One Song for You from The Nicest Musician I’ve Ever Interviewed

“Tell me about you, what kind of music are you playing these days?”

I’d conducted hundreds of interviews with musicians at this point, but not many had feigned interest, let alone demonstrated actual curiosity, in me.

Most had been friendly, generous with their time, and engaging, but I didn’t realize just how much distance there had been between us until Josh Ritter stepped right through it to have a conversation with me as a fellow musician. The extreme gap in accomplishment and recognition was quickly erased by his gesture to connect as humans.

Years later when I told him backstage at the Newport Folk Festival that this moment had been meaningful to me, I got to see that it wasn’t an act—he engaged with me again, and I got the sense that he just likes people and really, really likes music.

A prolific & multi-faceted songwriter, Josh has a new album out called I Believe In You, My Honeydew that is full of consistently excellent songwriting. It also has some added bounce I’m attributing to the way it was recorded—namely, that the band had only a short time between hearing the songs and recording them in an attempt to capture more spontaneity.

I’d like to share with you one of my favorite songs from the album, a song called “The Throne.”

One of the themes in Josh’s writing that has long resonated with me personally is something I’ll describe as “wrestling with post-organized-religion fallout to embrace a humanistic vision of living with awe & wonder & joy & acceptance.”

I hear this in all-time Josh Ritter songs like “Girl in the War,” “Thin Blue Flame,” “Theophany,” and more. I felt it in the live YouTube performances he put on from his Brooklyn apartment in the first months of COVID lockdowns. And Kelly & I experienced it at our first post-lockdown live show seeing Josh at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church in Brooklyn.

“The Throne” is an anti-gatekeeping paean where Josh sings an inclusive song to a world that currently seems hyperfocused on division, encouraging each of us to embrace who we are, and to find personal triumph in that acceptance. So, if it’s been a tough week, or month, or year, or if it’s just tough sometimes, you’re not alone, and we can listen to this song together:

Do you have a different album you love this year? Tell me about it! jed@kindandfunny.com.