EP Stream: Bill Eberle, Ashes

Last March, we premiered the title track from Bill Eberle’s forthcoming album Matter & Time, and the Americana artist is now back with a taste of more music before the full-length drops later this spring.

Since moving to Nashville several years ago, the Pittsburgh-native has set out to pen a folk record that is both modern and pays tribute to the folk tradition. On Ashes, Eberle explores rock, blues, folk and country, pulling from influences as stylistically diverse as Joanna Newsom, Jimmie Rodgers, Kendrick Lamar and Bessie Smith.

“The EP and the upcoming full-length really grew out of the personalities that were a part of making it. Dave Coleman of The Coal Men engineered and played guitar, and three of the folks from the Nashville-based ELEL made up the rest of the band. All of them are so creative and open musically that the collaborative energy in the room quickly became electric. It turned into this fun, greasy country-folk record.

Lyrically, I was trying to stretch out a little bit and not just write traditional country stuff. I wanted the songs to feel connected to the world I am living in. There’s a song about certain injustices I perceive around me and there’s a song about the global flood that might end the world. But with a band this good I think they’re still pretty fun to listen to.”

Listen to Ashes below, which drops Feb. 12.