Bearing the road-worn patina and accumulated miles -- both geographically and emotionally -- of a troubadour twice his age, singer/songwriter Joshua Speers radiates an all-American mythos backed up by his songs, which merge a bit of Springsteen grit with romantic modern pop. After cutting his teeth as a street performer, bandmember, and touring sideman, he inked a record deal as a solo artist and made his label debut with the 2020 EP Human Now. A native of Delaware where his father served as principal of an elite boarding school, Speers gravitated toward a more blue-collar aesthetic, roughing it on road trips around the Northeast and, after high school, traveling cross-country to Colorado where he spent time as a street musician. Sandwiched in between all of this were occasional stints in jam bands and plenty of reading. Inspired especially by the writing of Joan Didion, he began to find his voice as a songwriter, emerging as a sort of well-read, warm-hearted rock & roll rebel and nomad by choice. He worked odd jobs, fixed and rode motorcycles, made pottery, spent some time as Caroline Rose's touring bassist, and in 2018 found his way to Los Angeles. There Speers fell in with a group of like-minded up-and-comers and within a year managed to ink a major-label deal with Warner Bros., which issued his first single, "Happy Birthday You're Alone," a poignant breakup track. Additional songs like "Bad Night" and "Stray Bullets" followed and were collected on his 2020 debut EP, Human Now. ~ Timothy Monger