Bend singer-songwriter Kolby Knickerbocker recently released "Over and Over," a love song dedicated to his wife and the first single from his upcoming EP of the same name.

Singer-songwriter Kolby Knickerbocker originally hails from the Atlanta, Georgia, area. The city’s R&B, soul and gospel traditions seep into “Over and Over,” the first single from Knickerbocker’s second solo EP of the same name. The single released Wednesday, while the EP arrives April 2.

Born in Miami, Knickerbocker grew up just south of Atlanta in Peachtree City, but caught the travel bug early. He attended high school and college in California, then spent time in London and Poland before moving back to San Diego to play music full-time.

After releasing a full-length album and two EPs with the duo Rodello’s Machine, also featuring songwriter Nate Donnis, Knickerbocker needed a change of pace. He moved to Bend with his wife, Kristine Knickerbocker, about three years ago, and started a family. He now plays music part time.

“Over and Over” is a love song from Knickerbocker to his wife, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Q: Tell me about writing the song. I know it was written for your wife; what was the specific inspiration?

A: Usually late at night I just doodle on instruments and come up with riffs and whatnot. That riff was playing and I was playing it very slowly, and the melodic rhythm had this very calming effect. It was just this repeated line (sings melody), so it had this repeating melodic effect. And I think it was a night after a long-ass day, you know, having kids is hard, the pandemic sucks seven ways from Sunday. It was just hard; everything was hard, and this little rhythm came in and it felt like a nice blanket on me. … And the lyrics came — just those first lines, “It’s been a long day, it’s been a long year, it’s been a long life” — but I didn’t want to leave it there just to be like, this sucks. … So then I was like, OK, what else about this? And it was always like, but I’m here, I’m showing up, I’m coming to bat, I’ll always come to bat. And so that’s where the theme came from. … Relationships are hard; anyone who’s been married knows it takes work. But the idea was, putting it in personification to my wife, to the love of my life, I’ll always show up.

Q: That aspect of, “I will always show up,” I think in COVID times, that’s a message that is really relevant with couples being stuck together 24-seven when they hadn’t been before. So that acknowledgement of, yes, this is hard, and with COVID, perhaps even harder than ever.

A: Yeah, I think that’s true. I didn’t anticipate this being part of that, but the timing of it is so serendipitous. I think you’re right. There’s so many stories about people being locked in. It’s so much more stressful and so that puts stress on everything with finances, jobs being lost and being indoors. And I kind of like that, that of the previous songs, the previous EP I wrote, a lot of releases I’ve written before this, it gives me a greater sense of purpose to give a message of hope. To give voice to emotions that people may not know what they’re feeling or may not understand what’s going on, but just to be that message of hope.

Q: The pandemic has been particularly hard on musicians and the live music industry, which has virtually shut down since March. How have you been doing personally and professionally?

A: I’ve got two little ones, one who’s almost 3 and a 6-month-old. So these are times in their (lives) when they’re learning social skills and wanting to get out and interact with people, and it’s been a really challenging time to navigate that with little kids. Also for my wife and I too, our social life has been locked down. Our ability to enjoy Bend as we used to has really (come) down, so it’s been rough. I told my wife just the other day, “After almost a year now, I’m kind of hitting a wall.” Before, I’m naturally an introvert; I write songs, I put them out there, I’m cool with just being with myself. But even me after a year I’m like, OK, this is enough. And that makes me realize, I feel for my extrovert friends who throw parties and need people around them and have jam gatherings every weekend. … Professionally I’ve got a jobby-job, which allows me to be really stress-free, and that’s intentional. … I hustled full-time music for seven-ish years, and that was stressful. And I was just by myself so I didn’t worry too much about making rent, because I was like, “If I don’t make rent, whatever, I’ll just crash on the couch or I’ll scrounge around.” But when I decided to have a family, I was like, “I’m gonna get a jobby-job and I’m going to do music at night.” And it’s been really freeing knowing that I don’t have to live off music, and in a way that doesn’t put pressure on my creativity.