Josh Ritter - Kathleen
I’ve known about Josh in some capacity since he was a student at the Oberlin College Conservatory, having ditched his neuroscience degree for a major in folk music, much to his parent’s delight.
Ten years later, and he is a superstar, or as much of one as you can be in the folk world, having landed the covers of Paste and No Depression and several NPR studio sessions (the holy grail of singer-songwriterdom!), and winning the equivalent of an Irish grammy. Like The Frames, he is huge in Ireland and little known elsewhere, but I think he’s kind of magic.
Josh has made four records, and this is my favorite song off his second, Hello Starling. I think that “All the other girls here are stars/You are the Northern Lights” is probably the best compliment you could ever pay a girl. That, and writing her a great song full of wurlizers and fireflies and gravel on a dirt road.
Yeah, I went there.
