Words of Wisdom

An Evening With Josh Ritter May 12, 2008

There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than well-played live music. Over the last sixteen years or so I’ve probably seen a few hundred artists, who gave us experiences ranging from incredible to head-shakingly bad, this past Friday night my brother Jeff and I were treated to the former.

I’ve been a huge fan of singer-songwriter Josh Ritter ever since I first listened to his album, The Animal Years, through Scott’s recommendation. Following the acquisition of that modern day classic, I quickly downloaded copies of his earlier work from emusic and picked up his latest, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, soon after it was released. He is part of a rare breed in his ability to both tug at the listener’s heart and put a bounce in their step. Though still relatively young, his songwriting echoes the greats of his genre, from Dylan to Springsteen to Leonard Cohen and others.

So, we arrived at the club, located in the Rivermarket area of downtown Little Rock, just before the opening band took the stage. Upon entering the room in which we would spend the next few hours I felt both an incredible anticipation as well as a twinge of sadness – how could an artist of Ritter’s caliber, whose mastery of songcraft rivals the greats, be playing in a Little Rock club that consisted of little more than a stage, a floor and a bar?

I can’t recall the name of the opening act, but they were decent enough, employing the regular rock band pieces – guitar, bass, and drums – as well as a fiddle. They were serviceable, but unmemorable for me, though I was a bit surprised to see many of the younger fans near the stage singing along emphatically with the set closer. During one of their numbers, the door beside the stage opened and Ritter, along with his band, made a quick entry to the appreciative calls from the audience and an even quicker exit into the adjacent dressing room. After about a set lasting 45 minutes or so, the openers made their exit and the excitement began to build…

Around 10:15, the lights dimmed a bit, the door to the side again opened, and the headliners filed onto the stage. Ritter gave a quick salutation to the audience and the band kicked into a number from their latest album, “Mind’s Eye”, with it’s stacatto guitar riff and his easy, laid-back vocal stylings. Without stopping for a breath, they then moved into the opening song from the same album, “To the Dogs or Whoever,” which, with its rock stylings (as opposed to his acoustic, folkier work) was superb live. The show was replete with several offerings from “The Historical Conquests…” album – “Right Moves”, “Rumors”, “Real Long Distance”, and maybe even a few others that I’ve forgotten. Along with the newer material, he also mixed in several tunes from his past albums, including “Girl in the War,” “Wolves,” one of my favorites – “Monster Ballads,” the ode to small-town life that rings very true for those of us from that environment – “Me & Jiggs,” audience favorite “Come and Find Me,” and a killer version of “Harrisburg.” Closing out the set was the great song “Kathleen” from 2003′s Hello Starling album, during which the band reached a break and decreased the tempo as Ritter cajoled the crowd to slow dance. Soon the song reached its climax, the band took a bow and they exited the stage.

But the crowd knew that this wouldn’t be the end for Ritter and the Boys, we all continued to yell for more, coaxing them to again grace us with their presence. After a very short break, Ritter entered the stage alone to thundering applause, picked up his guitar and began that now-so-familiar (to me at least) fingerpicking rhythm to his apocalyptic love song, “The Temptation of Adam.” It is a beautiful song, perhaps even more so when actually witnessed live. As the song reached its end, “I think about that great, big button, and I’m tempted,” the band moved back onto the stage and picked up their instruments for one last number. Another familiar riff started up and they launched into their final number for the evening, a rollicking version of Lilllian, Egypt with its pounding drum beat and its great, wordless, singalong chorus, “La didi da da da da da da da” – a great ending to a great evening.

There were a few observations that I had of the performance – one good and one that was sort of frustrating. First of all, the background noise was particularly annoying. The venue was rather small and there was a bar in the back where a number of people were sitting, enjoying drinks, and conversing with the concert serving as little more than background music. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that, during Ritter’s slower, quieter numbers, the dull roar of voices in the background was bothersome. On the other hand, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone before who smiled as much as Ritter did. It seemed as if he constantly had this big, infectious grin spread across his face for the entire hour and thirty minutes that we were blessed to spend with him. In addition to that, he was constantly thanking the audience for attending that evening, showing a very genuine-seeming gratitude toward his fans.

Around midnight, Jeff and I made our way back to his car and began the drive back to Beebe. The show was great, we both had a very good time, and I think Jeff may have even been converted to Ritter’s ever-growing horde of fans.