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 "A gung-ho Candide with a taste for places it is wiser to avoid. . . the reports collected in 'I Wouldn't Start From Here' are graphic, comic, bemused and properly contemptuous of faith and ideology."
- Jonathan Meades, Books of the Year, Evening Standard
"An utterly sui generis report from the world's plague-spots."
- Michael Bywater, Books of the Year, New Statesman
"I can think of no more entertaining companion on a perilous journey than the ever hopeful, wildly optimistic yet clear-thinking Andrew Mueller."
- Rory MacLean, The Guardian
"A tour-de-force of hilarious, harrowing and ultimately enlightening reportage that will remind readers of the work of P.J. O'Rourke, Jon Ronson and David Foster Wallace."
- The Washington Times
"Unafraid to portray the world's warring people not just as victims and sufferers of legitimate grievances, but also as bloody-minded bastards and ill-informed fools."
- The Kathmandu Post
"A mix of dark humour and incisive political discourse."
- CNN Go
"His sardonic, self-deprecating perspective makes for unstuffy company."
- The Los Angeles Times
"Peppered with trenchant observations that reflect a nimble, cut-to-the-chase practicality, Mueller's interviews with everyone from terrorist warlords to international peacemakers are refreshingly irreverent yet astute."
- Booklist
"Travel writing in the danger zone that maintains its hipness and humanity."
- George Dunford, Books of the Year, Readings Monthly
"An addition to the genre founded by P.J. O'Rourke's 'Holidays In Hell', but it is one that pushes the boundaries."
- The Australian
"Mueller is the embodiment of what can happen with a fire in the belly and a desire to write out loud."
- Australian Book Review
"Mueller's travel writing is as incisive and entertaining as anything he's ever written about music."
- TNT
"A joy."
- Financial Times
"Delightfully laconic."
- The New Statesman
"Alternately chilling, funny and surprising, there's some great reportage here as Mueller struggles to reach an understanding of the world, quizzing the highest minister and the lowliest peasant."
- The Glasgow Herald
"His acerbic wit is matched by true empathy. . . we need this kind of gonzo journalism more than ever."
- Wanderlust
"Mueller spins what could have been the grimmest geopolitics into the finest black comedy. Like a print version of 'The Daily Show'."
- FHM
"Lively reporting from a gently humorous narrator."
- Chris Ayres, The Times
"Touching, often blackly comic reportage."
- GQ
"Brilliantly observed, articulate, often funny and immensely readable."
- The List
"Snappy, self-deprecating and sometimes outright hilarious."
- The Age
"Indelibly humorous and heartfelt."
- Sydney Sunday Telegraph
"An instructive ricochet between cities and continents and war zones."
- Time Out
"He brings to his material the mixture of rage and earthy irony that is the mark of a great satirist
. . . rewarding, thought-provoking and ludicrously funny."
- PopMatters
"Mueller's book is an excellent example of why today's brave, lucid hacks are forced to admit fear and confusion."
- South China Morning Post
"His reporting is sharp, his experiences terrifying and funny."
- Melbourne Herald-Sun
"If you enjoy your international affairs and politics with a good dose of cynicism and black humour, then this book is one to read."
- Brisbane Courier-Mail
"Often laugh-out-loud funny, the writing is utterly engaging."
- Launceston Sunday Examiner
"Mueller's irreverent reportage from abroad is fundamentally a clever cover for the author's ruminations on race, religion, revolution, rock'n'roll and other important issues since September 11, 2001."
- The West Australian
"As hilarious and sardonic a host as this ridiculous world of ours demands."
- Shortlist
"Mueller busies himself with finding the odd, the surreal and the laughable as much as the shocking and upsetting."
- New Zealand Herald
"A real eye for surreal moments of black humour. . . Mueller's work here digs much deeper than the standard newspaper travel essay."
- Sydney Sun-Herald
"His best story, about his brief, bizarre jailing in Cameroon, reads like a 21st century 'Goon Show' script."
- Good Reading
"A rollicking ride through some of the world's scariest scenarios."
- Kalgoorlie Miner
"A strikingly funny book about some seriously unfunny places."
