As Graeme Tait takes an enforced break he kindly asked me to step in this month to produce our monthly EP Roundup. I think he knows he has no fears about my contributions matching his excellent work month after month. Still, we’ll give it a go.
First off is a strange one – billed as an EP, it is in fact just one song, sung by the writer, octogenarian San Francisco cult folk singer Tucker Zimmerman (with a second version of the song by Jackie Oates and Neil Halstead). Zimmerman was a hero to many, notably David Bowie, and had recorded 16 albums over a career stretching from 1969. He got into trouble in the US during the sixties for draft-dodging, so ended up in Belgium where he settled in 1970 with his wife Marie-Claire Lambert. A new album was on the horizon for release when Zimmerman and his wife died in a house fire at their home in January 2026. A series of singles are in the course of being released in anticipation of the album Dream Me A Dream being released on Big Potato Records in June. Rose of Sharon is the second single and Zimmerman’s version is a rocked-up mid-pacer with synthesisers and keyboards by Nick Holton, Oates on vocals and violin and Zimmerman’s voice a weathered and slightly weakened baritone. It is a song about the dark side of the hippie scene in the 1960s and is not an easy listen, as Zimmerman attacks the dangers of cults at the time – “now she rides thru the valley of the wealthy business man / she wears no clothes in the bedroom of her savior”. Oates and Halstead’s version is a very much slower, almost eerie version.
The Abramson Singers’ new EP Anything You Could’ve Been continues to be a vehicle for the vocal and lyrical talents of Leah Abramson and is a bit of an acquired taste. The last release from her was Songs for a Lost Pod, about whales, in 2018. Since then, she has become a mother and diverted her talents (including a Masters in Fine Art) towards teaching at UC Berkeley, directing, and co-writing for other artists’ projects. The new EP contains 6 slow songs in which Abramson’s quirky lyricism and surreal way with words direct the listener to her experience of getting older. All the songs are inventively arranged and focus on an array of synths and keys (Tyson Naylor) intermingling with vocal choruses, often sublimely overlapping, and some guitar textures courtesy of Jason Starnes and bass and cello provided by Mark Beaty (Be Good Tanyas). The opener Turn into a Crisp is based on a phrase coined by Abramson‘s 4-year-old daughter and is a short multi-voiced acapella piece. Spider on the Moon looks at midlife among a sea of synths and keys, while the slower Nemesis II is a hark back to a track on their last album that explores the destruction of a friendship: “So nice to my face; How are your parents – oh wait, I have to go / You know the hustle – oh wait, maybe you don’t”. Words in My Head looks at the remains of a rather harmful relationship, while the rather hypnotic Roses explores changing life on the road for something a little more mundane. The closer Can You See It Now finds Abramson exploring what we see in our heads. It is all slow but the arrangements are interestingly multi-layered, and the lyrics demand attention.
Tom Jordan hails from White Plains, NY , but has lived in the Merrimack Valley for more than 30 years, where he teaches history. His first EP, March On, is full of classic folk protest songs, with very interesting titles such as I Couldn’t Have Done It Without You, sung from the point of view of the current POTUS, with equally hard-hitting lyrics “And I’m not sure why you love me / ‘Cause I’m a poster boy for hell…Couldn’t you tell?” Welcome Committee (the ICE Song) is about, well, you can guess. Your Day Is Coming is another title about the obvious – “If there’s one thing in this world on which we can depend / The bully always goes too far and crumbles in the end”. The songs are sung to a somewhat snappy rhythm with acoustic guitar from Jordan and assistance on a number of acoustic instruments from E J Ouellette. Jordan’s voice is not subtle with very little variation in delivery . What Did You Learn in School today is a rewrite and update of a Tom Paxton song from 1964 and is rather more abrasive than Paxton’s more charming version. If you like your protest song uncompromising and unsparing, Jordan will appeal.
