple lyrics.

Ritter appeared at the 2002 Newport Folk Festival, the 2005 Oxegen Festival and has headlined with artists such as Joan Baez. Baez later released her own version of Ritter's song "Wings." Ritter's 2003 full-length album Hello Starling debuted at #2 on the charts in Ireland, where the young man has already developed a loyal following. Ritter was signed by a major United States record label, V2 Records, in 2005 and Hello Starling was re-released. On April 19th 2006, his latest album, The Animal Years was released to stellar reviews.

Josh Ritter Official Website