Zach Winters is a naturalist—his work and life often woven together. Winters’ songs resonate with the sacred and the commonplace—companionship, wrestling with the divine, passing seasons, and the pursuit of a tangible beauty. His music has more kinship to the poetry of Frost and Tagore than to his contemporaries.
His debut, A Long Intermission, was recorded simply in his bedroom and released in 2004 mostly to friends and family. But over the years, Winters has honed his songwriting and DIY approach, garnering praise from voices like Paste Magazine and self-producing five full-length albums as well as a handful of EPs and other projects.
Winters’ efforts have most recently culminated in a more luxuriant variety of indie-folk on his new crowd-funded record, To Have You Around. The 12-track album features everything from generous string arrangements to groovy bass lines to his first foray into horns, and most notably, Winters’ yearning, gentle, and sometimes playful vocal layering. Sweet companion, break bread with me / We’ve miles to go, let’s hold steady intones Winters in a refrain that’s equal parts affection and meditation. Songs like the title track “To Have You Around” and “Knock Kneed & Lead Lunged” find a comfortable place in the canon that is Winters’ brand of smooth, organic folk, while head-bobbing songs like “Love My Woman” and “If the Sun Is Shining” echo the days of summer.
Born on the Great Plains, Zach Winters and his family are currently living & working on a new album in southern Mexico.