It's great if you can be happy in whatever your chosen profession may be. For Josh Ritter, he chose to be a musician. And from the continuous smile on his face Tuesday, February 15, at The Orange Peel, he seems remarkably happy about his career path.

The crowd seemed equally happy to see Josh, too. Josh Ritter and the Royal City Band played a set of more than 20 songs that clocked in at just a tad less than two hours.

Josh began on stage solo with an acoustic rendition of "Come and Find Me" from his 2001 album Golden Age of Radio. His band then joined Josh. A superb collection of talented professionals, the group includes Zack Hickman (who sports an awesome handlebar mustache) on bass, Sam Kassirer on keys, Austin Nevins on guitar, and Liam Hurley on drums.

Though in his mid-30s, the clean-cut, baby-faced musician from Idaho looks like he could be an extra from a Leave It to Beaver episode. His second song, and first with the band, was "Good Man" from his 2006 album The Animal Years. The audience was already singing along with Josh and completely engaged in the performance.

With clever lyrics, catchy melodies, and plenty of charm, Josh and the band played through one infectious tune after another, including "The Curse," "Folk Bloodbath," "Galahad," "Girl in the War," "Temptation of Adam," "Lantern," and "Change of Time" among others. Throughout, Josh showed his skills as a singer, storyteller, and guitarist.

In the song "Harrisburg," Josh stopped and chatted with the crowd about the odd need for greeting cards to express feelings before he and the band launched into a bit of the Talking Heads' "Once in a Lifetime," before transitioning back to "Harrisburg." During the song "Kathleen," Josh said he wanted to have a slow dance in the middle of the song, instructing the audience to dance during an instrumental part of the tune.

For the encore, Josh invited the evening's opener, Scott Hutchison, back on the stage for a duet covering The Everly Brothers' "Stories We Could Tell." Scott then exited and the rest of the band took the stage a final time for a lively version of "To the Dogs or Whoever."

Speaking of Scott Hutchison, he led off the night with a short but enthusiastic set. Known as the singer, lyricist, and guitarist for the Scottish indie rock group Frightened Rabbit, Hutchison was deeply engaging and witty in his remarks while playing some Frightened Rabbit tunes such as "Keep Yourself Warm," "Head Rolls Off," "Living in Colour," and "Be Less Rude."

The bearded Hutchison, wearing jeans and a plaid shirt, mentioned several times how great the audience was and at one point confessed, "No offense, but before this tour, I had never heard of Asheville." Sensing some disappointment in the crowd, he quickly added, "Hey, how many of you have ever heard of Selkirk?"

For a relatively unknown Scottish singer, many in the crowd were singing along to all of Scott's songs. Obviously a few fans knew him already and he certainly gained many more fans by the time his set was finished.

Scott, Josh, and the rest of the musicians all seemed happy about their night in Asheville, and there was no doubt that The Orange Peel audience was happy to experience a long and enthusiastic concert.