Kevin Bronson on May 28th, 2021

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Stephanie Erin Wittmer has found her lane as a singer-songwriter, and it’s on a country road.

The native Midwesterner, who matriculated to L.A. after college, had put the piano lessons of her youth to use as a balladeer, as well as in the dream-pop project Aux Lingua. Her latest burst of creativity, though, brought her back to her rootsy roots. “I had all these ideas for songs, that I just had to get out … too many,” Wittmer says. “I started writing all these country songs and realized I really love this genre.”

On June 11, she’ll release her solo EP, “Pilot,” four songs that have their roots in vintage country but align sonically with contemporary purveyors of Americana. She made the recordings in Dallas with Jeff Saenz and Beau Bedford (Texas Gentlemen, Paul Cauthen, Ruby Boots and David Ramirez, among others), with McKenzie Smith (Midlake) on drums, Texas Gentlemen Charley Wiles (guitar) and Scott Lee (bass), Parker Twomey (Paul Cauthen) on keys and Will Van Horn on pedal steel.

“I’m just another pilot on the open road / trying to find my way back home,” she sings on the title track. Sounds like she’s found it.

||| Stream: “The Difference” and “Pilot”