Joel Streeter

Joel Streeter has been hailed as "one of pop's best kept secrets", as "a true pop talent", as "an indispensable songwriting talent", and as an "avowed melody junkie" drawing comparisons to Paul McCartney, Elliott Smith, Neil Finn, XTC and Wilco among others. His music has been featured on television shows such as the CW's 90210 and PBS's Roadtrip Nation.

Growing up in the historic town of Gettysburg, PA, Joel began playing guitar and writing music at an early age. After releasing two 4-song EPs before the age of 19 with two Gettysburg-area bands, Joel attended college at Wesleyan University, studying guitar and playing in several popular regional acts.

After college, Joel moved to Washington, DC and formed the band Spy Cellar.  Spy Cellar was a local favorite, playing to packed crowds in Northern Virginia and Washington, DC. Two years later, Joel moved to San Francisco in 2003.

Arriving in San Francisco, Joel quickly established himself as a gifted performer and songwriting talent.  After a few months of gigs as a sideman in a bluegrass group, as a bassist, and as a host of a popular San Francisco open mic, Joel teamed up with Jerry Becker (multi-instrumentalist for Train) to produce his debut, Hear Me Out (released in 2006).  Hear Me Out attracted attention from the legendary KFOG radio, earning him radio play, multiple KFOG Morning Show appearances, and a track ("Stay Living") on KFOG's Local Scene Volume 4 CD.  Joel was also a founding member of the San Francisco Songwriters Coalition and helped start the "Conversations with Renee" podcast series featuring top-notch Bay Area singer/songwriters in a performance/interview session at San Francisco's Cafe Royale hosted by KFOG Morning Show Host, Renee Richardson.  The Joel Streeter Band has performed at the top venues in the Bay Area including The Great American Music Hall, Slim's, Cafe du Nord, The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and The Rickshaw Stop among others. Joel and his band also had the privilege of opening for Phil Lesh and Friends at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium.

In 2008, Joel began work on his sophomore effort, Matador, again teaming with producer Jerry Becker. His reputation having grown since landing in San Francisco five years before, Streeter attracted the best and brightest Bay Area musicians to lend their considerable talents including Counting Crows' Jim Bogios on drums, James Deprato on electric guitar (Chuck Prophet's Mission Express, Pat Monahan of Train), Matthew Henry Cunitz (John Vanderslice, Mushroom) and guest vocal appearances from Megan Slankard and Brad Brooks. The result was an album hailed as "a classic sounding pop album full of bounce, melodic arch, and lyrical substance" and as "introspective and connective, deep and bright, ambitious and comforting." Powerpopaholic rated Matador an 8/10, saying that there is "not a bad track in the bunch and plenty of memorable gems making it easy to recommend." Matador was also named #34 on Absolute Powerpop's Top 100 albums of 2010.

In 2011, Joel hit the road to promote Matador, including multiple appearances at The Living Room in New York City, Austin, Texas for  SXSW, and Cafe Du Nord in San Francisco. Later in the year, he landed in Brooklyn performing regularly at NYC venues including Rockwood Music Hall, Pianos and The Living Room.

In 2018, Joel moved from Brooklyn to Charlottesville, VA where he co-founded the band Boxed Lunch and the Beatles acoustic duo Two of Us. Boxed Lunch released its debut EP in 2022 and is currently working on a full-length album.

After a nearly 14 year hiatus from new solo music, Joel teamed with Matt Wyatt (Night Teacher) at Matt’s Tree & Booms studio in Charlottesville to record and release the single I Don’t Mind, available to stream on all platforms on March 22, 2024.