Q&A: John Kolar on Color Blind, Humor, and Our Mountain Home

 John Kolar is an up-and-coming artist from West Virginia, who y'all may recognize from my piece on Appalachian artists. John recently released his debut album Color Blind, in November, a record that blends warmth, humor, and reflection. 

After sitting down and enjoying this album, I reached out to John to talk more about its influences, my favorite tracks, and details that give this album its soul.

The title track has this beautiful intro that feels jazz-influenced before the percussion comes in, and it shifts into the sound that your fans associate with you. Were there any jazz artists or records that shaped this track, or your work in general, either historically or specifically for this album?

John Kolar: From 2022-2024, I studied at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh for a master’s in Music & Technology. As a part of this degree, I took jazz piano lessons. I wrote the intro to “Color Blind” when I was doing a jazz piano practice exercise, practicing for a lesson. It was a standard jazz exercise that I altered slightly to create the intro. The jazz piano lessons really helped me to grow as a musician, and they heavily influenced the sound and performances on the whole album.

My biggest artistic influence is the Beatles. I’ve always been a huge fan, and I look to them for songwriting inspiration. In my opinion, Beatles’ songs sound great no matter what instrumentation/form they take. You can take a Beatles song and play it in any genre, and I bet it will still sound good. That is my general goal with songwriting. I want to write songs that work well as songs, not just as cookie-cutter forms of a popular genre.

"Bunny Rabbit" was a standout for me, that mix of a beautiful melody with humorous lyrics. It immediately made me think of American storytellers like John Prine or Woody and Arlo Guthrie, where humor becomes a feature of the songwriting instead of a distraction. Were those artists an inspiration here, or were you aiming for a different tone with this track?

JK: I am certainly influenced by the older country/folk sound, and I especially enjoy songs with humorous lyrics. I love telling jokes. I’m always laughing at my own jokes even though my friends aren’t always laughing with me haha. I was on a bike ride when I wrote the main lines of “Bunny Rabbit” and I was definitely laughing out loud.

Before this album, when I was making music, I felt like I was taking myself and the music too seriously, and the music was missing an authenticity that didn’t sound like me. With this album, I tried to relax more to make it more personal, and I think that naturally led to more “funny” songs.

 "Skipping Stones" is not only my favorite track off the record, but it's also actually the song that introduced me to your music and inspired my Appalachian music piece. It has a warm, home-like feeling to it. Could you talk a bit about the origins of the track and what inspired it?

 JK: “Skipping Stones” is heavily influenced by Appalachian artists like Tyler Childers, John R. Miller, and Sierra Ferrell. I wanted to write a song in that general genre.

It is an Appalachian love song, and I wrote it about my partner while envisioning the mountains. I pictured the two of us together in nature, surrounded by mountains, and then wrote the song. With the help of my Appalachian friends Lucas Sherman (fiddle), Cole Parker (drums), and Mark Benincosa (mastering), we created “Skipping Stones,” and we are all very happy with the end product.

 I was curious about the closing track title "Pouco a Pouco", the Portuguese phrase meaning little by little. Was there a particular reason that you chose that language or phrase to close the album?

JK: I had this instrumental idea. Since it had no lyrics, it had no name. So, I asked my followers on social media to name the song for me. There were a lot of funny submissions for the name like “Diarrhea Armageddon Pt. 2”, “Bubble Bath”, and “Gas Tank Full of Gravy.” “pouco a pouco” was one of the submissions. I liked “pouco a pouco” a lot as an idea since I was going to be working on the album/music little by little this year. And “pouco a pouco” was my first ever release, so it seemed fitting.

I have to ask about the "menu" page on your website! It's such a cool and unexpected touch. What's the story behind it? Is it a list of favorites, inspirations, or more like a snapshot of your recent listening?

JK: Yes, that is my song menu! I play several gigs as a solo artist in bars/restaurants and for social events. When I do this, I print out these song menus and give them out to the audience for them to request songs. This allows me to easily interact with the audience and get to know them better. I try to make the menu comprehensive across several genres so that there is a song for everyone. And learning all these songs has taught me a lot about songwriting. I can see how my influences write, and I can apply those methods to my own writing.   

Huge thanks to John for taking the time to speak with me about this beautiful record! Color Blind is out now and is a record that rewards an attentive listener. You can check out more of John's work on his website, Instagram, and Spotify.