NEW JOSH RITTER ALBUM, MURAL AND MEET-AND-GREET CONTEST!

Josh Ritter‘s new album I Believe in You, My Honeydew is out Friday, September 12, and to celebrate we added a new mural on our building featuring lyrics from “Idaho.” The mural, designed and painted by Boise artist Ryan Hentzen, is located on the Idaho Street side of the building.

Fans can enter to win a soundcheck meet-and-greet for Josh’s next Boise concert (TBA) by taking a photo with the new album in front of the mural! Simply take the photo, post it on Instagram tagging @joshritter and @therecordexchange and you’ll be entered to win. Deadline to post is September 30. The winner will be drawn at random and notified on October 1.

Preorder/purchase I Believe in You, My Honeydew at The Record Exchange and get a free Josh Ritter patch while supplies last!

ABOUT ‘I BELIEVE IN YOU, MY HONEYDEW’:

Throughout his decades-long career, Josh Ritter has established himself as “one of the most perceptive artists making music today” (American Songwriter), releasing 12 albums to date and earning the respect of countless music legends, with artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Bob Weir having performed and recorded his songs.

With the release of I Believe in You, My Honeydew, Ritter shares 10 new tracks that further demonstrate the insightful and engaging artistry that he’s celebrated for. Produced by Sam Kassirer (Lake Street Dive, Langhorne Slim), the new album features Ritter alongside his Royal City Band: Kassirer (piano, organ, synthesizer, accordion), Zachariah Hickman (acoustic and electric bass, thumb piano, mandolin), Rich Hinman (guitars, pedal steel, mandolin) and Ray Rizzo (drums, percussion).

Of the project, Ritter shares: “I lived in the woods when I was a kid. I used to believe (and maybe I was right) that I could walk out of our front door, across the gravel road and, pointing myself north, I could walk to Canada, never once leaving the tree line. Wonder was a temple with no walls, and the Muse was still just a ripple in the ponderosas. I felt no fear. I’m 48 now. Decades have passed. There have been times I felt my inspiration, my Muse, had passed along with them. And then, not too long ago, I decided that instead of waiting for the Muse to write me a song, I would write the Muse a song instead. I started referring to my Muse as my Honeydew. And this album was born. The songs on Honeydew are songs for my Muse, my invisible and blinding companion of long-standing. I hope it enjoys them. I hope that it experiences a bit of what it’s like to be human, a bit of what it’s like to be lonely, scared, uncertain, joyful, righteous. I believe in you, my honeydew.”

ENTER TO WIN A PAIR OF JOSH RITTER MEET-AND-GREET TICKETS (THURSDAY, JUNE 20) AND A ‘FEVER BREAKS’ TEST PRESSING!

Josh Ritter is performing at The Egyptian Theatre on Thursday, June 20, and we have an awesome prize pack to give away to one lucky fan: A pair of guest list spots for a private pre-show meet-and-greet/acoustic set and a Third Man vinyl test pressing of Josh’s new album Fever Breaks!

NOTE: The guest list spots are for the meet-and-greet ONLY; they are NOT tickets to the Egyptian concert later that evening.

To enter the drawing, send an email* with the subject “Josh Ritter” HERE by midnight Sunday, June 16. We will draw a name at random and notify the winner with specific details on Monday, June 17.

* One entry per person, NOT per email address. If you have 16 email addresses and you enter with each address, we’ll just delete 15 of them. We have the technology. To be eligible to win, you must live in the Boise metro area and be able to pick up your prize at the store.

BONUS CLUB SALE MONDAY, DEC. 7: 20% OFF STOREWIDE 9AM-5PM AND 25% OFF DURING THE PARTY (5-9PM)! FREE CRAFT BEER, RAFFLES, GIVEAWAYS AND MORE!

It’s party time: The Record Exchange annual Bonus Club Customer Appreciation Sale will be held on Monday, Dec. 7, and yule not want to miss it.

As a thank you to our customers for supporting Idaho’s largest independent record store, The Record Exchange is offering 25% OFF STOREWIDE DURING THE PARTY (5 TO 9 P.M.) AND 20% OFF STOREWIDE DURING THE DAY (9 A.M. TO 5 P.M.).

And that’s just the start. To enhance your holiday shopping experience, the evening festivities also will include:

• FREE CRAFT BEER FROM PAYETTE BREWING CO. We’ll have cans of delicious, Boise-brewed craft beer from our partner Payette Brewing Co., and you’ll get to drink some for free (provided you’re 21 or older and show us a valid I.D.).
river logoLIVE RADIO BROADCAST AND JOSH RITTER SILENT AUCTION FINALE. Once again, 94.9 FM The River’s Tim Johnstone will be broadcasting live from the store and emceeing the party, including the finale of our Josh Ritter album release in-store banners silent auction.
Funky Taco Logo Square PNGTHE FUNKY TACO. Our friends from one of Boise’s best food trucks will be at the store selling select favorites off their menu — vegan and vegetarian options, too!

