Portland-based singer-songwriter Jeff Christmas on Thursday released “Sloe Gin Fizz,” his first new track since putting out the full-length album “Little Universe” in 2020.

The slow, acoustic tune tells of an experience from Christmas’ past about his friend Rob Jordan. They met during college in North Carolina, shared a huge music connection and played together many times.

“Rob was a beautiful singer who was just as capable with Whitesnake as he was with Puccini, and I heard him do both,” said Christmas.

Whenever he and Jordan played together, something happened that was better than what they could each do on their own. But there was another side to the musical partnership. “Rob also battled addiction and was sometimes very frustrating to play with — he’d go too hard and then no-show gigs.”

In 2019, just before his 41st birthday, Jordan suffered a fatal heart attack, and it hit Christmas hard.

“I had never lost someone that I had that connection with, and it makes me so sad to know that that thing we could do together is just … gone. So, shortly after his passing, I wrote this song. It’s all basically 100% true and my way of making my way through the loss while trying to hold to the good, beautiful things we made together.”

In the song, Christmas sings to Jordan: “You sang with a voice they never heard/My old high school crush hanging on every word.”

You can see Christmas tonight at One Longfellow Square in Portland. The show is at 8 p.m. and tickets are available here.

Here’s “Sloe Gin Fizz:”