When John-Robert left his Edinburg, Virginia, hometown for Los Angeles in 2019, he did so with starry-eyed ambition – a teenage songsmith bypassing a Berklee scholarship to chase his musical manifest destiny. It quickly materialized: Grammy-nominated producer Ricky Reed (Leon Bridges, Lizzo) signed him at age 19 to Nice Life/Warner Records, helping integrate John-Robert’s lilting blend of traditional folk and Appalachian country into the modern pop landscape.

His debut single, 2019’s “Adeline,” has become an 11-million streamer. Collaborations and co-signs from the likes of Alessia Cara and Camilla Cabello, respectively, have further cemented him as a deeply auspicious writer on releases like 2020’s Bailey Barely Knew Me and 2021’s Healthy Baby Boy, Pt. 1. Now, on his new EP, Garden Snake, the artist hailed as “a small-town teen poised to become the next big singer-songwriter” by Live Nation’s Ones To Watch explores the pull of his past in a captivating five-song collection, bursting with the grassroots musicality of his Shenandoah Valley birthplace and the homespun purity of his earliest songwriting endeavors.