Saturday, May 8, 2010

Josh Ritter and The Royal City Band


I saw Josh Ritter in Philly last night! It’s the second time I’ve seen him live and he’s just as fantastic as he was when I saw him in Towson three years ago. He’s married now, and his wife Dawn Landes and her band opened for Josh and his band (now called The Royal City Band). I think married musician couples are kind of adorable, especially when they don’t make a big deal about it. Someone from the audience yelled “Mrs. Ritter!” during Dawn’s act – she just laughed and said, “Except my name is Dawn Landes. But his mom is Mrs. Ritter!” Apart from that, we’d have had no idea they were married to each other. (But we would have known they were married to someone, because each of them played with their wedding rings on, which I liked.)


Watch Dawn and Josh sing together in their apartment!


Apart from his really beautiful lyrics, and really beautiful songs, I love watching Josh Ritter perform because he smiles almost the whole time. If his mouth isn’t moving to sing, he has a grin on his face. And sometimes even when he is singing, he’s grinning right through it. It’s just really nice, I guess, to watch someone do something they clearly find so much joy in – and such infectious joy! Performers who are arrogant or cynical may be great artists, but I don’t think they ever really communicate to their audience in the same way as artists who just plain old love what they are doing.


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