So Runs the World Away

by Josh Ritter

Overview

So Runs the World Away, the fifth studio album from bookish, Idaho-born troubadour Josh Ritter, unfolds like a Flannery O'Connor, Jim Jarmusch, and Mark Twain road trip. Equally steeped in Southern and Midwest Gothic Americana, the son of a pair of neuroscientists has crafted his most unique collection of songs to date, borrowing characters from mythology, literature, and world history and letting them run wild in the increasingly adventurous, neo-traditional folk style that his become his forte over the last decade. The elegiac, slow-burn opener "Change of Time" sets the stage, lamenting "battered hulls and broken hardships/leviathan and lonely" before visiting a 1000-year-old Egyptian pharaoh on the deck of a steamship on his way to New York in "Curses." The voyage continues by train on "Southern Pacifica," descends into bluesy, Tom Waits-ian solipsism on "Rattling Locks," and culminates in So Runs the World Away's brilliant mid-album centerpiece, "Folk Bloodbath," which pits some of the murder ballad's biggest names (Louis Collins, Delia, and Stagger Lee) against each other with predictable results. Standout cuts in the second half include the verdant, bouncy "Lark," the stoic, John Jacob Niles-inspired "See How Man Was Made," and the spirited, quasi-spiritual/science rocker "Orbital," resulting in a typically fine batch of new folk standards and a high-water mark for an artist already used to paddling around on oceans too deep and vast for modern cartography. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	12/15/2023
Label:	Pytheas Recordings
UPC:	0747989359841
Rank:	64441

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Josh Ritter   Primary Artist,Violin,Vocals,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (Nylon String)
Sam Kassirer   Organ,Piano,Sampling,Mellotron,Wurlitzer,Percussion,Vibraphone,Synthesizer,Farfisa Organ,Fender Rhodes
Austin Nevins   Banjo,E-Bow,Percussion,Glockenspiel,Baritone Ukulele,Lap Steel Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Baritone),Guitar (Electric)
Allie Moss   Vocals
Jesse Neuman   Trumpet,Electronics
Rob Jost   French Horn
Ron Jost   French Horn
Zack Hickman   Organ,Euphonium,Omnichord,Percussion,Vibraphone,Bass (Upright),Bass (Electric),Clarinet (Bass),Hi String Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Dawn Landes   Vocals
Liam Hurley   Drums,Percussion
Tony Barba   Flute,Sax (Tenor)

Technical Credits

Jeff Lipton   Mastering
Sam Kassirer   Engineer,Producer,Photography
Austin Nevins   Engineer
Brandon Eggleston   Mixing,Engineer
Matthew Fleming   Design,Artwork
Callista Wilson   Stylist
Dan Cardinal   Engineer
Traditional   Composer
Josh Ritter   Composer
Jim Smith   Engineer
Mississippi John Hurt   Composer