Josh Ritter on Songwriting, Mentorship, and the Creative Life

Josh Ritter has built a twenty-year career writing songs that collapse the distance between folk tradition, literature, and revelation. He joins Rhett from his home in Brooklyn where he’s doing what he calls “rehaunting” his world — the intentional process of reintroducing strangeness and synchronicity after a long stretch on the road.

Ritter and Rhett also get into the interior work — imposter syndrome, comparison as the thief of joy, and why gratitude isn’t soft wisdom but a practical creative strategy. Plus: the Pete Seeger postcard that arrived a year after Ritter mailed a cassette from high school, and what it finally meant when he was old enough to understand it.

Josh will be joining Rhett at his Songwriting Is Magic retreat in September. Learn more here. Follow Josh @joshritter | Follow Rhett @rhettmiller 

Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube and Spotify, and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. 

Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. New episodes of Wheels Off drop bi-weekly. Subscribe wherever you listen. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review.

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