“I’m singing for the love of it, have mercy on the man who sings to be adored.” This line from Josh Ritter’s song, “Snow is Gone,” seems to sum up who he is as an artist. In the twenty years I’ve been going to Josh’s shows, I have never once seen him be anything less than jubilant on stage. He loves it, he is grateful for his audience, and he is unabashed in his joy. He brought the latest iteration of The Royal City Band to The Carolina Theatre in Durham last week, with mainstays Sam Kassirer (piano), Zack Hickman (bass), and Ray Rizzo (drums) joined by Jocie Adams (clarinet) and Matt Douglas (saxophone, lead guitar). I loved the songs from his new record, Spectral Lines, and it was beautiful to hear classics reimagined with the horn section. Or, woodwinds section? I don’t know.

Amythyst Kiah opened the show and immediately had the audience hooked. She opened with “Black Myself,” a song first recorded with Our Native Daughters, the insane supergroup with Allison Russell, Leyla McCalla, and Rhiannon Giddens. Amythyst is an incredibly powerful vocalist and great songwriter. I especially loved “Wild Turkey” and “Hangover Blues.” 

One of the things that Josh Ritter does best is vary his show from small and quiet moments to big, bombastic numbers featuring the full range of qualities in his band. He had people dancing in the aisles with classic songs like “Right Moves” and “Wolves.” He also knows how to perform: at one point during “Wolves,” he got down on his knees, cupping his hands so the microphone could pick up his vocal, seeming to howl at the moon.

But it is often the quieter moments that reveal his true genius as a songwriter and allow access to the vulnerability of his lyrics. The absolute highlight of the show for me was his duet with Jocie Adams on “Losing Battles” from his 2019 album The Fever Breaks. On the record, it is an electrified romp with The 400 Unit backing Josh in the studio. On this version, Jocie played clarinet and sang a beautiful harmony with Josh singing and playing guitar. The song came across as far more reflective and searching than on the album; it was something that I just hadn’t really heard before and I was so happy for this stripped down version. 

Other moments included duets with Zack and Sam. Zack and Josh performed “Strangers,” from Gathering. Josh asked for the lights to make it seem like they were in the desert, and a sepia tone overtook the stage. Zack and Josh have been singing together for so long that their harmonies are effortless and you can really see the joy that they have in playing together. Sam and Josh teamed up for “The Curse,” the first encore. The Curse is from So Runs The World Away and tells the story of a mummy who comes back to life. It feels less common today to hear songs that could be a novel or a movie, but we know that Josh has always been able to create a narrative and put his audience right in the middle of it. I feel like each time I hear this song there’s something new to consider, the way films you’ve seen before catch you by surprise with some unnoticed detail. This time, it was the way Josh emphasized the line “She asks “Are you cursed?” but his answer’s obscured / In a sandstorm of flashbulbs and rowdy reporters.” I don’t think I’d ever really noticed, “sandstorm,” before–what a perfect word for the content of the song and description of paparazzi. 

One of the interesting things about having Matt Douglas play both saxophone and guitar is that most of the songs, probably ⅔ of them, didn’t have a lead guitar part. That’s a pretty big departure for Josh’s sound. I have to say, I really loved it. It helps that Matt is just an incredible musician and his saxophone playing is always subtle and enriching. But it not only added emotional resonance, it let the lyrics shine through. Josh has a t-shirt that describes his music as “Rock and Roll With Lots and Lots of Words,” and this band arrangement made space for all those words. 

One of the sweetest parts of the show was that Josh asked on his website a few weeks before the tour started for fans to write dedications to each other. These were not song requests, because it was about dedicating our time and our commitment and our love for each other. About halfway through the show, Josh took a hat with printed dedications in it. While the band played “Sawgrass,” behind him, Josh pulled dedications from the hat to read aloud. They were from family members, friends, couples, all sharing their love for each other and their love for music in this beautiful theater and it felt like it brought us all a little closer. 

There was the dedication from one friend to another apologizing for their drifting apart, but joyful for their coming back together. There was the dedication from a husband to his wife, Erin, grateful for her recent double lung transplant. There was the dedication from father to son, only 8 years old, but with great taste in music. What a beautiful way to appreciate the fact that we can be in concert halls and theaters together again. What a beautiful way to honor the way that music opens us up to deeper relationships. What a beautiful way for audience members to feel connected to something bigger than our own individual experience. 

If you get the chance to catch Josh on this tour, I cannot recommend it enough. The songs from Spectral Lines are even better live, and have that urgent feeling of an artist sharing his work to an audience eager to listen. The band is outstanding and Josh, as ever, creates a space of joy, gratitude, and fulfillment. What more can you ask for? 

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