(BHM) Steeped in the deep folk music traditions of Appalachia, and further molded by his prodigious young success, singer-songwriter John-Robert today releases the new single "Other Side." His first new release since 2023's Garden Snake EP and first release as an independent artist, "Other Side" was written in remembrance of his grandmother, as a gift to his mother.
Opting for an alternative tuning on his guitar, there's a richness in the song's woody tone, counterbalanced by a feeling of melancholy. Both raw in its production and emotional sentiment, the meditation on familial love and loss ends with a funeral-like organ fading in and out.
"My grandmother was in hospice care while I was living in Los Angeles, and I was getting updates on her condition from my mother over the phone. I thought about my mom and how she was losing her mother. I thought about how I'd feel losing my mother," remembers John-Robert. "I'm ashamed to say mom-mom and I weren't extremely close. After her passing, I felt like I lost out on getting to know someone who heavily influenced and created my favorite person. She was caring, kind, quick witted and smart. When you talked with her, you felt like the only person left on planet earth. Our last conversation, we shared an agreement that there should be no stigma around adults climbing trees."
In early 2025, John-Robert made the move from LA back to his home of Edinburg, Virginia (pop. 1,070). After spending 6 years on the West Coast, he knew that the best way to prioritize his mental health was returning to the place where he first fell in love with music and with himself. Put simply, John-Robert shared that the people in his hometown "want more for me than they want from me."
Surrounded by familiar faces and bathed in the Shenandoah River, John-Robert's upcoming music is a nostalgic scrapbook of memories he's ready to let listeners leaf through. This is seen in today's official video for "Other Side" where he digitized decades worth of family home videos
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