Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danny Ritz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Danny, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
work ethic is a funny thing to me, because it can feel presented as a singular object (i.e., either something you ‘have’ or something you ‘lack’). in my experience, any connection to work ethic, when it has felt the strongest for me, is connected to an infinite number of small choices over time. more and more, I’m finding it has less to do with tuning out the noise and more to do with listening more deeply, finding your focus from within the frequencies. particularly during this period of profound digital over-stimulation in which I have come of age. I think at its best my work ethic is connected to knowing when to listen to the voices around me that I trust and knowing when to listen to the voice within. always a balance, always learning from the mistakes.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
my name is danny ritz, and I’m an indie rock artist, songwriter, and theater maker based in brooklyn. at more core i am performer, which means i work in service of spontaneity. listening to what is around me, responding in turn. cloud-gazing in the static of everyday life, finding sound in the noise. i write dynamic anthems in awe of every-day life. big songs about the little things, sometimes vice versa. in my work, i’m fascinated by the way that society assigns value onto certain things vs others — how some things are important, beautiful, or powerful, while some things are not. musically and lyrically, this has always been curious to me. my artist project investigates that value system in playful ways — each song is an opportunity to ask why or why not, to question what we consider valuable or important. i perform regularly across new york city, and am releasing my newest record, house in the space, over the first half of 2025.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
three things that have served me in my journey thus far are spontaneity (always trusting the moment, what it throws at you, your capacity to respond in the right way), trust in mentors (i think of this as looking for the helpers, trying to lean into the ways in which world wants you to thrive), and curiosity (a relentlessness that manifests not necessarily as dissatisfaction, but instead as a constant questioning of the big and small). i am still quite early in my journey (!), and something i am working to learn is a stronger sense of patience. trusting the process, the vision, that the answer reveals itself in time. good advice I once got is that the quality for which you are must often critiqued, can, with time, re-emerge years later and be perceived as your greatest strength. you just have to stick around long enough for things to turn the corner. and listen the entire time. the answer is usually already there.
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
Over the last year, i think my biggest area of growth has been becoming more comfortable with collaborators. music, for all of its intimacy in the writing process, is incredibly social. since I started writing my own music during the pandemic and my set up was quite isolated, it took me a long time to build up the confidence of music as a social experience. having collaborators, a network of trusted advice and wisdom, has really made the experience more expansive, thrilling, and sustainable.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.dannyritz.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dannyritz/
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/danny-ritz
- Other: tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dannyritzstill
Image Credits
Jesse Baums, Proudmany DhevaAksorn
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