Josh Ritter - Toronto 2005 (Internet Archive)

Internet Archive Replacement - This is Josh Ritter live at The Rivoli, Toronto, Ontario, Canada back on January 29th, 2005. This is a solo set recorded to a high standard and a must for any fans of his music and a great acoustic introduction for others. Josh Ritter was born in Moscow, Idaho in 1976. As a teenager, after hearing Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan’s “Girl from the North Country” on his parents' copy of Nashville Skyline, he attempted to write songs on a lute that his father had built, before abandoning the lute and buying his first guitar at K-Mart.

Josh Ritter attended Oberlin College to study neuroscience, but later changed his major to the self-created "American History Through Narrative Folk Music". At the age of 21 Josh recorded his first album Josh Ritter at a recording studio on campus. After graduating, Josh moved to Scotland to attend the School of Scottish Folk Studies for six months. Josh then moved back to Idaho for a few months, before moving to Providence, Rhode Island, then Somerville, Massachusetts where he worked temporary jobs and played at open mic nights. During this time, Ritter sold copies of his album and was spotted by Glen Hansard and his band The Frames, who invited him to return with them to Ireland. As an early sign of his success to come, Ritter found on the trip to Ireland that his album sold particularly well at open mics there. With the money from merchandise sales, Ritter was eventually able to quit his day job and devote himself to music full-time.

A year and a half after recording Josh Ritter, Ritter recorded his second album Golden Age of Radio for $1000 and self-published it. The album was recorded in three different studios: Soundgun in Philadelphia, Electric Cave in New Hampshire, and a friend's basement studio. While promoting Golden Age of Radio, he met Jim Olsen, head of independent record label Signature Sounds, who offered to remaster and re-release the album after hearing Ritter play. The song "Me & Jiggs" was subsequently released as a single in Ireland, where Ritter was quickly becoming a word-of-mouth success, first opening for The Frames, then headlining his own shows. Ritter's third record, Hello Starling, produced by former Frames guitarist Dave Odlum, debuted at #2 on the Irish charts. Ritter, left, in concert with long time bassist Zack Hickman

In 2003, Ritter shared top billing with the French Kicks at Sepomana, the annual music festival produced by WRMC 91.1 FM. Ritter and Ron Sexsmith headlined the Friday night singer-songwriter event at the Hotel Viking at the 2004 Newport Folk Festival. He also appeared at Oxegen 2005, and has headlined with artists such as Joan Baez, who later released her own version of Ritter's song "Wings" on her album Dark Chords on a Big Guitar. He was signed by a British label, V2 Records, in 2005 and Hello Starling was subsequently re-released. He began performing and touring in a crossover duo with the classical violinist Hilary Hahn in 2005.

Source: Soundboard ( + KM184 > V2 > emagic A62 > laptop (Kristal 4x16/44.1) Lineage: Cool Edit Pro 2.1 (Waves C4/32 bit mixdown) > Waves L2(dither).

Sound Quality: Very good stereo mp3@192kbps (variable).

Genre: Americana, Folk, Alternative Country, Rock.

Set: Full Set.

Set List:

1. Intro
2. California*
3. Bright Smile
4. Me And Jiggs
5. Girl In The War
6. Man Burning
7. Harrisburg
8. Wings
9. You Don't Make It Easy Babe
10. In The Dark
11. Kathleen
12. Lillian
13. Something
14. Bone Of Song
15. Murder On My Mind
16. Golden Age Of Radio**
17. Snow Is Gone
18. Chelsea Hotel No.2
19. Mercury***
20. Stuck To You

*unplugged
**string breaks
***w/Kathleen Edwards

Website: Official HERE.

Internet Archive Stream - downloads available (here).