Ashley Johnson sings this heartbreaking song at the end of the powerfully poignant second episode of the second season of The Last Of Us.

I’ll give no spoilers here, and the lyrics offer no clue, but the juxtaposition of the visuals and the music at the end of the episode – Into The Valley – is almost unbearably poignant.

Although it sounds like an ancient blues song from back in the days of Leadbelly and Son House, the song was written by a contemporary artist, Shawn James, in 2012.

He’s clearly plugged into the blues heritage of his hometown Chicago, perhaps because he shares a surname with one of its greatest blues guitarists, Elmore James.

He’s a new name to me, though he did have a moment a decade ago when his video of a song called American Hearts by AA Bondy – of whom I’m a big fan – shot in a wolf sanctuary went viral in 2015.

This time it’s his own song being covered by another artist: Ashley Johnson is the actress who voiced Ellie (the teenage main character) in the video game that spawned the TV series – and she also played Ellie’s mum in the final episode of Season 1.

It was first unveiled in the trailer for the 2020 launch of the video game The Last Of Us Part II – and has been covered by an Australian artist called Tash Sultane – but it finds its true home in that powerfully emotional final scene before the credits roll.