Josh Ritter's FEVER BREAKS Debuts Top Five On Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums Chart

Acclaimed singer and songwriter Josh Ritter's new album, Fever Breaks, debuts at #4 on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums Chart, #5 on Independent Albums Chart, #14 on Top Current Albums Chart and appears on the Billboard 200. Produced by Grammy Award-winning musician Jason Isbell, the 10-track album was recorded at Nashville's historic RCA Studio A and features Isbell's band, the 400 Unit.

Additionally, Ritter's music video for his song "I Still Love You (Now & Then)," which longtime collaborator Jason Holley animated, premieres today-watch it here!

Ritter's extensive run of North American tour dates with The Royal City Band kicks off in
Toronto on May 8 and includes additional stops in New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, Boston,Philadelphia and more. Tickets are on sale now at joshritter.com. See below for complete tour dates.

Recorded at Nashville's RCA Studio A with additional recording and mixing at Sound Emporium, the record was engineered by Matt Ross-Spang and features contributions from Isbell (guitar and vocals) and his band the 400 Unit, which includes Derry Deborja (piano, organ and Hohner accordion), Chad Gamble (drums and percussion), Jimbo Hart (fender electric, ukulele and upright bass), Sadler Vaden (electric guitar, acoustic guitar and 12 string acoustic guitar) and Amanda Shires (violin and vocals).

Over the course of his career Ritter has released ten full-length albums including 2017'sGathering, which debuted at #4 on Billboard's Americana/Folk Albums chart and received widespread critical praise. NPR Music proclaimed, "Josh Ritter remains at the top of his game two decades into a highlight-strewn career. He'd be forgiven for loosening his grip, but his hand has never felt surer," while the HuffPost furthered, "Gathering is beautiful and precise, and most of the beauty, to be certain, arises from a prolonged, often intimate contemplation of Ritter's enormous skill set as an honest bard." In 2015 Ritter began a close collaboration with Bob Weir and went on to write or co-write many of the 12 songs on Weir's acclaimed 2016 solo album, Blue Mountain. Pitchfork called the album "quietly adventurous, wise, and a welcome late-career turn," while Entertainment Weekly described it as "a moving group of tunes worthy of any campfire."

In addition to his work as a musician, Ritter made his debut as a published author in 2011 with his New York Times best-selling novel Bright's Passage (Dial Press/Random House). Stephen King wrote in The New York Times Book Review that Bright's Passage "shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime...This is the work of a gifted novelist."

Fever Breaks is widespead critial praise:

"Throughout Fever Breaks, Josh Ritter tweaks and further reinvigorates
a sound and songwriting approach that's lost none of its vitality or urgency in 20 years.
He remains a hydrant of ideas while embodying an endless capacity for empathy and indignation, often within a single song."

"The new record, cut at Nashville's Sound Emporium studios, continues Ritter's
exploration of Americana, blending gentle country twang and potent Muscle Shoals-
influenced production with the singer-songwriter's contemplative lyrics, which range from thorny and political to refreshingly hopeful."

"There have been plenty of highlights in Ritter's nearly 20-year recording career but it's the intensity of the music and imagery that makes Fever Breaks an especially engaging outing."

Americana Album of the Month
"Exemplary. A folk-rocking country beauty."

FEVER BREAKS TRACKLIST

1. Ground Don't Want Me

2. Old Black Magic

3. On The Water

4. I Still Love You (Now and Then)

5. The Torch Committee

6. Silverblade

7. All Some Kind of Dream

8. Losing Battles

9. A New Man

10 Blazing Highway Home

JOSH RITTER & THE ROYAL CITY BAND TOUR

May 8-Toronto, ON-Danforth Music Hall*
May 9-Montreal, QC-L'Astral*
May 10-Northampton, MA-Calvin Theatre*
May 11-Boston, MA-Wilbur Theatre*
May 12-Boston, MA-Wilbur Theatre*
May 14-Philadelphia, PA-Keswick Theatre*
May 16-Pittsburgh, PA-Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall*
May 17-Washington, DC-Lincoln Theatre*
May 18-Charlottesville, VA-Jefferson Theater*
May 19-Atlanta, GA-Variety Playhouse*
May 21-Cincinnati, OH-Taft Theatre*
May 22-Chicago, IL-The Vic Theatre*
May 23-Detroit, MI-Majestic Theatre*
Jun 14-Houston, TX-The Heights Theater^
Jun 15-Austin, TX-Paramount Theatre^
Jun 16-Oklahoma City, OK-Tower Theatre^
Jun 17-Albuquerque, NM-Kimo Theater
Jun 18-Telluride, CO-Club Red
Jun 20-Boise, ID-Egyptian Theatre*
Jun 21-Spokane, WA-Knitting Factory*
Jun 22-Vancouver, BC-Vogue Theatre*
Jun 23-Seattle, WA-Moore Theatre*
Jun 25-Portland, OR-Revolution Hall*
Jun 26-Portland, OR-Revolution Hall*
Jun 27-Sisters, OR-Sisters High School
Jun 28-Oakland, CA-Fox Theater*
Jun 29-Los Angeles, CA-Theatre at Ace Hotel*
July 16-Berlin, DE-Passionskirche (solo)
July 18-Nijmegen, NL-Stevenskerk (solo)
July 19-Amsterdam, NL-Paradiso
July 22-London, UK-Union Chapel
July 24-Glasgow, UK-Oran Mor
July 25-Edinburgh, UK-Queen's Hall
July 27-Dublin IE-National Concert Hall
Aug 5-Canmore, AB-Canmore Folk Festival (solo)
Aug 16-Big Sky, MT-Moonlight Music Festival
Aug 18-Lyons, CO-Rocky Mountain Folks Festival
Aug 20-Omaha, NE-Slowdown
Aug 21-Kansas City, MO-Madrid Theatre
Aug 22-St Louis, MO-The Pageant
Aug 23-Bloomington, IL-Castle Theatre
Aug 24-Minneapolis, MN-Zoo Series
Sep 7-Chattanooga, TN-Moon River Festival
Sep 21-New York, NY-Beacon Theatre^
Sep 25-Louisville, KY-WFPK Waterfront Wednesdays^
Sep 26-Durham, NC-Carolina Theatre^
Sep 28-Nashville, TN-Ryman Auditorium

* with support from Penny and Sparrow
^ with support from Amanda Shires

BOLD-sold out

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