Josh Ritter not only performs wonderful covers, but is my financial rep's doppleganger

This week, I’m returning for round two and featuring artists whose first name starts with the letter J.  Arbitrary? Slightly.  But when staring at a wealth of material, it’s tough to pick out songs to highlight.  The letter J just so happened to become my escape hatch while compiling this post.  Once I decided on J, I had to whittle the selections down even further.  I ended up with three songs that go from good to great like a staircase.  Check them out.

I have to admit, I had no idea who this first gal was when I heard this track.  And admittedly, there isn’t anything particularly appealing about it beyond the ironic dissonance of a folk-rock gal from Jersey covering the posturing of Nelly’s Hot in Herre.

What’s the funniest word to hear a Sweedish dude say in English?  Father. Unfortunately, you don’t get to hear Jens Lekman say it on this song, but I love his English accent when he sings.  A slightly humorous accent might be the only thing more endearing than a Paul Simon song.

Modest Mouse is band that I never really “absorbed.”  With the obligatory High Fidelity reference out of the way, I want to point out that this has nothing to do with the quality of the music they put out.  I was never really exposed to them beyond the “Float On” fad and a mix-tape here or there. I  always liked what I heard, but was too lazy to do much exploration.

Inescapable gap in my musical education aside, I heard Josh Ritter play Blame It on the Tetons and was blown away.  It’s so intricate, so softly beautiful.  His handling of the song is as much a testament to the original songwriting as it his own talents.