- Perth Sunday Times
"Not bad for a guy from Wagga Wagga."
- The Wagga Wagga Advertiser
 "Andrew Mueller's piece about my band's tour with The Hold Steady is my favourite thing ever written about us. The fact that he is a war correspondent (though he claims otherwise) and music journalist and
approaches both with a similar slant makes him one of the most interesting
writers out there to me."
- Patterson Hood, Drive-By Truckers
"The most important critical anthology on popular music from a single author in a long time, its humour and insight equal with collections by Nick Tosches or Robert Palmer."
- KEXP Seattle
"Take one part P.J. O'Rourke, a healthy dose of Lester Bangs and a dash of Hunter S. Thompson, and you've got Andrew Mueller."
- Bookgasm
"Sharply observed and wittily constructed."
- Honolulu Star-Advertiser
"New edition of the rock classic."
- NY Press
"Mueller's humour makes for some enlightening reading."
- Biloxi-Gulfport Sun-Herald
"Sharp, witty and sarcastic."
- Chicago Tribune
 "Really rather good, in a barnstorming, country-punk sort of way. . . a highly capable ensemble."
- The Quietus
"A more than capable debut - allusive country-tough songs."
- Uncut
"The Blazing Zoos are undoubtedly fun, but they also have depth. . .
everything from Mueller's extensive use of brackets to the band's loving
recreation of classic country riffs bespeaks sincerity."
- Americana UK
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Josh Ritter live at Gardner Arts Centre, Brighton
The Independent, May 2006
IDAHOAN singer-songwriter Josh Ritter is one of those artists, at once endearing and infuriating, probably doomed to a cult following by a combination of stolid, somewhat stultifying records, and absolutely electric live performances such as tonight’s. Ritter is only ever going to be believed by people who’ve seen him – and those who’ve only heard him would be forgiven for being unpersuaded of the merits of making the trip. His albums, in particular his current effort, “The Animal Years”, do have their sweet moments, but are far too deeply in hock to Ritter’s heroes, who are very much the usual suspects – Dylan, Springsteen, Earle, Eitzel, Buckley (Tim and Jeff). Given a stage and a spotlight, however, Josh Ritter is nobody but Josh Ritter, and on tonight’s form that’s just about worth cancelling your own birthday party for.
Ritter takes great, perhaps self-conscious, care to look the part of the beatnik troubadour, sporting a velvet jacket over a grey waistcoat, and exuberant tangle of curly blonde hair in the process of over-running the rest of his face. He has, as a smitten young woman in one of the forward rows loudly and correctly observes, a lovely smile. The three-piece backing band (drums, bass, keyboards) that fall in behind Ritter’s delicately picked acoustic guitar are, live as on record, proficient rather than inspired – but, live as on record, it doesn’t really matter. Ritter owns the room, and everyone in it, for as long as he stands behind the microphone.
It may just be that luminous smile, but it’s really only live that the distinguishing aspect of Ritter’s otherwise orthodox singer-songwriter schtick becomes manifest – his refreshing, unabashed and infectious joyousness. This is where Ritter does find some distance between himself and his idols, daring to affect little of Dylan’s invective, Springsteen’s self-loathing, Eitzel’s rage or the angst of the Buckleys. He has, even when chronicling heartbreak, a rare knack for the genuinely good-natured love song: “Kathleen”, with that imperishable opening line “All the other girls here are stars/You are the northern lights”; “Good Man”, a lovely, wry, we’re-stuck-with-each-other devotional crested by the killer line “You’re not a good shot, but I’m worse”; “You Don’t Make It Easy”, delivered tonight unamplified, from the edge of the stage, nonetheless moving for being interrupted by giggles prompted by an audience member tripping on some stairs.
If Ritter ever finds a way to properly distil his intoxicating live presence onto disc, no riches are beyond him, either critically or commercially. It’s a challenge he will hopefully rise to soon, but for the moment, judging by that unbudgeable grin, he’s happy enough to play the wandering minstrel – and judging by the deafening, and deserved, applause, those in the know are happy enough for him to keep at it.
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