Joe Meisel

Horses and Smoke Ritt Deitz Uvulittle Records	Horses and Smoke, Ritt Deitz’ new album, his sixth on Uvulittle, was recorded live to open-reel tape last winter in Oregon, Wisconsin. Engineered and mixed by Bruce Kasprzyk, the album breathes with the authenticity that comes from years and years of playing with friends and family. Indeed, he's joined by his son Wilder on piano and his two core band members, Joe Meisel and Dave Foss. Madison fiddle wizard, Biff Blumfumgagnge sits in on two tracks (and mastered the album.) There are... [more]
Small Blue Green Letters Ritt Deitz Uvulittle Records	Small Blue Green Letters, Ritt’s latest recording and his fifth on the Uvulittle label, marks Deitz’s return to stringed instruments and voices and recalls his first full-length release, Hillbilly (Bentback 1999, anthologized on the 2006 Uvulittle release Collected 1999-2000), exchanging Steve Burke’s mandolin for Deitz’s banjo and with the harmonies of backing vocalist Lindsey Hinkel Craig Totten’s dobro work. The small-town feel one often hears in Deitz’s songs shines through. A... [more]
Upstream Ritt Deitz Uvulittle Records	Ritt Deitz releases his fifth full-length CD of original and traditional songs, Upstream, on Uvulittle Records. Ritt spent the winter in the studio with longtime collaborators bassist Joe Meisel and guitarist / dobro player Craig Totten, sons Wilder (piano, percussion) and Mitch (percussion) and hammered dulcimer player Dave Foss. Singer-songwriter Sara Pace guests on backing vocals on four songs, including a lovely duet version of the Southern gospel standard "Wayfaring Stranger." Ritt's... [more]
Collected (1999-2000) Ritt Deitz Uvulittle Records	Collected (1999-2000) Since STAY is now out of print and HILLBILLY will soon be, Ritt has put together a collection of favorites from his first 2 albums for Uvulittle Records. Included is a new single, "Shake," on which Deitz plays all the instruments. In addition to Deitz on acoustic guitar and vocals, a wide cast of players including Steve Burke, Joe Meisel, Jay Moran and Bif Blumfumgagnge round out the tracks with piano, dobro... [more]
Pleasure Isle Ritt Deitz Bentback Records	Ritt Deitz's third CD, PLEASURE ISLE, is a story of pools, sex, trains, rivers, dogs, barges, babies, Moses, small hands, and softball. Madison's Isthmus calls the release, "well-wrought folk-rock" from a weathered band of old friends, players Ritt has long shared stages and studios with. Rhythm writes that "Deitz has one of those voices that rings with authenticity..." This album is something of a song in itself. The music comes from a very honest and grounded space. It... [more]
Stay Ritt Deitz Bentback Records	"Stay, his second release, is full of gritty, intelligent folk with songs that are, by turns, sweet, gentle, and smoldering. Dietz's warm baritone and confident songwriting are a perfect match, like a welcome campfire on a chilly fall night." -- The Riverside Features HILLBILLY veterans Joe Meisel and Steve Burke, with guest appearances by harper Turner Collins and Reptile Palace Orchestra violinist Biff Blumfumgagnge. STAY grows out of a unique sense of place and time, and offers... [more]
Hillbilly Ritt Deitz Bentback Records	Ritt Deitz's debut recording is "a quiet, sure-handed roots album that stands up to repeated listening." (Isthmus). Ritt's songs are full of trees, children, liquor, and pie. Big-hearted acoustic folk music.