As an independent radio station, WNRN supports Virginia artists through its regular and specialty programming, In-Studio Sessions, and presents promotions. Each month, we’ll have a Commonwealth artist featured here. WNRN’s Commonwealth Music is supported by listeners like you. Become a member now and support Commonwealth Music on WNRN!
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Artist Spotlight
John-Robert
At only 13 years old, John-Robert was handpicked to perform on the Ellen show as a musical child prodigy. In 2019, he left his hometown of Edinburg, Virginia, to move to LA and start his music career. He was signed to Nice Life/ Warner by Grammy-nominated producer Ricky Reed (Leon Bridges, Lizzo) and released a handful of singles and EPs over a few years, but it was a live fireside performance of his 2023 song “Come Pick Me Up” that catapulted John-Robert’s lilting blend of traditional folk and Appalachian country into the modern pop landscape.
As of 2025, John-Robert is reconnecting with his roots back in Virginia, and will take the stage at Dead Air V in August! See the full lineup and get your tickets here.
Commonwealth Music on YouTube
World Cafe Features
McKinley Dixon on World Cafe
On McKinley Dixon’s new album, Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?, he moved to Chicago, looking for a blank canvas to generate ideas for this wildly inventive and sonically lush LP that tackles themes of longing. Dixon will talk about why his sound can be difficult to pin down, his love of animation, and how the author Toni Morrison inspired the album’s title, on the next World Cafe.
Lowland Hum Mini Concert on World Cafe
The songs on Lowland Hum’s latest album, From Self with Love, were written during a period of uncertainty for the husband and wife duo of Daniel and Lauren Goans. They’d just become first-time parents when they wrote the album, which touches on themes of pandemic isolation, early parenthood, death, grief, and new life.
David Wax Museum on World Cafe
Tuesday July 25th, 2023 David Wax Museum’s latest album You Must Change Your Life looked like it could be their last when frontman David Wax