LEWISTON — Josh Ritter, an acclaimed singer-songwriter often compared with Dylan and Springsteen, will perform at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 7,at Bates College.

Born in Moscow, Idaho, Ritter began writing music early on and recorded his self-titled debut album while still a student at Oberlin College. His music is packed with vividly imaged, rapid-fire lyrics and a distinctive approach to melody. At Bates, he will be accompanied by his band — Zach Hickman on bass, guitar, tuba and strings; Sam Kassirer on keyboards; Austin Nevins on guitar and lap steel; and Liam Hurley on drums and percussion.

Ritter has toured in Ireland, where he found early success under the tutelage of Glen Hasnard of the Frames and, more recently, The Swell Season, a band spun off of the critically acclaimed independent musical film “Once.”

The Bates performance is one of nine in a small tour around the United States in November and December. Ritter then joins The Swell Season in Radio City Music Hall in New York and, subsequently, a European tour.

His fifth and latest studio album, released by Sony Records in 2007, is titled “The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter.” He recorded at the Great North Sound Society, a farmhouse in Parsonsfield. “A lot of this record is an effort to capture moments when they were at their most passionate — to capture many different emotions that simply wouldn’t work if we had ever tried to re-record them,” Ritter said.

To learn more about Ritter, visit www.joshritter.com.

Tickets, $20, are available at www.batestickets.com. The concert will
be in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell
St. For more information, contact 786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.