File this under reasons I love this city. Last night, my favorite singer and new author, Josh Ritter, had a book reading and signing at Politics & Prose. He discussed how he approached writing his novel, Bright's Passage, and how writing the novel was similar to and different from writing songs. Talking about how his writing method, he said he determines the rhythm and meter of a song and builds the lyrics and rhyme to fit. Similarly, he said determining the arc of the story helped him keep his ideas organized when approaching his novel. He recalled a quote by Tom Waits: "Gathering all this material together was like rounding up chickens at the beach." And then noted that he would have to keep his chickens in the car.
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| photo by Politics & Prose |
Having an angel be a major character in the book made him realize how often angels show up in his songs. He played Folk Bloodbath and Galahad as examples.
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| photo by Politics & Prose |
He was just as joyful talking about and reading from his novel and answering the audience's questions as he is when he's playing...which is pretty damn joyful. If you've never seen him live, see Exhibit A, below, to get an idea of what I'm talking about. Then go to his website, see when he's playing near you, and buy tickets. Stat.
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| Vic Theatre, Chicago, May 15, 2010 (yes, I was there) photo by eight one seven photography |
If you've never heard his music, please take a listen. This is a video from his NPR Tiny Desk Concert. The first song of his set, The Temptation of Adam, is a sweet, romantic song about strangers finding love in a missile silo during a nuclear war. It is one of my favorite songs of his, and favorite songs, period. To read more about this song, read this fantastic interview Josh did with Independent Weekly back in 2007. He also plays Lark, Rattling Locks and Kathleen during the NPR set.
You're welcome.
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