Josh Ritter

New-school singer-songwriter Josh Ritter has long traveled with the spirits of Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and the Waterboys’ Mike Scott at his side, an inspirational gang that helps shape the wit, gusto and flow of tracks like the shy-guy anthem “Kathleen” and the romantic rocker “Right Moves.” Yet, from his days of homegrown recording and shoestring touring, Ritter has proven over and over that he’s his own artist — one who recently weathered a period of intense reevaluation and renewal. The result of that personal and musical rebirth, embodied in richly melodic and meaningful tunes like “Change of Time” and “The Curse,” reveals Ritter as an artist for whom nothing but constant evolution will do. Josh Ritter keeps singing, in Next Steps.

It’s easy to imagine a rollicking tale teller like “Me & Jiggs” getting the sing-along treatment in a lusty Dublin pub — which is pretty much what happened when Josh Ritter toured Ireland and wound up a bona fide Irish star. But if Ritter’s stardom has taken a more methodical path here in the States, the Idaho-born troubadour has forged an ever-increasing fan base, won on the strength of tracks like “Lark” — a fresh-pop magic carpet woven with a tongue-twisting tapestry of lyrical virtuosity —— and a live presence that shines through on recordings like the trad-acoustic smile in a song, “Daddy’s Little Pumpkin.”

“I’m not afraid of the dark,” sings Josh Ritter on the defiantly hopeful “Long Shadows,” and if Ritter has proven anything over the course of his career, it’s that he’s up for the challenge of true artistry. Born in Idaho and bred in the folk clubs of Boston, Ritter embraced a DIY ethic that left him free to worship the heroes of his trade, yet determined to shape his own sound. So while a bittersweet “You Don’t Make It Easy Babe” rings with Dylanesque homage, a boisterously popped-up “Rumors,” rings crisp and completely fresh. If you’re new to his music, our Josh Ritter Essentials offers his best, from the fine-and-folky “Good Man,” to the rowdy rumble of “To the Dogs or Whoever.” Already a fan? Here’s an easy-playing hit list encompassing the spare beauty of his debut title track “Golden Age of Radio,” and the haunting atmospherics of “Monster Ballads.”