Next up is a fascinating debut EP, Strange Greetings from Tim Powell-Jones and Ben Morgan-Brown, respectively a folk singer songwriter from Devon with a pedigree that extends back to 2017 when his album Blossom and Fruit was voted fRoots Magazine Editor’s Choice for the year, and a folk artist and rather stunning blues guitarist, whose 2021 album Moment was praised for its “extraordinary guitar virtuosity” by BBC Music Introducing; the aforementioned fascination comes from the arrangements on a set of four typical English folk songs, which are driven along Powell-Jones’ deep expressive voice, and particularly Morgan-Brown’s outstanding guitar sounds which just gives these folk songs a somewhat more contemporary sound. There are two new songs; the title track reflects upon the darkness and sounds of the sea on the beach at night and the creation of sea glass. The second original is a very typical folk song about an ancient custom of telling the bees about a major household event – death, marriage etc – for fear that failure to do so would result in the bees’ hive dying. The belief was that bees are intelligent creatures and in fact part of the family. The other two songs are a scintillating interpretation of an early folk song, Souls on The Wind, collected at the end of the 19th century by Sabine Baring-Gould, who was focused on preserving historical old English folk songs, and Ramble Away, a more familiar folksong, which benefits from a rather stunning solo from Morgan-Brown. The songs are mostly slow but highly hypnotic. Take a listen, it’s very good.
Ryan Hobler is an indie folk singer and sound engineer with an unusual eye for lyrics and tunes, Erik Blicker is a New York musician, composer and sound engineer. They have joined forces to produce an indie folk EP called Paper Airplane Life, which sounds much like a modern day merger of 60s folk era Simon and Garfunkel, the Milk Carton Kids and Bon Iver. The EP has five tracks, and features some lovely harmonies over the top of Hobler’s mellow voice. Three of the tracks are versions of the album title song, a very pleasant folk song meditating on distance and longing. One version is an original, largely acosutic demo and the other two have some nice varied instrumentation and haunting harmonies. The track Brooklyn is a rather lovely ballad, a kind of love song to the New York borough with a very haunting cello solo, while Roll With me is a sweet exhortation to a prospective partner. A good debut.
Your humble reviewer was in this hot seat last April for Kier Byrnes and the Kettle Burners when After the Fall was released. Two EPs on and one could almost repeat the review but change the names of the tracks on parade. This new EP “Moonshine and Other Spirits” is in the same vein with some fast and furious accordion-led tracks, starting with My Baby’s Happy, a dark song about what happens to the girlfriend of the protagonist, and to the protagonist himself. Impossible is a hard-driving song with a really good accordion solo, though the song is a little simplistic lyrically. Goin Down in Style (a Robert Earl keen song from 2013) is taken at breakneck speed after a fine opening guitar riff and again features the accordion of Jason McGorty. What follows is a fine take on Tyler Childers’ White Horse Road, from his 2017 album Purgatory, about fast living and womanising – “I got women up and down this creek / And they keep me going and my engine clean / Run me ragged but I don’t fret / Cause there ain’t been one slow me down none yet”. The closer Make Me Wanna Dance, is another track that would get any crowd up, as I am sure the band do live – a bit Bill Haley with a stronger voice and accordion accompaniment. An EP for a live audience.
