The Further Conquests of Josh Ritter?

Okay, so the first few posts will be recycled from facebook.
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Okay, so I've been a real big fan of a singer called Josh Ritter, and in case you don't know who it is and would like exploring some new music, I recommend the album "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter", and you'll notice that's where I borrowed my very clever title from. Or if it's individual songs that you fancy, I recommend "Good Man" which was played on an episode of House, and "To the Dogs or Whoever". Well anyway, so I was listening to one of his live albums and I made myself a promise, that I would go see him if he comes near me, ie. Toronto or Detroit or something in between. So I take a look at his tour dates, and it goes something like this:

January 07, 2009 Tokyo, Japan
January 30, 2009 Kodiak, Alaska
January 31, 2009 Anchorage, Alaska
July 04, 2009 Cork, Ireland

At first, I was extremely disappointed, because those are the only shows he is doing for the first half of the year. But then, it dawned on me, why is it that there is a long break in between the Anchorage and Cork shows? Break? Possibly, he's been touring pretty much non-stop, however I think he's also planning on recording another album, he hasn't had one out since the last one, "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" in 2007 and he usually has an album out every year or every other year, so I think it's due and I hope this is why he has such a long break.