Songwriter Josh Ritter discusses his latest album, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, released in September 2025, framing it as a tribute to his creative inspiration. In a Rolling Stone interview ahead of his final 2025 show at Brooklyn Steel, Ritter explores the muse's role in his prolific output. He plans a solo tour in 2026 to connect intimately with audiences.
Josh Ritter, a prolific musician and author with 13 studio albums since his 1999 self-titled debut recorded at Oberlin College, released his third album in three years, I Believe in You, My Honeydew, in September 2025. The record, produced with the Royal City Band in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, during summer 2024, centers on Ritter's concept of the muse as a constant companion named 'my honeydew.' He describes writing songs for this inspiration rather than from it, weaving themes of creativity, personal uncertainties, and storytelling.
In a late November 2025 interview at Brooklyn Steel in Greenpoint, Brooklyn—where he resides with his wife and two young daughters—Ritter compared touring new material to seeding mountain lakes with trout. 'That’s how it feels when you’re playing shows with new songs for the first time. You’re releasing them out into the world,' he said. During soundcheck for his final 2025 performance, he lamented the chaos of his creative process but emphasized completing the 'circle' through live shows. 'The show is the culmination of it all,' Ritter noted.
At the concert, Ritter performed seven of the album's 10 tracks in a 20-song set, highlighting 'Truth Is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding),' a song he doesn't recall writing. This track sparked his muse philosophy: 'You know that feeling of totally being enraptured in the moment with the thing you’re doing? In reality, when you’re creating anything, you’re really not there. You’re gone.' Raised in Moscow, Idaho, and influenced by figures like Bob Dylan—who covered his work—Joan Baez, John Prine, and producer Jason Isbell, Ritter views music as a shared journey beyond commercialization.
Looking ahead, Ritter announced a 2026 solo tour from January in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to May at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, favoring intimate venues. 'I’ve heard that the best room you can ever play is 800 seats—standing in the front, bar at the back,' he shared, expressing gratitude for a career free of major sacrifices. 'Just enough keeps you working hard and doing what you love.'
