Brad Radtke

Somewhere in South Haven, Michigan, at the mouth of the Black River, Brad Radtke is wrangling chords from a battered acoustic guitar, singing haunted melodies and words of candid splendor. To say his music is heartfelt and introspective is truth, but it’s only a small part of the story.

Radtke spent the previous fifteen years churning out riffs in bands inspired by the sounds of indie rock, punk rock, and ska. However, to be a solitude artist now, after years braving a sonorous storm comes naturally to Radtke. Like the beaches of South Haven on a soft summer night, Radtke’s songs stand serenely, evoking losses and gains now passed and still to come.

In 2011, Radtke released his first solo album, Cheap Beer, Lost Causes, on the independent Kerosene Machine Records. The songs are stark and sparsely intertwined with melodies that linger like a lonely drive through the night on a desolate two-lane blacktop highway.

Although Radtke may have traded his amplifier for quieter devices, his words still resonate with a tone that cuts through a night at the local gin or coffee joint just as directly as sound pushed through a bunch of speakers. The introspective nature of his words and the weariness in his voice has intrinsically transformed him into a rock ‘n’ roll balladeer.

This all brings us to present day, circa 2013. Radtke is readying a new full length of songs and aims to tour early 2014 to support it. Much like the Black River flows out to Lake Michigan, Brad Radtke is ready to go out to sea, and he’s bringing his collection of stories and songs with him.