Aisha Khan has been a musical presence around London for more than a quarter of a century, singing mostly roots music in the form of jazz and blues, with a retro styling that dates back to the 1940s/1950s, the age of glamour. She has been associated with a number of groups in the time, most notably Aisha Khan and The Rajahs, and has released two solo albums and one with the Rajahs. A more recent side project has been a trio including Matt Radford (bass) and Mal Barclay (electric guitar and vocals) that call themselves Grace Under Fire; they have released their new self-titled EP, an album that leans towards the country classics of the 1950s and 1960s. The first track is a very Loretta Lynn-styled song Never Love a Cowboy, with a Ring of Fire backing motif. It is an ode to generations of women with a soft spot for old-fashioned cowboys. Good Golly Miss Hollie is a lively track that welcomes the baby born to her stepdaughter, with a bit of a tilt at Jerry Lee Lewis and some 50s doo wop. Chest Full of Stone is a swaying slower tune with a lovely guitar break about turmoil inside when the world just stays the same. The showstopper is Incandescent about the challenges women face on a constant basis: “You got too fat, you look too thin / You can have it all, but you can’t win / I’m sick of all the shit I have to take / Sometimes I do not knowif I am coming or going / I’m a woman of an uncertain age”. The EP ends with two covers, the Buzzcocks Ever Fallen in Love, a nice take with some deep grungy guitar and a very catchy “Shakin’ All Over” kind of riff: then a version of Bacharach and David’s r’n’b hit for the Shirelles, “Baby It’s You”, which, to be honest, falls rather flat, despite the Buddy Holly licks. There’s no doubting the group’s talent, Khan has a commanding and versatile voice and Barclay is a similarly adept electric guitar player. One imagines they go down a storm on stage.
Diyet and the Love Soldiers is also a trio, led by Canadian singer Diyet (van Lieshout) and is a fine addition to the music of the indigenous peoples of Canada, in this case Kluane in Yukon Territory. Diyet has been writing songs for decades and has released a couple of solo albums in the past. This new EP Seeds of Dreaming (Acoustic Version) delivers acoustic (!) reimaginings of 5 of the songs from the original album of the same name from August last year. This venture however uses only acoustic guitars, upright bass, mandolins, and dobro and was made by the trio in one take fusing their instruments and harmonies to great effect on songs that view the world from Diyet’s upbringing across two worlds and as an indigenous woman. Give me a reason is a lovely song about a not-so-lovely topic – the chaotic and unpleasant world around us, which we must fight with compassion. As throughout the EP, there are lovely harmonies and some outstanding acoustic guitar work from Juno award-winning producer and instrumentalist, Bob Hamilton, and Diyet’s husband Robert van Lieshout. Running through the Great Divide has been featured already in AUK via Andrew Frolish’s recent video article, which you can find here. 8th Wonder explores the outcome of a practice designed to strip indigenous children of their identity and culture, and is sung in a more abrasive higher register. Still and Grandfather’s Country pay tribute firstly to the stillness that we can find in nature, acting as a countermeasure to the ‘noise’ in the world, and then to the legacy of Diyet’s grandparents who lived on the land before ‘progress’. Grandfather’s Country is the name given to the homelands of Kluane. It’s a lovely and thought-provoking EP.
Joe H Henry has a new EP out, the 5-song Real Things, and it‘s exceedingly good. Henry is a Canadian with a voice not unlike Chris Stapleton or Jesper Lindell, described by one observer as ‘powerful as a freight train’. He is from the Red River Metis, an indigenous Indian group from near Winnipeg, and spent some of his youth as a homeless trainhopper. He is now the father of five children who “tell me straight-up when a song doesn’t hit. If I get a head nod from the kitchen table, I know I’ve got something”. Well, with this set, he need not have worried. Kicking off with the scorching Only a Whisper, he sets out his stall as a writer of some style. The song analyses the end of a relationship that just wouldn’t work. Quicksand is a memorable slow blues exploring concern about being stuck in one place. Country blues Bad Dude is a highlight (they all are, when it comes to that) as it studies the duplicitous nature of politicians and the media on a song which starts with acoustic guitar (and bass and harmonies courtesy of producer Dave Gunning) and features glorious gospel background singers. Lone Wolf is a short, high octane track with echoes of Elvis, with a rumbling James Burton-style guitar in the background. The title track closes things off – a slow lilting folk blues exposing Henry’s deep and personal songwriting. This EP is the sure sign of a rising star and a highlight in this month’s tally of EPs.
