Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band Take Over the Taft Theatre

Idaho native Josh Ritter has been sharpening his ample songwriting skills for two decades.

On his recently released 10th album, Fever Breaks, he decided to stretch outside of his comfort zone and worked with Jason Isbell, the acclaimed Roots artist who has certainly benefited from the artistic trails Ritter has helped blaze through the Americana world over the past 20 years.

Isbell produced the collection — a welcoming mix of Roots Rock, organic Country and ethereal Folk — and his 400 Unit backing band tracked the songs instead of Ritter’s longtime Royal City Band compadres (who are back with him for the Fever Breaks tour). Fever Breaks has a darkness to it that is reflective of the current political/social climate.

Ritter recently told the Boston Globe that the tone harkens back to his beloved 2006 album, The Animal Years. “It’s a record about the anxiety of the moment, the preoccupations of the moment you’re in,” he said. “There’s a lot of violence on the record, and there’s a lot of desperation.”