On the right Tracks – On his latest album, Josh Ritter tackles a new subject—his personal life

If you asked Josh Ritter how he’s feeling nowadays, he’ll tell you he’s “super, super happy,” and he can’t stress that enough.

This wasn’t the case around three years ago for the acclaimed Idaho songwriter. On Nov. 1, 2010, Ritter’s marriage ended.

“Thinking back on it, I was mostly exhausted,” he says. “Things were so kind of miserable at the beginning of all this. I never had experience with divorce. I was really blindsided. I don’t know if I had the energy to over-think anything, and most of the time, I’m over-thinking everything. I love writing, but this was just a wallop. The wind was knocked out of my sails. I kept writing mostly just to keep me busy. It wasn’t a catharsis. It was mostly from melting my brain down.”

At first, the songs were angry.

“When I get angry, the knife gets smaller, but it gets a lot sharper,” he says. “I love a good, mean, witty song that drives the point home. What I was writing, those lyrics were much more blunt and vulgar. I didn’t care for them.”

Writing more feverishly, Ritter soon had a surplus of material. With the help of producer Sam Kessler, the duo honed in on the magic that would become Ritter’s latest album The Beast In Its Tracks.

Unlike Ritter’s previous albums, the songs have the context of his breakup. At the time of release, he even penned a letter to his fans about what had been happening. However, if this is a breakup record, it’s quite a hopeful and bright one. Those silver linings were hard to find initially, Ritter admits. However, over time, the album restored his faith.

“Most of the tracks on the album we decided were to be true and honest,” he says. “There wasn’t bitterness. After I recorded this album, I found that I believe more strongly in love and marriage.”

On Sunday, Ritter will perform at the Manship Theatre with special guests Milk Carton Kids at 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased here. It will be Ritter’s second time in Baton Rouge.

Live, he says he didn’t suspect there would be a big, emotional release.

However, he and his Royal City Band have stepped into the songs naturally. Whatever he went though, he went through. He’ll be the first to tell you he doesn’t want anyone to think he’s this different figure because he has a microphone.

“These songs aren’t a drag on my own personal energy; they feel great,” he says. “I came through that. It was something that was a big moment. I turned into a positive experience, in a way that I feel really great about it. I’m mostly proud of how everything turned out.”

In other words, he’s “super, super happy.”