Actress Ashley Johnson, who is best known for her role as Ellie in the videogame series The Last Of Us, and as the starring role in the NBC series Blindspot, has teamed up with actor Brian Foster for the musical project The Wild Years. The duo’s first musical release “Radio Nowhere,” is a cover of the Bruce Springsteen song, which appeared on his 2007 album release Magic.
The Wild Years performance of “Radio Nowhere” is a stripped back version of the Springsteen classic, replacing the electric guitar driven rock instrumental with a simple acoustic guitar. Johnson and Foster deliver an emotional vocal duet, with inspiration from Americana, country and folk music, as they harp on the nostalgic themes the song’s lyrics bring to the forefront.
While Springsteen’s original track is not as well known as his classic work throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, “Radio Nowhere” won Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song at the Grammy Awards of 2008.
While Johnson is best known as an actress, she has a lot of experience in the realm of music, having been taught violin and piano at the International School of Music, although she is also experienced in playing cello and guitar, making her a versatile multi-instrumentalist.
Foster has been engaged to Johnson since the end of 2018, and is also a writer in addition to his role as a singer. In 2012 he released Blackened White, a collection of poetry, prose, and short stories, which was listed as a bestseller on the retailer Amazon.
Johnson is also a starring member of the web D&D series Critical Role, while Foster hosts the interview program recorded after each episode of the series titled Talks Machina. The show is expected to have an animated counterpart titled Critical Role Vox Machina, which will be shown on Amazon due to a successful Kickstarter campaign. That series recently announced the writers for the upcoming animated series, it has been postponed due to coronavirus.