Golden Age Of Radio
Josh Ritter
Golden Age Of Radio is Moscow, Idaho-born singer-songwriter Josh Ritter's second album. He's usually classified as "urban folk" or "alt-country"; I'm not sure what they mean, but try imagining a cross between Bob Dylan (who Ritter supported a few times), David Gray and Nick Drake and you're kinda on the right track. Like David Gray before he became hugely famous, Josh has a pretty big following in Ireland; Road Records and Phantom FM are both big champions of his, and, as far as I know, Golden Age Of Radio hasn't been released anywhere else besides Ireland and the U.S.
Track listing:
- Come and Find Me
- Me & Jiggs
- You've Got the Moon
- Lawrence, KS (Can't Leave This World Behind)
- Anne
- Roll On
- Leaving
- Other Side
- Harrisburg
- Drive Away
- Golden Age of Radio
- Song for the Fireflies
The album is a mostly accoustic affair, many of the songs being just Josh and his guitar, but the band numbers are great too, especially the wryly cheerful Me And Jiggs, which has some great steel guitar, and the almost rocking title track. The accoustic tracks are split between lovely, delicate creations like Come And Find Me (which kinda reminds me of Leonard Cohen's Suzanne), and Dylan-esque balladry, like my personal favourite, Harrisburg. All in all, it's a consistantly great album; there's enough variety in style, instrumentation and theme, without jarring, to make an engaging listen. If you like the sound of that, wander on over to www.joshritter.com, where thay have some real audio samples, and a coupla mp3's you can listen to.