Josh’s Comments (group member since Feb 08, 2013)

Josh’s comments from the Ask Josh Ritter - March 11, 2013 group.

Sheryl wrote: "Josh,

It's extremely difficult to carve out a career as a musician or a writer, yet you have found success in both fields. What advice do you have for aspiring musicians/writers?

Sheryl"

1. be honest with where you're at. don't be afraid to start at the bottom.
2. write down your biggest goals and work backwards until you know what you have to do tomorrow.
3.get embarassed on stage. then move on. keep working through your shyness.
4.always remember that the world doesn't need your work. be happy if it finds a place.

Amy wrote: "Josh! I just saw an interview you did a few years ago where you spoke about the West and cowboy and train folklore and imagery. Your early work evokes more of a feel of American roots music than yo..."

the change in subject matter has less to do with any conscious choices than with the general progression from one kind of interest to the next. still, there's plenty of folk weirdnesses that keep on creeping into my work, no matter what!

Lucy wrote: "Hello, Josh,
I think I read someplace that you're working on another novel. Will you give us a hint as to plot, setting, anything?
We're looking forward to seeing you in Dallas very soon!

Lucy in..."

it's gonna be a big fun dirty-mouthed novel. i am loving the writing!

Will wrote: "Josh,

When are you going to write a space western song or story? I love the weirdness of your subject matter pitted against the folk style and hope to see more of it. What creatures have you been ..."

Space Western has got to be coming down the pike. I like a combination of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama and Richard Brautigan's The Hawkline Monster!

Eric wrote: "Strangely enough, just as this page came up "Joy to You Baby" ,from your new album, came on my music player. Enjoy your writing - both of the song and literary kind - immensely. Have you ever thoug..."

thank you so much! i like doing the two forms separately, just so that one can give me relief from the other when i need it!

Jeff wrote: "Hi Josh,
The relationship, overlap, and identity of animals and humans seems to play a role as metaphor and symbol in a lot of your music (ie. Wolves) as well as in Bright's Passage. I've been read..."

thank you!
I have not read the book, but would like to and have heard a bunch of good things.
I think animals are in my conciousness because of the agricultural setting i was raised in, and because my father was trained as a veterinarian and my folks teach vet students. I was read stephen Jay gould from the cradle and i just plain love animals. except spiders, who i understand are crucial to the ecosystem but freak me out.

Andrew wrote: "Hello Josh,
I am a huge fan of your music and have loved seeing you live (We would love you back in Des Moines, IA!), but I wanted to talk to you about Bright's Passage.

I have always been so int..."

I was intrigued with the hubris of the time leading up to WWI. one instant we had the world figured out, the next we were shoveling eachother under the earth's lid. it was dazzlingly horrible and fascinating to read about.

Hannah wrote: "Hi Josh,
I have been a fan since Hello Starling, and have sort of been able to track your sound[s] by listening to each new album as it's released since then. In a lot of ways, So Runs the World Aw..."

i've never really believed in honesty in art. i've actually never really believed much in honesty at all. we all tell the stories to each other that we want to tell, and when we make art, the only feeling we go for is satisfaction. some might call satisfaction honesty, but I don't. I write until i feel the least annoyed with myself. then I put the pen down and fell satisfied.

but i love orchestration! it's so fun! i'm sure i'll go back that direction sometime, but i don't know when it will be. never knowing is so exciting.

Angela wrote: "Hi Josh,

Thanks for the opportunity to pick your brain, and many thanks for the amazing music you continue to create and share with the world. I just saw your SoulPancake interview and would like ..."

hiya!
i would love to go to Teddhy Roosevelt's South Dakota, circa 1895. what a time to be alive that must have been. almost as exciting as our own time!

Paige wrote: "Dear Josh,
Will you marry me?

-Paige"

i'm not allowed!

Margaret wrote: "Hi Josh,
My daughter Faith and I were so happy to meet you in Albany NY! We were so happy we forgot to ask you this question! We've wondered about the curse...does the mummy transfer his curse t..."

i like to be vague on occasion....
"hoo ha ha ha," he laughed, creepily.

