Since last year’s beautiful LP So Runs the World Away, Josh Ritter has taken his knack for the written verse and put it to different use. The Americana singer-songwriter can now add “author” to his resume with the debut novel Bright’s Passage hitting bookshelves June 28th through Dial Press/Random House.

Written over an extended period of time on tour buses, between venues, and at predawn stirrings, Bright’s Passage is described as “a story that started as a song is now a world inhabited by characters that are still surprising to me.” The novel follows a widowed veteran of the First World War and his strange journey through the foothills of West Virginia as he explores memories from his childhood and the trenches of France. A preview of the books first chapter is available at www.joshritter.com.

Along with the big book drop, Ritter and his Royal City Band are set to embark on U.S. tour that include stops at San Francisco’s Outside Lands Festival and Dave Matthews Band Caravan tour. The trek will also be peppered with a series of select events in support of the novel. Find all the details below.

Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band Tour Dates and Bright’s Passage Book Events:
06/03 – Westhampton Beach, NY @ Westhampton PAC
06/04 – Elmer, NJ @ Appel Farm Arts & Music Festival
06/05 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Hartwood Acres
06/17 – New Haven, CT @ Daniels
06/18 – Croton-on-Hudson, NY @ Clearwater Festival
06/24 – Minneapolis, MN @ Fitzgerald Theather – NPR “Wits” *
06/28 – New York, NY @ Union Square Barnes & Noble *
06/29 – Boston, MA @ Coolidge Corner Theater *
06/30 – Washington, DC @ Politics & Prose Bookstore *
07/05 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
07/06 – Oneonta, NY @ Oneonta Theater
07/07 – Buffalo, NY @ Ashbury Hall at Babeville
07/08 & 09 – Orillia, ON @ Mariposa Folk Festival
07/10 – Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Blues Festival
07/12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Book Soup *
07/13 – San Francisco, CA @ Ferry Building *
07/14 – Portland, OR @ Powell’s Books *
07/15 – Seattle, WA @ Eliot Bay Books *
07/16 & 17- Vancouver, BC @ Vancouver Folk Festival
07/17 – Vancouver, BC @ Vancouver Folk Festival
07/19 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Red Butte Garden Ampitheater
07/20 – Boulder, CO @ Chautauqua Ampitheater
07/21 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
07/22 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
07/24 – Birmingham, AL @ Alys Stevens Center
07/26 – Charlotte, NC @ Visualite Theater
07/27 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
07/28 – Philadelphia, PA @ Free Library of Philadelphia *
08/11 – Sandpoint, ID @ The Festival at War Memorial Field
08/14 – San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival
08/16 – San Diego, CA @ House of Blues #
08/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
08/20 – Lyons, CO @ Rocky Mountain Folks Festival
08/26-28 – New York, NY @ DMB Caravan at Governor’s Island
09/02-04 – George, WA @ DMB Caravan at the Gorge

* = Bright’s Passage book event
# = Co-headling with the Old ’97s