Radnor and Lee

Radnor is best known for portraying Ted Mosby on the popular Emmy Award-winning CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother{{Cite web|url=https://www.gq.com/story/josh-radnor-wants-you-to-move-on-from-how-i-met-your-mother|title=Josh Radnor Wants You to Move on from 'How I Met Your Mother'|last=Meslow|first=Scott|date=13 March 2018|website=GQ|access-date=}} from 2005 to 2014,{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/21/how-rise-and-how-i-met-your-mother-star-josh-radnor-spends-money.html|title=Josh Radnor reveals he was still living in a $750 sublet while starring on 'How I Met Your Mother' — here's why|last=Berger|first=Sarah|date=2018-03-21|website=CNBC|access-date=}} and writing and directing the 2011 comedy-drama film Happythankyoumoreplease,{{Cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/01/21/how-i-met-your-mother-star-josh-radnor-on-his-sundance-debut-happythankyoumoreplease/|title="How I Met Your Mother" Star Josh Radnor on His Sundance Debut "happythankyoumoreplease"|last=Kung|first=Michelle|date=21 January 2010|website=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=}} (which later won a Sundance Film Festival Audience Award){{Cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/josh-radnor-moving-past-met-mother-meditation-grounded/story?id=44403797|title=Josh Radnor on Moving Past 'How I Met Your Mother,' How Meditation Keeps Him Grounded|last=Effron|first=Lauren|date=28 December 2016|website=ABC News|access-date=}} and Liberal Arts.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/josh-radnor-sundance-memoir-how-i-met-your-mother-283017|title=Josh Radnor Penning Memoir About Childhood, Experiences with Drugs|last=Lewis|first=Andy|date=18 January 2012|website=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=}} Lee began his career as a musician at the age of 14 with the Sydney band Noise Addict, later releasing 11 solo studio albums and collaborating with artists such as Daniel Johnston, Zooey Deschanel, Sean Lennon, and more.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2058575/ben-lee-covers-daniel-johnston-the-breeders/premiere/|title=Ben Lee - "Speeding Motorcycle" (Daniel Johnston Cover) & "Divine Hammer" (The Breeders Cover)|last=Quinlan|first=Keelly|date=2019-09-18|website=Stereogum|access-date=}}

Radnor and Lee had known each other for "twelve or thirteen years after meeting on the set of How I Met Your Mother" eventually writing songs together.{{Cite web|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/ben-lee-and-ted-from-how-i-met-your-mother-have-a-band-for-some-reason/|title=Ben Lee and Ted from 'How I Met Your Mother' Have a Band, Unfortunately|last=D'Souza|first=Shaad|date=2018-04-04|website=Vice|access-date=}} "We’d been talking about it, and then two and a half years ago we decided to write a song together and it went really well. We decided to write another one, then we said ‘let’s make a record,’ according to Radnor.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/ben-lee-josh-radnor-met-mother-formed-band-2281222|title=Ben Lee and Josh Radnor from 'How I Met Your Mother' have formed a band|last=Trendell|first=Andrew|date=2018-04-04|website=NME|access-date=}} It was their "shared interest in spirituality and philosophy" that inspired them make music together in the first place, with producer Ryan Dilmore referring to the pair as “singer-psalmwriters.”{{Cite web|url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/08/radnor-lee-be-like-the-being.html?part=26|title=Exclusive: Watch Radnor & Lee's Offbeat "Be Like the Being" Video|last=Russell|first=Scott|date=2017-08-10|website=Paste|access-date=}} The two describe their vision for Radnor and Lee as "trying to write from the perspective of people who've had a little life under their belts... a different level of reflection and wisdom and humility... We make music that celebrates the complexity of where we're actually at in our lives."{{Cite web|url=https://celebrity.nine.com.au/music/radnor-and-lee-interview-australia-tour/e3aa7507-a21e-49e7-8853-1b4715379900|title=Ben Lee and Josh Radnor are in a band and touring Australia|last=Spencer|first=Ashley|date=2018|website=Honey|publisher=Nine Digital Pty Ltd|access-date=}}

