{"id":54834,"date":"2026-01-03T18:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/josh-ritter-finds-his-muse-honeydew-on-new-album\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T18:45:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T18:45:01","slug":"josh-ritter-finds-his-muse-honeydew-on-new-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/03\/josh-ritter-finds-his-muse-honeydew-on-new-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Josh Ritter Finds His Muse &#8216;Honeydew&#8217; on New Album"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tFew artists spend more time putting the world around them into words than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/t\/josh-ritter\/\" id=\"auto-tag_josh-ritter\" data-tag=\"josh-ritter\">Josh Ritter<\/a>. As a musician, he has released 13 studio albums and seven more EPs since 2000. As an author, he has published two novels. As a modern blogger, he is tenacious in regularly updating <a href=\"https:\/\/joshritter.substack.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Ritter\u2019s Book of Jubilations<\/a>, his dedicated Substack.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIt should feel pretty standard, then, that Ritter has a metaphor on hand when he needs to describe the idea of touring after an album release.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cMy uncle worked with the forest service,\u201d he says, \u201cand they would drop fish into upper-mountain lakes. They would seed those lakes with all these trout and stuff. They would fly over and just drop \u2019em in. That\u2019s how it feels when you\u2019re playing shows with new songs for the first time. You\u2019re releasing them out into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tOn a late November afternoon at Brooklyn Steel, a manufacturing-plant-turned-concert-venue on the outskirts of the Brooklyn neighborhood, Greenpoint, that Ritter calls home, he took a break from soundcheck ahead of his final show of 2025. Ritter had toured relentlessly for most of the year but especially after the September release of <em>I Believe in You, My Honeydew<\/em>, his third album in three years. He holed up in his dressing room, grabbed a can of beer from the fridge, and lamented the chaos that his ceaseless need to create imparts on nearly every aspect of his life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cI have to complete the circle. The circle, for me, starts with writing a ton of songs. I\u2019m always writing songs. When they get to be, like, the ones that seem to hang together, I begin to make a record. At that point, I end up putting so much love and work into it, while not getting to play it live,\u201d Ritter says. \u201cThe show is the culmination of it all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tOnce he took the stage at Brooklyn Steel, Ritter incorporated seven of the 10 tracks on <em>I Believe in You, My Honeydew<\/em> into his 20-song set. About halfway through, he played \u201cTruth Is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding),\u201d which he says is the song that completed the circle for this record.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ editors-pick-module lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201c\u2018Truth Is a Dimension\u2019 is a song where I took note of the fact that I don\u2019t remember writing it,\u201d Ritter tells <em>Rolling Stone<\/em>. \u201cYou know that feeling of totally being enraptured in the moment with the thing you\u2019re doing? In reality, when you\u2019re creating anything, you\u2019re really not there. You\u2019re gone. That\u2019s a beautiful, beautiful feeling, but that also means you\u2019re not witnessing yourself doing something. I started to think, how much of this is me and how much of it is this muse that\u2019s all around and is my constant companion that helps me write these songs? As I began to think of the muse as this separate entity, I started to realize how much I enjoy bringing the muse into every aspect of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tRitter has more or less done this dance with the muse since he recorded and released his self-titled debut album while a student at Oberlin College in 1999. Since then, he\u2019s given his muse more material to work with. He\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uSC0lT6eqt4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">covered<\/a> by Bob Dylan, written songs for Bob Weir, collaborated with Joan Baez, shared the stage with John Prine, and had an album <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-country\/josh-ritter-jason-isbell-new-album-776665\/\">produced by Jason Isbell<\/a>. But putting himself in the company of creative minds is only part of what drives Ritter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWell-traveled and curious about the world, Ritter, raised in Moscow, Idaho, has lived in a range of places from Oberlin to Scotland to Providence before eventually settling in Brooklyn. Now 49 and with two young daughters, he sees his own creativity as both a connection to and escape from the life he has created.