Josh Ritter – The Animal Years

Josh Ritter – The Animal Years

I seem to have been having a very difficult time putting my feelings about Josh Ritter’s The Animal Years into words. My main problem has been this…how many ways are there to say that someone is a gifted, intelligent and unique song writer?

I’ve been trying for the past few weeks to do The Animal Years justice with words and just feeling as if I were failing at it miserably. I really believe that it is one of those little gems that you could so easily miss if you weren’t paying attention. So…I guess I have to beg your pardon and ask you to try and trust me when I say that The Animal Years is a spectacular album and that it is most deserving of a listen.


In my efforts to say ANYTHING about this album, I even tried to compare The Animal Years to other artists, which is something that I’m loath to ever do. Even then, all I was able to come up with was this…

Picture a young Springsteen who’s infatuated with the work of Dylan and who effortlessly backs out the Rock aura and eases into more of an Indie atmosphere.

Let me just say, writing about music has let me hear things that I may never have heard otherwise...and this is one of the best of them.

You can purchase The Animal Years @