Kevin Bronson on September 8th, 2015

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“It’s be a rough couple of years,” Johnette Napolitano says in backgrounding her forthcoming EP “Naked,” the Concrete Blonde frontwoman’s first new music since the last of her limited-run, three-part “Sketchbook” series in 2010. Having done a spate of music and storytelling live dates in support of her 2013 book “Rough Mix,” the songwriter/author/visual artist/horsewoman has completed three new songs recorded with Brian Mansell at a cabin on her “Ranchette Johnette” near Joshua Tree (which, she recently announced, she is bequeathing to the Mojave Desert Land Trust). The first song “Here” is exemplary — Napolitano’s worldly (but not world-weary) vocals backed by gently distorted acoustic guitar, at once beautiful and melancholy and resolute. Of the song, she says: “‘Here’ is probably the best love song — definitely the most mature — I’ve ever written. We project so much on to others in relationships, the only possible outcome is disappointment. Other people have their own hang-ups and problems having nothing to do with us. In the end, the only real, honest thing you can say if you truly love someone is: I’ll always be here. Whatever you go through, I’ll be here. … (Unless you murder someone . . . in that case you never f—ng met me, you understand?)” “Naked” will be released Sept. 22.

||| Stream: “Here”

||| Live: Johnette Napolitano plays Friday and Sunday at the Hotel Café.