If Josh Radnor and Ben Lee have retained any sense of surprise about the success of their independent music collaboration Radnor & Lee, the full house at A&R Music Bar on Sunday night — a hometown crowd for Bexley-born-and-raised Radnor — should have done nothing but further cement their confidence in their journey.
Performing with a level of playful, collegial nonchalance that much more experienced partnerships often don’t achieve, the duo breezed through a set that contained the bulk of the tracks from their self-titled debut album, plus a nod to things on the horizon with a stunningly beautiful new composition, appropriately titled “Ohio,” which drew an expected amount of enthusiasm from the audience.
With some truly enjoyable witty banter as mortar for the show’s melodic material, they focused on (typically) propping each other up, leaving just a bit of room for each other to soak up a tiny bit of solo time in front of the receptive masses. Lee, of course, obliged a stellar version of his evergreen 2005 hit “Catch My Disease.”
Springfield-based family outfit Daniel Dye and the Miller Road Band opened with their lovely folk-clad rural reflections, featuring tunes from their latest album, Blinded Again.
For those wondering where Radnor & Lee’s un-mapped road may take them next, it’s apparently toward a much-anticipated follow-up album that’s currently in process. Their new single, “Here,” made its official debut on Radnor’s NBC prime-time drama Rise on Tuesday night, which will be available as a download and stream on May 11.
All photos by Grant Walters