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWhen Ritter figured that out, he gave his muse a name \u2014 \u201cmy honeydew\u201d \u2014 and started writing songs for his inspiration, rather than the other way around. That\u2019s also the best way to understand the depth of the characters, storytelling, and battles with internal demons on <em>I Believe In You, My Honeydew<\/em>. Along with the Royal City Band, he tied those threads together in a studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, in summer 2024.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Josh Ritter - Wild Ways (Official Lyric Video)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aEriVc-4G5w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cI\u2019m going through all the things that all of us are in this country right now,\u201d he says. \u201cAll these enormous feelings and uncertainties. In inviting the muse in to experience that, I\u2019m inviting it to be witnessed. It helps me to make sense of my own life and make sense of my own feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tIf there\u2019s one hang-up to such a philosophy, however, it\u2019s that it doesn\u2019t leave Ritter much room to consider his own place in music, or the force he has become over three decades on the lives of other artists. He\u2019s quick to reminisce about Baez mentoring him on his first European tour and buying him a suit in Rome, but he\u2019s less apt to see his own style \u2014 as much poet as musician \u2014 as having the same impact on the generations of folk artists who came after him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s very fascinating to me that we think of the last 120 years of music as being forever,\u201d he says. \u201cBut there was a time, a blink of an eye ago, when music wasn\u2019t in this commercialized form. Songs just went out in the world as songs and broadsheets and were sung around fires when no one really knew the words. While I do feel this great amazement and honor to have learned so much from all these people, I also feel like we\u2019re all basically on the same journey together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tOn the opposite side of his dressing room door, a modern-day cavalcade of family, friends, bandmates, and crew members waited to see Ritter. When he opened the door, he greeted them with a smile and a few hugs and headed down the hall. This is what show days are like for him, particularly in New York, and the Brooklyn Steel date illustrated just how much of those influences Ritter blends together. There were times he evoked Dylan or Prine, in his sparkling three-piece suit, and there were other moments \u2014\u00a0like reading a series of audience messages while the band played behind him \u2014 that nobody could imagine coming from anyone but Ritter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\tWhen he hits the road in 2026, he\u2019ll be doing it solo, on an extended tour of theaters and larger listening rooms that starts in January in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and ends in May at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. In the same spirit that turned his latest record into a love letter to the muse, Ritter is viewing this solo run as an appreciation of the actual venues he\u2019ll be playing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cI want the same thing for everybody that I have,\u201d Ritter says. \u201cI feel that I\u2019ve been protected, for some reason, from having to make bad decisions with my music or make sacrifices, and I just feel so grateful. I don\u2019t know that I will need things to be bigger, I just want to keep on doing things that are really fun. I love having fun, and I\u2019ve heard that the best room you can ever play is 800 seats \u2014 standing in the front, bar at the back. I think that is probably the case.<\/p>\n<section class=\"brands-most-popular \/\/ recirculation-modules trending-in-article lrv-u-margin-tb-2 lrv-u-border-a-2 u-box-shadow-5-5 lrv-u-padding-lr-1 a-span1 u-padding-b-1@tablet u-overflow-hidden\">\n<h2 id=\"section-heading\" class=\"c-heading larva  lrv-u-text-align-center u-border-color-black a-font-theme-primary-xxs lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-text-transform-uppercase u-letter-spacing-0063 lrv-u-padding-t-050 u-padding-b-0375@tablet lrv-u-padding-b-050@mobile-max lrv-u-border-b-2\">\n<p>\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t\u201cYou can always have too much, but just enough keeps you working hard and doing what you love. Past that, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s useful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-line-height-copy  lrv-a-font-body-l   \">\n\t<em>Josh Crutchmer is a journalist and author whose book <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/backloungepublishing.com\/almostalmostfamous\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><em>(Almost) Almost Famous<\/em><\/a><em> will be released April 1 via Back Lounge Publishing.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-features\/josh-ritter-honeydew-album-1235493828\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Few artists spend more time putting the world around them into words than Josh Ritter. As a musician, he has released 13 studio albums&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":54835,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop","article","has-excerpt","has-avatar","has-author","has-date","has-comment-count","has-category-meta","has-read-more","thumbnail-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}