Josh Ritter - Hello Starling
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Music CD Cover
Artist: Josh RitterEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2003-09-09
Music Label: Signature Sounds
Soundtracks:
- Bright Smile
- Kathleen
- You Don't Make It Easy Babe
- Man Burning
- Rainslicker
- Wings
- California
- Snow Is Gone
- Bone of Song
- Baby That's Not All
- Bad Actress
Free Music Notes for Hello Starling
Free Music Review: Following in a grand tradition
Hit: 4 Stars
Hello Starling is the third album by Josh Ritter, a singer-songwriter and guitarist originally from Moscow ID who has been steadily building support since his first self-released album in 1999, particularly in his native States and in Ireland, where he initially toured supporting the Frames. For this album, Dave Odlum from the Frames was enlisted as producer and the album was recorded over a fortnight in February 2002 in a converted dairy barn near Angers in France (also used by Dave Odlum for an EP with Gemma Hayes in 2001), and with Josh's touring band augmented by Dave Odlum helping out on guitar and mandolin.
As a teenager, Josh Ritter had been inspired by discovering Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash playing together on the Nashville Skyline album, and has also acknowledged Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and Gillian Welch among his influences (there is a nod to Townes Van Zandt on this album's Kathleen, also the title of one of his songs). He studied American History through narrative music at college, spending six months in Scotland at the School of Scottish Folk Studies, and also made a study of American religious music, American Civil War songs and late 19th century popular ballads, parlour songs and cowboy songs.
Although he has found his own voice and a clear natural style it is clear from his stripped back approach and the meticulously recorded instruments that he has learned well and deeply from all these guiding legacies and adaptations. This is an album that has been built to last and leaves one keenly anticipating the next.
Hello Starling Poster
Ritter's literate, highly romantic brand of folk has gained him attention on both sides of the Atlantic. Hello Starling, his third album, sees him pushing the boat out further and trying to move beyond the evident influence of Bob Dylan. It doesn't always work: the up-tempo "Kathleen" and "Man Burning," with their swirling organs, clearly carry the mark of Zimmerman, as does the soft and heartfelt "You Don't Make It Easy Babe," a troubled ode to a troubling girl. But this doesn't necessarily matter. Ritter's vocal performances may lack the intensity and weight of Dylan or Leonard Cohen (an equally heavy influence, most evidently on the track "Wings"), but he has a charm and lightness of touch that will endear him to many. Beyond this, it's a real joy to hear a musician attempting ambitious narratives ("Wings," "Bone of Song") where many singer-songwriters cower cravenly behind impressionistic cut-up techniques or, worse still, spatter us with self-obsessed drivel. Perhaps a few albums on, Ritter will truly find his own voice and be considered a real find. --Dominic WillsCountry Music CDs
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