A singer and songwriter drawn to introspective melodies and rooted in acoustic folk, Joshua Radin crafts dusky anthems reminiscent of Elliott Smith and Paul Simon. Attention first arrived when his 2004 composition “Winter” aired on the comedy series Scrubs, which in turn opened the door for his Columbia Records debut, We Were Here, in 2006. Several releases have reached the upper half of the Billboard 200, among them Simple Times in 2008, Underwater in 2012, and Onward and Sideways in 2015.
Born in 1974, Radin spent his childhood in the Cleveland-area community of Shaker Heights. Although his parents’ record collection introduced him to the work of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Cat Stevens, a career in music was never part of his early plans. Instead, he majored in drawing and painting at Northwestern University and later worked as an art instructor, screenwriter, and gallery assistant. Only afterward did he experiment with songwriting, performing an early effort, “Winter,” for his Northwestern classmate Zach Braff. The actor quickly embraced the track, securing its placement on Scrubs in early 2004. Listener demand soon prompted Radin to commit to songwriting full time; he signed with Columbia, which released We Were Here in 2006.
After moving to Los Angeles, Radin became a regular at the Hotel Cafe, the Hollywood venue known for intimate singer-songwriter bills. National tours followed alongside fellow Hotel Cafe artists such as Ingrid Michaelson, Sara Bareilles, and Meiko. He issued two digital EPs before unveiling his second full-length album, Simple Times, in late 2008. The set reached British listeners two years later. To maintain momentum at home, Radin released the short collection Songs Under a Streetlight and completed The Rock and the Tide, which appeared in October 2010.
Underwater arrived in 2012 and showcased contributions from pianist Benmont Tench of Tom Petty’s band, drummer Jim Keltner, who has worked with Bob Dylan, and additional session players. Wax Wings followed the next year. His sixth studio album, Onward & Sideways, came out in 2015 and included a guest vocal from Sheryl Crow. The Fall appeared in 2017; Radin’s first entirely self-produced effort, it featured the single “High and Low.” Here, Right Now, produced by Tony Berg, surfaced in 2019 and mixed original material with interpretations of songs by Tom Petty and the Rolling Stones. A seven-track covers collection titled Covers, Vol. 1, arrived in 2020, and the standalone single “Better Life” followed in early 2021.
