Joshua Radin pens love letter to family, inspired by a late night in Dublin

“Many years ago, I found myself on tour in Dublin,” Radin recalls. “After my performance, some of the loveliest Irish people brought me to a famous pub for drinks, as one does in most cities but especially in Dublin. After the pub closed, I was introduced to the concept of a ‘lock in,’ when the bar legally must close so they lock the front doors, but they keep serving drinks for those lucky enough to have been invited to stay and hang. We passed my guitar around all night, everyone playing songs. It was the first time I had ever played for people without a microphone, and I was forced to sing loudly, strum loudly, belt with a voice I never knew I had. This was a seminal evening for me. So I wanted this song to sound like me and my buddies were locked in a pub around 3am, drinking, playing songs, living life.”

“This One’s For” follows the release of Radin’s latest EP, ‘though the world will tell me so, vol 1,’ a breathtaking collection of songs that were inspired by his time on the road in 2022. Rather than wait for inspiration to strike, Radin seeks it out wherever possible. To that end, in the fall of 2022, he left his material existence in the rearview, grabbed a backpack, packed his guitar, picked up a pen and a pad, and sought new stories to tell.  “I felt like I was going to live the life of a kid on a gap year after high school,” he smiles. “However, it has helped my writing and my soul. I feel so much freer.”

The EP followed Radin’s latest full-length album ‘The Ghost and The Wall,’ which was released in 2021 to widespread acclaim. Parade hailed the single “Goodbye” as “breathy, gorgeous and intimate,” and American Songwriter promised, “A more beautiful set of ballads would be hard to come by.” Riff Magazine rated it “9-out-of-10,” while No Depression assured, “As long as Radin remains this honest and the melodies this sweet there’s every reason to believe he’ll have enough to say for his next 15 years in the business.”

Leaving his life behind and traveling with nothing more than the essentials (and enough tools to be creative), Radin recorded ‘though the world will tell me so, vol 1’ in places such as Stockholm, Paris, and Lisbon. Tracks like the softly anthemic “I’m Just Different,” piano-laden “Broken,” and “Running from the Dawn” instantly reacted with audiences, as the EP generated over 2 million Spotify streams and counting. “Throughout the album, I’d say the common thread is this,” he elaborates. “For my entire life, I’ve felt like the world was telling me something which I didn’t necessarily agree with. I’ve always thought about how to do things a bit differently, whether it’s the way I wrote, recorded, or released this album or the way I’ve been living my life, it’s somewhat of a rebellion against the way the world says these things are supposed to be or happen.”

Radin is gearing up for a pair of performances in Hawaii this month, followed by a 13-date European tour in April. Additional fall 2023 US tour dates will be announced next week. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://www.joshuaradin.com/