And here’s another fine songwriter. Jacob McCoy hails from Arkansas and after a short spell in the 2010s during which he released an interesting album Questions (2018) he took a break until returning recently with a string of singles, the most recent of which appear on his debut EP Deep Deep Water. This is an album of 6 well written, mostly slow acoustic stripped back songs that are very appealing on the ear. The songs mostly focus on love and commitment, patiently waiting on Still I Wait with its Everly Bros-sounding vocal arrangement, across the seasons on All Our Days, and a spiritual commitment on the title track. What He Don’t has an interesting lyric about how self-discipline can forge one’s character. McCoy has a warm emotive voice and the production by Sam Westhoff pulls listeners into the very personal songs with some sympathetic arrangements. Another fine EP.
It is very difficult to convey what to think about Anna Tivel’s Animal Poem B-Sides – B-Sides!! – The four songs on her EP were produced at the same recording sessions as her 2025 album Animal Poem, one of the finest albums of last year, and they are just as beautiful as the ones that made the cut. They were recorded in a circle where Tivel sat with “some of my dearest friends” who just happen to be some of the most empathetic session players you could ever wish to hear, but let’s pick out guitarist (and producer) Sam Weber, and saxophone stylist Nicole McCabe. The first track Swan Song was released as a single at the end of last year and AUK’s Jonathan Aird had this to say. The original album, released in August was reviewed by AUK’s Paul Kerr who said of Tivel “One can decide whether to delve into the words or just surrender to the sheer beauty of the songs – it’s almost impossible not to return to the beginning and listen again and again” – “she lays out a collection of songs which just celebrate the humanity in all of us”. Difficult to argue with any of the foregoing. After the opener, the three songs are Memphis, about “ the things we reach for when reality is too painful to accept”, says Tivel, after meeting an ex-con on his way to an evangelical meeting. Saint of Scrap Metal is ‘a meditation on struggle and compassion” using a thief and rehabilitation as a metaphor: and Gunmetal Blue, a folk ballad written ‘with a softness in my heart for people” rather than the hurt and anger that sometimes populates her songs. Casually brilliant, as one of my colleagues has stated about her music. In any other month Anna Tivel’s EP would be voted the EP of the month, but, largely because hers is effectively a coda to her full length album from last year, the award goes to…..
Russell Jamie Johnson, a name that crossed AUK’s path in 2021 with a video single that we liked very much, is a multi-talented singer-songwriter, stuntman, actor and sometime archer from Linton, Indiana, now based in New York. And he has released a self-titled debut 8-song EP that these days seems to count as a full album (and the overall length would chime with that, at 35 minutes long). But whatever the description, it is a brilliant run of country rock-fused americana songs mixed with a trio of outstanding ballads and a couple of slow blues, which take us on a journey of nostalgia, memories, and relationship issues (mostly unreciprocated love). From Indiana, where he first picked up a guitar and learned to write to process the grief of losing his father at an early age, Johnson went to the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston, studying songwriting, and it sure has paid off. He is quite the wordsmith, and very few of the longish tracks leave much room for long solos, as the words take up all the space. The easy-going country blues of Gabrielle, the sad acoustic ballad Belle of Brighton, the equally sad Breaking in the Morning Light and the slow blues Take All the Time You Need explore difficult relationships involving infidelity, a one-sided love, betrayal, a failing long-distance relationship and attempts to re-kindle a love gone bad. The country rock of Who We Used To Be and the retro -sounding and extremely catchy First and Canal, and the slightly faster Come For A Ride, with their haunting sax in the background are regular earworms, songs that cover nostalgic memories of times past. Johnson writes and sings, most of the instrumentation (all guitars, keys, bass synths and strings) are courtesy of producer Chase Potter. The lyrics are honest and relatable (“Well I’m not missing you babe / You’re just missing from me now / It’s the terminal stages / Of our broken vows / It’s a tale as old as time / We’ll turn our love into an antique lie / I’ll be the villain in your story this time / And you can be the villain in mine”), Johnson’s voice is charming and emotional. Believe me, this guy could make a real name for himself. This is an excellent album and my choice as EP of the month
