Kevin Bronson on August 12th, 2013

0

When we saw Carly Ritter in May at the Satellite, the L.A.-based singer-songwriter exhibited the grace and humility of someone enjoying unexpected good fortune. She never thought she’d be doing this, she explained, which sounded as implausible as her songs sounded transcendent. Ritter is the granddaughter of country music legend Tex Ritter (and daughter of the late actor John), so would not this music – a lustrous take ’60s and ’70s folk – be in her DNA? No, it turns out. Ritter did not explore grandpa’s music, or her identity as a songwriter, until she was in college. It was upon her return that she teamed up with husband-and-wife producers Joachim Cooder and Juliette Commagere to begin work on the songs that would appear on her self-titled debut album, due Aug. 27 from Vanguard Records. Commagere’s brother, Robert Francis, plays (and duets) on the album, and Joachim’s father Ry contributes as well. The A-list players and Martin Pradler’s studio work do a marvelous job of letting the album be the singer’s, though; Ritter’s effortlessly evocative vocals recall any number of pioneering folkies of the past, whether she’s spinning a story or sermonizing about love. This one’s a long-player.

||| Stream: “Storms on the Ocean” and “It Don’t Come Easy”