John Berry is a singer, songwriter and husband, but he is also a father. For that reason, seeing students face uncertainty, especially seniors, due to COVID-19, inspired John to re-release “The Graduation Song,” which he wrote for his own 1977 graduation, and was first on a record almost four decades ago.

“It’s crazy,” John told Everything Nash. “I never imagined in a million years –– I recorded that on a record, In the Nightime, in 1981. I’ve played it live, and I’ve been invited to speak at some high school graduations and do the song and different things like that. It’s been one of those favorites of those fans that like to dive deep into the catalog and love songs. It’s like a little hidden gem.”

John credits his 25-year-old son, Caelan, with inspiring him to release “The Graduation Song,” along with a touching video as well.

“He plays drums for us,” John said. “He said, ‘Dad, you know, while we’ve got this time available, let’s record a song. But instead of going to a studio, let’s just get a drum track and a scratch vocal and scratch guitar down, and we’ll send it to all the guys and let them put parts on it. There’s little studios at their houses, and that’s what we did. And so everybody recorded it at home and emailed them to us. We put it together.”

John recently got to perform “The Graduation Song” at a special ceremony in Maury County, located just outside of Nashville.

“The school system rescheduled their graduation to later in June,” John recalled. “They had 21 students throughout the county that were going to be unavailable to come to that ceremony because  they had enlisted in the military, in different branches. So they were going to be going to boot camp and different things. They had a special event for those students, and they asked if I would come and sing that song.”

John has had his own struggles over the years, including a recent bout with throat cancer, which is why he can say with confidence that, even though life might look bleak, things will eventually get better.

“It’s just a rough patch in the road,” the 60-year-old insisted. “It’s just a moment. It’s gonna pass and we’ll be on to something else.. Life is, you’re either in a struggle, coming out of a struggle, or you’re going into a struggle. That’s it. That’s just life.”

Download or stream “The Graduation Song” here.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of B! Noticed PR / Just Kaicles