JASON HEATH AND THE GREEDY SOULS
EARTH FIRE WATER AIRBORNE
– BY MIKE METTLER
Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls wear their heart on their collective sleeve — and in the songwriting. It’s all there in the grooves for everyone to discover, as they continue to ramp up their level of unabashed emotionality and unapologetic verve that has defined the balance of their career. On their latest full-length offering, Earth Fire Water Airborne — which is being released independently via Still Small Recordings on November 14, 2025 — Heath and his fellow Greedy Souls come across as primal, raw, and, well, as elemental as can be.
Earlier releases had organically aligned with the burgeoning Americana movement, but more recently, Heath and Co. felt a reset of sorts was in order for capturing the character of the sonic template they wanted to enact for Earth Fire Water Airborne. The trajectory of the anthemic fist-pumper “Children, Chains and Razorwire” and the skinny-tie vibes of “6 More Miles” in turn connect with the acoustic throes of “Your Disease” and “Pieces of My Heart,” the touching duet that closes the album. In short, Earth Fire Water Airborne shares powerful DNA with the timeless nature of our most cherished rock records — and not just because the late, great MC5 guitarist and longtime friend Wayne Kramer contributed his final performance to the title track. “My biggest influences have always been artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan, so I went after more of a roots-rock approach this time,” explains Heath. “We also got inspiration from other kinds of music we’ve always liked, whether it’s Pink Floyd, U2, Radiohead, or newer stuff like The War on Drugs. We wanted as big a production as we could get, but also wanted to add different elements to the mix too. This album is accessible to everybody who loves rock.”
To get the exact sound they sought for Earth Fire Water Airborne, Heath and his comrades enlisted the forward-thinking, genre-defying producer/engineer Tyler Lyons (Kendrick Lamar, Playboi Carti) to assist with expanding that sound palette while at the same time remaining true to the artist’s core goals. “He’s essentially our co-producer,” confirms Heath. “Tyler wound up engineering and recording everything, and then he would take what we had done and spend a few days adding all kinds of sound design elements to it. He played piano and sang. He was almost like the sixth member of our band. Every time I listen to it, I hear something new he did. I couldn’t be happier with the way the new album sounds.” To bring it all to the finish line, Bryan Cook (Radiohead, Stephen Wilson Jr.) was tapped to do the mixing, while Hans DeKline (U2, Pixies) handled the mastering.
Given the end results, the production triumvirate of Lyons, Cook, and DeKline clearly found the precise sweet spot that had somehow eluded Heath when he first started working on the album during the pandemic. “This record was finished at one time, and it was called Thunder Above, Fire Below,” Heath reveals. (A quite poignant power ballad of the same name anchors the new LP’s back half.) “I tried doing it at home by myself, but it was maybe a little too slick. So, I decided to sit with it for a while. Then we began writing a bunch of new songs in the interim that I thought were better than some of the songs on Thunder. Once we brought in a new drummer, Steve Nutting, to get behind the kit, we were on our way to getting the right sounds for the new record.” Besides Heath and Nutting, the current Greedy Souls lineup consists of guitarist Justin Salmons, organist/accordionist Jason Federici (son of the late Danny Federici of The E Street Band), and new bassist/vocalist Alyssa Mia Robertson.
Properly sequencing the 12 tracks that made the final cut for Earth Fire Water Airborne was an all-important task for Heath. “I always think about it in terms of vinyl sequencing,” he admits, adding that he plans to release a vinyl version of the new album as soon as he can. “I tend to just go for vibes. A record is a journey, so you’ve gotta transition out of the darker material into something that’s more poppy, and then go to the slower stuff. You’ve gotta bring people along with you, because you can’t keep them in the same mode for too long. I’ve always enjoyed that kind of wide spectrum, even as a fan of other artists’ albums. That’s how I feel about it, anyway.”
When it comes to expressing deep-seated feelings, “Your Disease” gets right to the heart of the matter — with literal strings attached to the arrangement. “That was an interesting song,” Heath explains, “because I’m the executive director for Jail Guitar Doors, where I work with justice involved/system impacted youth. We have a recording studio, a film program, and re-entry housing. One of the guys I was really close to there was a super-great songwriter, but he passed away from addiction. I was having trouble finishing the lyrics, but then I recalled some of the conversations we had. We talked about his struggles and his mother’s love, and how important that was to him — and then I realized I was singing about him, and his disease.”
As mentioned earlier, MC5 great Wayne Kramer contributed some searing guitar to the title track, in what turned out to be his final recording before passing away early last year. “The MC5 were my heroes. Wayne became my mentor and sponsor later in life, and then I wound up working for him when he formed Jail Guitar Doors with his wife and manager Margaret Saadi Kramer. We were really close,” Heath recalls. “There are some long-jam portions on the song ‘Earth Fire Water Airborne,’ and Wayne was always telling me how his favorite thing to do was vamp and jam with a guitar player with nothing written out. They’d have a conversation — not do any crazy leads, but just go back and forth. So, he jammed with our guitar player Justin [Salmons], and they had a blast — and that’s what you hear. It was tough losing Wayne, but I’m honored we have his last recorded performance on this record.”
No other song could end the album’s song cycle besides “Pieces of My Heart,” a two-hander duet that Heath shares with Robertson, who sings many amazing backgrounds on the record. “Songs have to fit in the right place,” he believes. “Sometimes you know where a song doesn’t belong, and you just gotta go with your instincts about that.” Fact is, Heath’s instincts are spot-on and out in full force across the even-dozen tracks that permeate Earth Fire Water Airborne. “I just wrote what I like to hear,” Heath concludes. “I didn’t really set out to do anything else — and then, whatever the best songs were at the end of the day, we put ’em on the record.”
Put ’em all on for yourself to hear the full glory, broad appeal, and unbridled truth that is Earth Fire Water Airborne. One thing to keep in mind while you listen, as per Heath’s own instructions in “Something to Hide” — “enjoy the ride.”
Earth Fire Water Airborne is available everywhere via Still Small Recordings on November 14, 2025.
jasonheathandthegreedysouls.com
For more information, please contact: Krista Mettler, Skye Media, krista.mettler@skyemediaonline.com
BIO
JH&TGS’s last album, But There’s Nowhere To Go, was a cry from the broken belly of the American Dream, where time, neglect, and corruption have taken their toll. But There’s Nowhere To Go built on the same foundation of the fiery roots-rock heard on their previous albums, which prompted Paste Magazine to call their first record, The Vain Hope Of Horse (which featured guests Tom Morello [Rage Against The Machine], Wayne Kramer [The MC5], and Nels Cline [Wilco]), “a wonderful debut: ragged, soulful, and well written.” Famed rock journalist Dave Marsh said of their second disc, Packed For Exile, “Jason Heath And The Greedy Souls speak to the heartache and joy in the world, with the wisdom not to try to separate them, and the skill to make all of it beautiful.” And American Songwriter lauded their third release, A Season Undone, writing, “…if you’re a fan of rock and roll, it deserves to be on your shortlist as one of the most heartfelt, honest and intelligently soulful rocking albums of the year.”
Jason Heath And The Greedy Souls are:
Jason Heath – Guitar, Vocals
Jason Federici – Keyboards, Accordion, and Vocals
Justin Salmons – Guitars and Vocals
Alyssa Mia Robertson – Bass and Vocals
Steve Nutting – Drums, Percussion, and Vocals
