It’s been a long, strange trip for singer-songwriter Merrick Winter, who was raised by Anglo-American parents in Fairfield, Iowa, home to the Maharishi University. In addition to learning meditation, he soaked up plenty of Jackson Browne/Randy Newman influences before moving to the UK at age 12.
Winter just released his second EP called The California Zephyr, with a new video of the title track recorded at Mark Knopfler’s studio in London (backed by Nashville’s orchestra collective Lockeland Strings). The EP gets its name from the cross-country Amtrak train Winter rode while writing it, drawing inspiration from fellow passengers that included an Amish family and an ex-hippie from Berkeley.
“‘The California Zephyr’ is really a travelogue of longing,” says Winter. “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.”
Watch the video for “The California Zephyr” below, or find it on the streaming services.
