Not every pop song is popcorn fluff about “moon, June, spoon.” In 1975, for example, Janis Ian had a No. 3 Billboard hit with “At Seventeen,” about the pain of being rejected for one’s plain looks and skin issues. It contains the words, “And those of us with ravaged faces lacking in the social graces desperately remained at home inventing lovers on the phone.”

Mt. Airy native and Glenside resident Jamie Polson, a talented singer/songwriter who has performed at numerous local venues, has written similarly power songs. One, “I’m Glad You’re Here,” deals with the profound issue of suicide. The record is on his album, “Music is Magic.”

Polson will perform 1 to 4 p.m., Oct. 17, at the Johnson House in Germantown as part of a fundraising show for the Crossroads Women Center in Germantown,

A reader of the Local brought the song to our attention, writing, “I heard him play it at Malelani Cafe in Mt. Airy on [a recent] Thursday night. As a suicide survivor myself, this song really caught my attention, ‘I’m glad you’re here’ ... I have never attempted it, but I’ve had periods where I was incredibly depressed.”

In an interview with the Local last week, Polson explained, “I say those words, ‘I thought about not being around anymore,’ before starting the song to tell the audience the context of when and why I wrote it. I wrote the song shortly after a very intense breakup that left me feeling paranoid and unsafe in my own body and apartment.”

“I have OCD and could not sleep for weeks after it happened. My mental health was the worst it had ever been, and there were many days when I thought it would be easier to just cut my time here on earth short,” Polson continued. “I never had a full plan, more so just the idea of it. I then started writing some lyrics of words that I desperately needed to hear someone else say to me. Now, whenever I perform the song, I get emotional. The song serves as a message for anyone else who may be struggling with mental health, that they are not alone and that at least one person is glad that they exist. And sometimes that little reminder can make a huge difference.”

Polson, 26, was raised in Mt. Airy near the Stenton train station. He attended elementary and middle school at Project Learn School in Mt. Airy and high school at Science Leadership Academy in Center City. While in high school, Polson started his own YouTube channel which he still posts on. In 2022, he graduated from Ursinus College in Collegeville with two degrees, in music and communications. While at Ursinus, he was the drummer for a jazz ensemble, captain of the Ultimate Frisbee team, and the drummer and lead singer in a band called “Feel It Out.” In college, he also started releasing his own music under the name Jamie the Optimist.

One might say that music is in Polson’s DNA. His parents, Bruce and Linda Pollack-Johnson, have been hosting the Folk Factory Coffee House, located at the Unitarian Universalists of Mt. Airy headquarters at 6900 Stenton Ave., for over 35 years, showcasing hundreds of local musicians. Growing up, Polson would help to set up the tables, chairs and sound equipment, put out snacks and sometimes be in charge of the sound board.

(Interestingly, his last name, Polson, is a combination of his parents’ last names. They took the “Pol” from Pollack and the “son” from Johnson to create a hybrid for Jamie and an older sibling.)

In addition to Malelani Cafe and The Folk Factory, Polson has performed locally at The Royal in Glenside, Mt. Airy Art Garage, Tired Hands Beer Garden, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Lo-Fi Lunch Series in Glenside, Fallser Club in East Falls and Steel City Coffeehouse in Phoenixville.

Outside his musical gigs, Polson worked at the Weavers Way Co-op in Mt. Airy from 2018 to 2026 and at Star Island, a retreat center off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Since musical gigs do not pay all the bills for most musicians, Polson also has done lots of babysitting and pet sitting as well as painting homes in Northwest Philadelphia. He is also a music teacher at the Chestnut Hill Music Academy, teaching piano, drums and guitar lessons to children.

When asked to name the best decision he ever made, Polson replied, “I would say that the decision that has impacted my life in the most positive way was the first time I released my music to the world. I started releasing my music in 2017 on SoundCloud. It was pretty bad because I was just starting out. I had just gotten a new computer and wanted to learn how to use GarageBand, so I messed around with it and would make new beats every day.”

“After a few months, I decided to write some lyrics over top some of my beats, and then I recorded and released them. I knew at the time that I wasn’t great at it, but I became obsessed with the process of creating something and sharing it with the world. I have not stopped ever since,” Polson continued. “Creating, sharing and performing music is all I want to do now. I believe that music is the closest thing that we have to real magic. It has changed my life in so many beautiful ways. Creating something out of nothing and having people really connect with it is a feeling unlike any other.

“I would also like to shout out my older sibling, Kio, the best sibling that I could ask for, and I would like to shout out my amazing, kind and talented partner, Roe, and my band mates Gene, Dexter, Tim and Chris. Getting to make awesome music with them every week is such a blessing.”

For more information, email jamietheoptimistofficial@gmail.com. His Instagrams are jamie.polsonc and jamietheoptimistofficial. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.