“…combines erudition with abundant wit...”—New York Times

Josh Ritter is currently on tour in support of his highly praised 2007 release, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter (Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Victor). Named by Entertainment Weekly as one of “The 10 Most Exciting Artists Now,” Ritter continues to receive critical acclaim for this, his fourth full-length album. Of the new release, the Washington Post describes it as his “…most freewheeling and satisfying record to date…” while Amazon declares it “…the best album of 2007, hands down, by the most under-accorded American musical genius.”

Highlighting the current tour, Boston Pops and Bowery Presents will offer “An Evening with Josh Ritter and Orchestra” on June 27 at Symphony Hall. The event will feature Ritter and the Boston Pops Orchestra as well as former United States Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, who will present a special reading. Additionally, a new EP, Live at the 9:30 Club, is now available on Sony BMG Music Entertainment/Victor. Originally broadcast by NPR’s All Songs Considered, the 8-song disc features recordings from Ritter’s sold-out D.C. concert in October 2007. The limited edition EP is available exclusively at select independent record stores nationwide.

Historical Conquests follows the success of the critically acclaimed The Animal Years (2006), which The Boston Globe describes as his “most intensely political, deeply personal, and darkly ambitious disc yet...” Paste Magazine named him one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters,” and author Stephen King named The Animal Years his #1 album of 2006 stating, “this is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

For Historical Conquests, Ritter altered his approach to the recording process in an effort to make a more spontaneous album. Ritter expounds, “A lot of this record is an effort to capture moments when they were at their most passionate; to capture many different emotions that simply wouldn’t work if we had ever tried to re-record them.” He goes on to say, “The vocal take on ‘To the Dogs;’ the feel of ‘Wait for Love;’ the guitar of ‘Mind’s Eye’—there are a lot of different feelings here, but what ties them together for me is how raw they were captured and how we maintained that rawness throughout the production.”

Recorded in the winter of 2007 during breaks from being on the road, The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter was produced by keyboardist and longtime collaborator Sam Kassirer in Maine at The Great North Sound Society. The album’s 14 songs were written by Ritter (vocals and guitar) and feature Kassirer (electric and acoustic pianos, organs, guitar, vibraphone, and percussion), Zack Hickman (double bass, electric bass, acoustic and electric), Liam Hurley (drums and percussion) and The Great North Sound Society Orchestra.

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For more information, please contact
Mary Moyer, Asha Goodman or Carla Sacks at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000.