-Oh, God. What the hell?
-Hey, partner.
Looks like you found yourself in a spot of trouble.
I think I got something here that can help you out.
[ Case thunks ]
-Hi.
I'm singer-songwriter Josh Ritter.
Looks like your van has some problems.
Looks like it could use a little...
soul.
[ Eerie music plays ]
-Take a sip from your soul
On a metaphysical milkshake
-SoulPancake Universe, I'm here
with one of my favorite singer-songwriters of all time,
Mr. Josh Ritter.
Welcome. -Hey, man.
-Let's do elbows. It's cold-and-flu season.
This van has very special properties
and... -I've heard.
-...right now we're sitting in a parking lot
in Los Angeles, California,
but you can go anywhere you want to go.
Where do you want to go? -South Dakota.
-You had an album out about two or three years ago, right?
-Yes, I did. -"So Runs The World Away."
-Yeah. -And then, you wrote a novel.
-Yeah. -And then, you had
a heart-achingly difficult divorce.
-Mm-hmm.
-And then, you found love?
-I did. -And you made a baby?
-Yeah. It feels like Broadway.
-And you made another album.
-Yeah, yeah, it's been busy.
It's been really -- but in the best way.
-Tell me about your baby. Who is this? It's a human baby?
-Yeah, a human baby named Beatrix Wendylove Ritter.
-Beatrix Wendylove Ritter?
-Yeah, yeah. -Fantastic.
What's the difference between humans and animals?
-Humans can be confused.
-I have an epileptic pit bull...
-[ Laughs ]
-...who always looks confused. -[ Laughs ]
-And in fact, he runs into doors.
And you'll lay down his food, and he'll run into the bathroom
and just stand there looking for his food.
He's confused all the time. -Wow.
-So [imitates buzzer] wrong answer.
-Can he paint?
-I haven't tried. -You should try that.
-I haven't duct-taped a paint brush to his big paw.
-[ Laughs ] -What's it like having a baby?
-Having a baby is like -- At that moment and at that time,
it's like being on the craziest acid trip.
I felt it, in the moments beforehand,
that somebody important was coming around the corner
that I was supposed to meet.
I started to shake, and I was really shy.
-I know exactly of what you're talking about.
That birth of my son was really the most --
It was the most incredible 24-hour period
of my entire life.
It's the kind of intensity where time kind of warps.
-Yeah, it does. -Tell us about your book.
You wrote a book.
It's great. You should read it. -[ Chuckles ]
-I wanted to tell a story that was more fleshed out
than the stories that were compressed in a song.
Writing a story in a song is like kind of writing a novel
on a grain of rice.
There's a moment when you want to, like, expand
and you want to see more.
You want to go inside the world deeper
than you're able to go in a song.
-Did "Bright's Passage" start as a song?
-Yeah, it did. -So maybe the first
song-to-novel transcription. -Yeah.
-So, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, on this show, talked about
how there's no more original ideas.
There's no more original stories.
Everything is a remix.
Everything is collage.
Do you find that to be true in heart?
-You know, I think there are people
who beat their heads against the wall trying to be original.
A masterpiece is just, like --
It's ideas assimilated and done well.
I don't, like, go out for a hoagie
with thermometers in it, you know?
I eat food that, like, the Greeks ate, you know?
When I look at stuff that tries to be original,
I find something less-nourishing
than something that is done with grace
and admits that we're all living people that make mistakes.
It is important to confront that and move through it
because if you can move through that, like, very, like,
slight fire in your life, then you can do anything.
Doing anything creative is a metaphor
for just living your life.
If you run up against obstacles,
you try your best to work with those
and make them work to your advantage.
And when it works, it's a tribute
to your perseverance, not to your genius.
-And that is similar to this new album, which is --
You call it a divorce album in a way.
Tell us about "Beast in Its Tracks."
-I'm a big fan of marriage.
Whoever you are, getting married is a hopeful act.
When it didn't work out for me, it was a shock.
I felt like a failure.
It was the worst moment. And I was in Canada...
-Ohh. Ohh! -Which is a beautiful --
Canada is a beautiful place, and I tour there all the time.
Let me try that again.
[ Laughs ]
-You're gonna just -- You've pissed off
so many Canadian fans. -[ Laughs ]
-Nope, too late. It's in, Josh.
That's not getting edited out. -Cool.
When I was in Canada... -[ Laughs evilly ]
-...I started writing songs because I didn't know
what else to do, you know?
And the songs were so mean and so angry
and so full of, like, rage.
And then, I found that I had to wait.
And as time went on, those things changed,
and they became love and all these other things.
-Well, you found your new wife
during that grieving time. -Mm-hmm.
-And the album transitions from those kind of angry,
splintery songs of despair... -Yeah.
-...into kind of more hopeful
and kind of rediscovering of love --
kind of a phoenix from the ashes.
-Yeah, I feel that's what art should be.
It's like a biological change, you know?
Our anger is in ourselves, you know?
It's like silt in a riverbed that needs to just wash out,
and it's gonna take time.
You have to intend to forgive somebody
and let that be enough for the time being, you know?
If I'm proud of anything with this record,
it's that I waited and gave it time for it
to become something more than what it was in the beginning.
-SoulPancakers, we have a free download
of a new Josh Ritter song just for you.
Here's what I want you to do. Hold still.
-Oh, sorry.
-Click on Josh's head.
-Click on Josh's head, and you will be hooked up
with the link to download his song.
Lightning round! [ Imitates thunder crashing ]
What can technology never replace?
-Soup. -Define God in 10 words or less.
-Someone had to invent doughnuts.
-What's a risk you haven't had the guts to take yet?
-I haven't yet set my pants on fire on stage,
which is something I've always want to do --
just set them totally on fire.
-March 19th, SoulPancake is hosting
a Josh Ritter concert right here in L.A.
-Well, well, well. We'll have to see what happens.
-Let's do it. -All right.
-You're from Idaho.
What special perspective do you have on the world
because you're from Idaho?
-The sky is super-big.
It's so huge, and most of the time it's empty.
-Great answer.
SoulPancakers, this is your creative challenge --
Tell us where you are from.
and what is your special, unique perspective
that you have because you're from that place?
How do you see the world in that particular lens
that you gained from your geographical nexus?
Write your answer down here -- clickity, clickity, click --
down below, and Josh Ritter
and I will read every single one.
Right here, elbows. -Oh, yeah.
-Cold-and-flu season. -Cold.
The world's rad-est bongo solo. Go!
[ Mid-tempo beat plays ]
-SoulPancake
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