pedigree earned.

i'd been saving it. josh rosenthal had given me an early copy of his new cd, renaissance and i was headed out of town on a road trip and knew it would be a perfect chance to actually listen to a cd. so i saved it until i was driving home across the lonely plains of nevada at sunrise.

it was perfect.

until officer dunckhorst pulled me over for going 100 miles over the speed limit (which reminds me...) right in the middle of my listening party.

speeding ticket aside, renaissance is an on-target, honest delivery of josh's evolution as an artist. the ep has eight tracks, several of which are older tracks that have been essentially rewritten under the watchful eye of star-in-waiting kalai and nashville producer mitch dane (jars of clay, caedmon's call, bebo norman). house on highland, an old classic, arrives as a rustic, bluesy piece that stylistically is a good stretch for josh. something i didn't want features the harmonica of mickey raphael (who regularly is featured with: willie nelson, johny cash, emmylou harris, waylon jennings, and nanci griffith to name only a few). old fans of josh's will enjoy the newer versions. the new tracks though are the songs that drive the album and secure it's place in josh's discography as well as his arrival as a legitimate indie songwriter. not to say that josh was somehow illegitimate before now. there just seems to be a certain stigma for artists in their hometown that is hard to move past. to achieve josh's level of success without the help of local media outlets proves his legitimacy all the more. that he is recording in nashville and touring the country only further validates his arrival. one that hopefully his hometown crowd will take notice of.

catch josh's hometown cd release show on march 22nd at rose wagner theater in downtown salt lake city. tickets are available now through all arttix outlets.

and hopefully you won't get a speeding ticket upon your first listen of renaissance. if you do though let me know, i love conspiracies.