Recorded and produced internationally between Portland’s Panther Studio and RYP Recording in London, ‘Howlin’ Wolf’ marks Ella’s first release of the year and offers a first taste of her forthcoming debut EP Pandora’s Box, due in early 2027. Drawing on the influence of acclaimed artists and collaborators Jerry Joseph, Steve Drizos and Michael Smith, the EP finds Ella developing a distinctive sound that bridges Americana, Folk and Indie rock, while retaining the intimacy and storytelling at the heart of her songwriting.

A natural storyteller, Ella performs live solo on guitar, piano and banjo as well as with her new band. Ella’s clear, expressive voice and honest songwriting have earned her showcases at the UK’s Americana Week and internationally at Folk Alliance, as well as festival appearances at The Long Road and Red Rooster festival, with her latest singles landing on BBC Introducing.

With ‘Howlin Wolf’, Ella pushes her sound further, setting the stage Pandora’s Box and building on the Americana-meets-indie-rock edge of her previous release ‘Scotty’s Tyres’. The track is rooted in Ella’s homegrown fingerpicking and sincere vocals but blossoms well beyond the blues into a full band arrangement, complete with electric guitar and Jerry Joseph’s unmistakable growling backing vocals. Lyrically, the track offers a refreshingly earnest narrative around deceit, self-doubt, and the consequences of coming clean: ‘no one listens to a liar, when they finally tell the truth’.

“Howlin’ Wolf is about lying to yourself. I was thinking about how hard it is to be honest and vulnerable with others when we aren’t honest with ourselves, and drew on the story of the boy who cried wolf which morphed into howlin’ wolf. My favourite line is a co-write with Jerry that references a Howlin’ Wolf song: ‘I don’t need the fangs or the killing floors’.”

Based in London and raised by British-American parents in the English countryside, Ella grew up surrounded by musicians after her father started the UK’s first Americana festival. Sitting in with artists like Terra Lightfoot, Andrew Duhon and Jerry Joseph instilled a deep respect for live music and the rich storytelling traditions of Americana music, while developing her own taste for alt-country, indie-folk and indie-rock. A fan of contemporary artists that blur the lines between Americana and Indie-Rock like Brown Horse, Wednesday and Big Thief, Ella’s upcoming EP Pandora’s Box is a bridge across both worlds.