Merrick Winter Shares Sophomore EP
Today, London-based folk/Americana singer-songwriter Merrick Winter shares his long-awaited, poignant sophomore EP, The California Zephyr out now via Tone Tree Music. With the full project, Winter captures a sardonic character study with shuffling folk-rock groove “Alki Beach” out now. On May 13, Winter will perform live at The Lower Third in London and on May 20 at The Folklore Rooms in Brighton, UK.
On The California Zephyr, Winter paints sonic portraits of love, loss and the human condition through masterful instrumentation and stirring lyricism. Winter shares, “‘The California Zephyr’ is really a travelogue of longing. It’s the feeling that most often yields a song for me. A chronology of bygone eras; a homesickness morphed into fantasy. I find comfort in making that feeling permanent through songs.” Influenced by Randy Newman, Jackson Browne and Tom Waits, the project captures extraordinary accounts of ordinary lives with vignettes of American life, mixed with the memories of the artist’s childhood, leaving for the UK at age 12. The live version of the title track, recorded at British Grove Studios with Nashville orchestra Lockeland Strings is out now and can be watched here.
The EP, produced by Matt Zara (Teddy Swims, Lola Young, Niall Horan), Patrick James Fiztroy and Adam Lee, takes its name from the cross-country Amtrak train Winter boarded while writing it, pulling inspiration from conversations with strangers across the U.S.–everyone from an Amish family from Illinois, an ex-Hippie from Berkeley, to a mother and daughter from Tennessee. Throughout the body of work, Winter keenly examines a wide range of topics and emotions while weaving varied sounds together–from grief, to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, to the millennial and Gen Z approach to spiritual connection with meditation apps. Plus, pulling from Buena Vista Social Club and the storytelling of Paul Simon and Ernest Hemingway, Winter taps into the rich culture and Latin music of Cuba in his Flamenco guitar-driven track with Spanish multi-instrumentalist Lau Noah.
“Alki Beach,” out today, invites listeners into the world of a stranger in Seattle, written in one sitting after a surreal conversation during a long bus ride. The track, recorded live to tape, touches on the isolating feelings of being an ex-pat, not quite belonging to any one place. Rooted in a love for Ry Cooder’s vision of Americana, Winter says it’s “It rambles from political proclamations to well-meaning but misplaced life advice, tracing the national mood through my own outsider lens. At its core, it’s about ex-pat alienation—the awkward moment when someone asks where my accent is from, and I want to say ‘I’m from here,’ even though I know I’d sound like a liar. Still, I sing in an American accent. Some roots grow deep.”
Merrick Winter was raised in a small Midwestern college town in Iowa–home to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation University–to an Anglo-American family within an alternative spiritual community. While earning a degree in English Literature from King’s College London, Winter began writing and producing, working with artists like half·alive and Ivor Novello Rising Star winner Victoria Canal and grabbing the attention of leading tastemakers like NOTION, The Line of Best Fit and EARMILK. Winter’s unmatched intimate live shows have earned him a following across the U.S. and UK, selling out London’s iconic St. Pancras Old Church in November 2024, and recently toured globally supporting Bastille. Now, Winter expands his sweeping sonic universe with a captivating, cinematic body of work that proudly puts his singular artistry and narrative-driven resonant storytelling on display like never before.
The California Zephyr EP, Merrick Winter’s enthralling sophomore EP is out now via Tone Tree Music. Catch Winter live in London on May 13 at The Lower Third and on May 20 in Brighton, UK at The Folklore Rooms. Connect with Merrick Winter via Facebook and Instagram, and stay tuned for more from the eloquent singer-songwriter. Check out more music coverage here.
Photo credit: Robbie Jeffers