Arty wrote: "Dear Josh,
i get all my inspiration for my songs from you and i was wondering who is your inspiration? And i would just like to say i really love right moves and rumors, there easily my favorite so..."

well thank you!
inspiration for me seems to rest in the recombinant bent of my mind. i usually benefit from days full of lots of activity, only squeezing in a bit of playing here and there. I read alot, listen to books on tape and music, run, and am lucky enough to hang out with friends and bandmembers who are really interesting folks. cool ideas go into my head and get all mixed around in there, and what comes out is a wild combination of all those things mixed with ambition to do something new and exciting that i haven't done before.

but busy, busy, busy, that is how i think our lives should be as writers of any kind.

Kory wrote: "Hello there Josh,
Having also grown up in rural Moscow, I have a question: Would you consider the remoteness of the Viola area to be influential in shaping the direction of your creativity, particu..."

growing up so far from town, with two tv channels and (still) the slowest internet speed in the nation gave me this most important gift. I learned how to entertain myself for long periods with few props. I threw rocks at trees, rocks at other rocks, rocks at anything. i became a good rock thrower. i lived in the woods. I didn't see a lot of people outside of my family and my friends across the mountain. i read and read.

when the guitar came along, songwriting, with its solitary nature and teenage awkwardness, really appealed to me. it still does. i have Moscow and Viola, Idaho to thank for that.

John Paul wrote: "Hi Josh, been a fan since The Animal Years released! I was 16. Thank you for working so hard at your craft brother.
I've been writing songs since I was young and I'm currently sorting through a fe..."

John Paul!
the most important thing i've found is that songs are just songs. to us, while we're working on them, they mean the world, but in the end, as Tom Waits has said, "songs are just fun things to do with the air."

All original works of art are brand new to the world. as such, they cannot be judged against any other original work. the only one who knows when the work is done is you. so you do walk a line while trying to decide if the song is done, but remember the song is just a song. get it as good as you can, record it and move on to the next one!

Chris wrote: "Hi Josh,
I was very lucky to see in the UK a few years ago with the wonderful Joan Baez. How much influence does performing with such artists have on your music and songwriting and when will we see..."

Joan is an amazing artist and human being. She's just a badass. she taught me how to swear, drink, and tour. i love her. like the best influences, joan has taught me about how to make a LIFE in music, not just how to make a living. more and more as time goes by the greats shine out as people who have made a choice to live a good life, not being victims of a life in absentia or as caricatures of the tortured artist. I feel similarly about John Prine and Bruce Springsteen.

Sophie wrote: "Hi Josh,
Just want to start by saying I love the new album. :)
I am wondering whether "New Lover" is a follow up song to "Rattling Locks"?
There seem to be connections in the lyrics from one song ..."

there certainly, in hindsight, strong connections between the two songs, and rattling locks is certainly a rager of a cathartic song to play live. i didn't write them as cousins, but it turned out they were. that's an amazing thing about writing. in the moment you never know the deeper elements of what you're writing down. only later do those kinds of craggy bits jump out for what they are.

Joey wrote: "Josh,
There seem to be 10 careers I could spend my life in and sincerely enjoy, including as a singer/songwriter (my current pursuit), writer, politician, professor, and an author. I feel you migh..."

cool question!
i don't really see any of the stuff i do as a career. i picture the words inside me as water and songwriting, and novel writing as buckets to hold the water. they're forms capable of holding the love. Without them, I wouldn't be a happy person. I just love doing what i do, and its never seemed like a job.

Brendan wrote: "Question for Josh:

How have you found writing songs and stories to be different? What was the single most challenging aspect of writing Bright's Passage?"

the single greatest difference between prose and lyrics is length. concision still rules as the most important virtue of writing for me. I want to know clearly, what is happening, and who it is happening to. i want the story, even at its most ornate , to be clearly communicated. i love songwriting for the concision, and great novels value it as well.

Hi all!
first off, let me say how happy and honored i am to be here!
Also, please forgive my typos and grammar trangressions, as i am going fast to get in as many answers as i can!
rock on!
and thank you Margo!
josh