Yahoo! debuted the collaboration and first single "Be Like the Being" on May 8, 2017, calling the album "witty, hopeful, yearning, joyful, searching and meditative."{{Cite web|url=https://finance.yahoo.com/news/song-premiere-ben-lee-josh-radnor-introduce-new-musical-collab-131405008.html|title=Song Premiere: Ben Lee and Josh Radnor Introduce New Musical Collab|last=Geller|first=Wendy|date=8 May 2017|website=Yahoo!|access-date=}} AllMusic premiered "Doorstep" on August 8, 2017, saying "joyful spirituality abounds as their voices blend with layers of acoustic guitar and an organ."{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/song-premiere-radnor-lee-doorstep|title=Song Premiere: Radnor & Lee, "Doorstep"|last=Steffen|first=Chris|date=11 August 2017|website=AllMusic|access-date=}} On August 14, 2017, Paste premiered the video for "Be Like the Being," a song Radnor said is "about simplicity, about knowing we have everything we need if we could just get out of our own way." In April 2018, Radnor and Lee announced an Australian East Coast Tour for May 2018 and appeared on Australia's Today show. Their single "Here" was featured in the American musical drama television series Rise in May 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/radnorandlee/posts/984289648404524|title=Radnor & Lee|last=|first=|date=|website=Facebook|language=en|access-date=2020-02-15}} Medium called it "The Best Spiritual Album I Have Ever Heard."{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@willkenway/the-best-spiritual-album-i-have-ever-heard-70795cf867d7|title=The Best Spiritual Album I Have Ever Heard|last=Kenway|first=Will|date=2019-11-16|website=Medium|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112154734/https://medium.com/@willkenway/the-best-spiritual-album-i-have-ever-heard-70795cf867d7|archive-date=2020-01-12|access-date=|url-status=dead}}

In December 2019, Radnor told Us Weekly that Radnor and Lee were would be putting out their next album in 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/josh-radnor-spends-new-years-eve-meditating/|title=Why Josh Radnor Spends New Year's Eve Meditating|last=Strassberg|first=Rebecca|date=2019-12-10|website=US Weekly|access-date=}} On January 17, 2020, Radnor and Lee posted on social media that their new record would be out "soon" on Flower Moon Records,{{Cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/radnorandlee/photos/a.648717551961737/1481353982031419/?type=3|title=Radnor & Lee|last=|first=|date=17 January 2020|website=Facebook|language=en|access-date=2020-02-15}} a Los Angeles-based record label owned and operated by Azure Ray's Maria Taylor.{{Cite web|url=https://www.flowermoonrecords.com/|title=Flower Moon Records|last=|first=|date=|website=Flower Moon Records|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-15}}

On February 19, 2020, Spin announced the new album, Golden State would be out May 8, 2020 on Flower Moon Records and premiered the first single "Outside In." Of the album, Spin said: "Golden State is a bit darker lyrically than their self-titled album. The title refers more to a state of mind rather than California itself."{{cite web| url = https://www.spin.com/2020/02/radnor-and-lee-tackle-age-and-wisdom-on-new-album-golden-state| title = Radnor and Lee Announce New Album "Golden State"| date = 19 February 2020}} On May 4, the band made an announcement via their official social media channels that due to the coronavirus, the album's release date would be pushed back. Days later, American Songwriter premiered the video for the album's 2nd single, "Simple Harmony," and announced a new release date of June 19, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://americansongwriter.com/radnor-and-lee-simple-harmony-video-premiere/|title = Radnor & Lee Ache for Pre-Quarantine Life with New Video, "Simple Harmony"|date = 14 May 2020}} PopMatters premiered the album's "warm and catchy indie folk" single "Gimme Your Mess" on June 17, 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.popmatters.com/radnor-lee-gimme-your-mess-2646191518.html?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1|title=Radnor & Lee Deliver Warm, Funny Love Song via "Gimme Your Mess" (Premiere), PopMatters|date=17 June 2020}}

• Josh Radnor – vocals, guitar
• Ben Lee – vocals, guitar

• Radnor and Lee (Gold Village Entertainment, 2017)
• Golden State (Flower Moon Records, 2020)

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Category:Ben Lee albums

Category:How I Met Your Mother

Category:American indie folk groups