Carly Ritter channels country and folk through a perspective shaped by California life, placing her in the same lineage as 1960s figures such as Jackie DeShannon and Buffy Sainte-Marie. A Vassar graduate, she draws songwriting inspiration from Søren Kierkegaard with the same ease she references Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, or Joni Mitchell. As the daughter of actor John Ritter and the granddaughter of Tex Ritter, she grew up in an environment that nurtured creativity. Raised in Los Angeles, she completed high school in Santa Monica before moving east to attend Vassar in New York, where she spent her junior year in Scotland. There she encountered Scottish folk traditions and followed their threads into the eclectic character of American folk music. After finishing her studies she returned to the West Coast, where she renewed her connection with longtime friend Joachim Cooder, son of Ry Cooder. The two began refining her material and its sonic direction. In 2013 Vanguard Records issued her self-titled debut, which featured contributions from Joachim Cooder, Ry Cooder, Robert Francis, and Francis’s sister Juliette Commagere of the synth-pop group Hello Stranger.
