Sermon on the Rocks


Sermon on the Rocks is the eighth full-length studio album, by singer/songwriter Josh Ritter. It was released October 16, 2015 on Pytheas Recordings.
Ritter described the record as "messianic oracular honky-tonk."

Background

American singer-songwriter Josh Ritter released his sixth full-length studio album, The Beast in Its Tracks, on March 5, 2013, via Pytheas Recordings. The album, inspired by Ritter's 2011 divorce from fellow musician Dawn Landes, intentionally ended on a hopeful note, as Ritter told Boston, "I do believe that in all my records, I've never ended it on a 'down' note. I just don't believe in it. I want to leave a little fire to carry on into the next record."

Critical reception

NPR's Stephen Thomson said the album contains "some of Ritter's slipperiest, nimblest wordplay" and Jonathan Bernstein of Rolling Stone commented that the record used "Eighties textures" and "vivid character sketches" to yield a very different result from its predecessor, The Beast in Its Tracks.

Track listing

All songs written by Josh Ritter.
  1. "Birds of the Meadow" – 3:15
  2. "Young Moses" – 4:08
  3. "Henrietta, Indiana" – 3:43
  4. "Getting Ready To Get Down" – 3:16
  5. "Seeing Me Round" – 4:58
  6. "Where the Night Goes" – 3:49
  7. "Cumberland" – 2:17
  8. "Homecoming" – 5:31
  9. "The Stone" – 3:55
  10. "A Big Enough Sky" – 2:47
  11. "Lighthouse Fire" – 3:12
  12. "My Man on a Horse " – 3:50

Personnel

Musicians

Production