• GIVEAWAYS

• RAFFLE PRIZES

In addition to housing Boise’s Biggest and Best Gift Shop, this season The Record Exchange has more than 125 new Black Friday exclusives from our friends at Record Store Day, plus select vinyl 2015 staff picks and best sellers and hundreds of new CDs under 10 bucks, including 50 hand-picked Give the Gift of Music titles!

If you’re not already a member of the RX Bonus Club, you can sign up at the Bonus Club Party and start saving! As a Bonus Club member, you get $10 in store credit every time you accrue $120 in store purchases.

If you want to sign up for the RX Bonus Club prior to the sale, visit The Record Exchange and ask a clerk for a free membership form!

FIRST THURSDAY DEC. 3: JOSH RITTER BANNER SILENT AUCTION, 20% OFF JEWELRY AND ORNAMENTS AND BUY-2-GET-1-FREE USED MUSIC AND VIDEO!

first thursday facebookfirst thursday ritter bannersJoin us on First Thursday, Dec. 3 for the start of a silent auction for the Josh Ritter banners (pictured above) that were displayed on our wall before his album in-store in October! Proceeds from the auction will benefit Interfaith Sanctuary. The silent auction begins at 10am on Dec. 3 and concludes at 9pm Monday, Dec. 7 during our annual Bonus Club Sale and Customer Appreciation Party!

BIDDING IS NOW OPEN! OPENING BID IS $50; $10 increments after that. CLICK HERE TO BID.

The Record Exchange also is offering First Thursday specials all day long, including 20% off jewelry and holiday ornaments, plus buy-two-get-one-free savings on used music/video (CDs, vinyl, cassettes, DVD, Blu-ray), espresso drinks and more!

94.9 FM THE RIVER PRESENTS JOSH RITTER LIVE AT THE RECORD EXCHANGE SUNDAY, OCT. 11 (RITTER’S ONLY SHOW IN TOWN); GET A VIP WRISTBAND WITH ‘SERMON ON THE ROCKS’ PREORDER!

JoshRitter-PressPhoto-5-landscape94.9 FM The River presents Josh Ritter live at The Record Exchange (1105 W. Idaho St. in Downtown Boise) at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11. This is Ritter’s only show in town in celebration of his new album Sermon on the Rocks (out Oct. 16), and fans will have the opportunity to purchase the album (CD or LP) before its official release date! As always, this Record Exchange in-store event is free and all ages.

VIP wristbands guaranteeing admission to the in-store will be available Wednesday, Aug. 5 with preorder of Sermon on the Rocks, available in four versions:

– Standard CD

– Limited edition deluxe CD (with bonus CD of demo/home recordings)

– Standard vinyl (with download card)

– Limited edition deluxe vinyl (with blue colored vinyl, bonus CD of demo/home recordings and download card)

TRACK LIST:

1. Birds of the Meadow (3:14)
2. Young Moses (4:09)
3. Henrietta, Indiana (3:44)
4. Getting Ready To Get Down (3:16)
5. Seeing Me Round (4:58)
6. Where The Night Goes (3:50)
7. Cumberland (2:17)
8. Homecoming (5:31)
9. The Stone (3:55)
10. A Big Enough Sky (2:48)
11. Lighthouse Fire (3:12)
12. My Man On A Horse (Is Here) (3:49)

ABOUT JOSH RITTER AND ‘SERMON ON THE ROCKS’

JR_Sermon_Album_Cover_itunes“…I wanted to make something grand. I wanted it to swing hard. I wanted to peek through death’s keyhole. I wanted my monster to run …” – Josh Ritter

Sermon on the Rocks, the new album from critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Josh Ritter, will be released October 16 on Pytheas Recordings/Thirty Tigers. In advance of the release, the first single, “Getting Ready To Get Down,” premiered last month at NPR Music.

Produced by Ritter and Trina Shoemaker (Queens of the Stone Age, Emmylou Harris), the 12-song album was recorded over two weeks at New Orleans’ The Parlor Recording Studio and features Matt Barrick from The Walkmen on drums, Zachariah Hickman on bass, Josh Kaufman on guitar and Sam Kassirer on piano.

Of his inspiration behind Sermon on the Rocks, Ritter comments, “I wanted to play messianic oracular honky-tonk.”

Over the course of his acclaimed career, Ritter has released seven full-length albums, including his most recent, 2013’s The Beast In Its Tracks, which debuted at #22 on the Billboard 200 and #8 on the Top Rock Albums chart. The record also received widespread critical praise—NPR Music called it “…gorgeous and glorious,” while Pitchfork asserted, “Beast is contemplative and forgiving, a means of burying one relationship to commit to another, and Ritter nicely evokes the excitement and resignation of such a transition.” Additionally, in 2011, Ritter made is debut as a published author with his New York Times best-selling novel, Bright’s Passage (Dial Press/Random House). Of the work, Stephen King writes in The New York Times Book Review, “Shines with a compressed lyricism that recalls Ray Bradbury in his prime…This is the work of a gifted novelist.”