Southern California-based roots-rock band Jason Heath and the Greedy Souls is set to release its new album, Earth Fire Water Airborne, via Still Small Recordings on November 14, 2025. Initially set for CD and digital release, Heath plans to also issue a vinyl version in the coming months. Full of unabashed emotionality and another helping of the unapologetic verve that has defined the balance of the band’s career, Heath and his fellow Greedy Souls come across as primal, raw, and, well, as elemental as can be on the dozen tracks that make up the new album.
“The songs were written and recorded during the pandemic lockdown and were, in some ways, just an attempt to process the moral, political, and spiritual challenges that we were facing individually and collectively,” says Heath. “I just tried to be as honest as I could be in the writing and production without getting caught up in hype of it all. I feel like we were successful… at least I hope so.”
Earlier releases by the band had organically aligned with the burgeoning Americana movement, but more recently, Heath and Co. felt a reset of sorts was in order. Earth Fire Water Airborne shares powerful DNA with the timeless nature of the most cherished rock records. 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.
“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.”
The focus single for the album is “Children, Chains and Razorwire.” “It’s a closer look at the morality that claims to follow religious commandments to keep us safe, but really is just the marginalization of the most vulnerable among us,” says Heath. He plans to release a companion music video for the song.
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 most of the record(along with Mike Fennel), 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.
Heath originally 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 album’s back half.) “I recorded a lot of it at home by myself and with the band, and it was mixed and mastered but I wasn’t completely happy with it. For some reason I just felt unsettled. 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.” Besides Heath and Nutting, the current Greedy Souls lineup consists of veteran 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.
Heath’s job informed one of the songs on the album, “Your Disease.” “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 who passed away from addiction. I was having trouble finishing the lyrics, but then I recalled some of the conversations we had about his struggles and the importance of his mother’s love, and then I realized I was singing about him and his disease.”
The late MC5 guitarist, 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,” Heath says. “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. 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, 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.”
Heath plans to tour in support of Earth Fire Water Airborne. Confirmed dates will be announced soon. Fans are encouraged to check the band’s website and social media for tour date announcements and updates.
About the Band
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
Singer/songwriter and activist Jill Sobule is launching a campaign to fund My Song is My Weapon, a new platform devoted to “creative expression toward social change and political power.” Funding for the site is being raised through a PledgeMusic drive. Individuals who help fund the project will receive Monster Protest Jamz, Vol. 1, a compilation featuring Sobule's “When They Say We Want Our America Back (What The Fuck Do They Mean),” along with protest songs from Amanda Palmer, Tom Morello, Steve Earle,Wendy & Lisa, John Doe, Todd Rundgren, Margaret Cho, MC5's Wayne Kramer, and more. The tracklisting and full list of participating artists haven’t yet been finalized. Check out the comp’s incredible artwork—a parody of compilations like Now That’s What I Call Music! and Monster Ballads