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"White trash America": muscle cars and trailer-park life team up with Ezekiel’s character-driven storytelling to give this 2006 album “Jimmy Drives a Wrecker Truck” a light-hearted zing. This album features a load of electric guitars and drum work by Troy Hanna. One of the pieces, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” showcases Ezekiel’s finger-style guitar talents, and was made into a video. The song “Big Car” pokes fun at people rumbling around the country in their SUVs. Lyrics that explore more serious issues also sparkle with Ezekiel’s trademark humor. “123 Felonies” stars a jailbird who was stuck in the all-too-common, and futile conviction that “next time it’ll be different.” “Grease for Your Machine” stirs up controversy while illuminating the fate of so many under-educated, poverty-stricken Americans. The video for this song is a mix of dark humor and sharp social criticism. “Holy Machine” sheds light on the light madness of an otherwise pretty nice guy Ezekiel met on his travels. The nice guy videotaped himself at night, to catch the aliens in the act of abducting him.
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"Under the Sun," recorded in 2010 on the 40-foot steel sailboat "Kayak," evokes the life of sailing, adventuring and the characters who have threaded in and out of Ezekiel's life as he has traveled. The blending of Steel-resonator, bass and Flamenco guitar is used to give a unique feel the compositions on this album, and hand drums punctuate the blues-inspired experimental rhythms. Listeners can enjoy the sounds of sailboat life through the whisper of the wind and the sweep of the waves in the background as Ezekiel played.The concept of the album came to him as he arrived in San Fransisco, and after experiencing so many locations, in his sailor’s life, the truism “There’s nothing new under the sun” hit him with sharp clarity. The human drama is constant, he realized. “It’s Perfect,” is about two people he met in Half Moon Bay, Calif., whom Ezekiel planned to play for at their wedding. Uncooperative wind flattened that plan. Ezekiel conceptualized the music on this album while anchored in Half Moon Bay, California, but he sailed to Santa Cruz for the actual recording because the fog horn in the bay was too loud.
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Ezekiel exhibited his stunning mastery of instrumentation in the 2006 album “Joseph,” when he played all of the tracks then mixed them in a studio in Spokane, Washington. Acoustic, Flamenco, steel-string and electric guitars give a latin feel to many of the songs. Also included are a few cover tunes like Janice Joplin’s “Summertime.” Ezekiel often kicks off live performances with this album, warming up the audience with his complex finger-style guitar work. Chet Atkins’s finger-style performances inspired Ezekiel as a young guitarist, as did Alex DeGrassi’s open-tuning finger-style techniques. The title song from this album, “Joseph,” has an video, which can be found on Ezekiel’s YouTube channel.
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A pivotal album finished at a crucial moment for the United States; Ezekiel finished recording “Into the Light” the day before 9.11.2001. Ezekiel was also fighting his way through a tough transition in his own life. Ezekiel went “no holds barred” with its conception and creation. The compositions are complex, some of them weaving up to 40 tracks to make a “stacked percussion and vocal” effect that is stunning. A didgeridoo made of plumbing pipe and toilet-seal wax; violin; bass and acoustic guitar; spring drum, African drum and various hand-made instruments create an album that is like a living menagerie of surprising, awe-inspiring sounds and lyrics that reach deep. Several songs were inspired by dreams, when Ezekiel would wake up, write the composition down as a whole, then record it all the next day. “Strolling Through the Abyss” is one such song, inspired by a post-apocalyptic dream world ruled by a Hitler-esque character. “Misplaced my Medication,” humming with Ezekiel’s trademark dark humor, is his most played song to date. This album was recorded on a 30-foot sailboat in Ketchikan, Alaska then mastered in Newport, Washington.
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“Flying Dreams” was a 2002 collaboration with Mila Javier, who brings the sound of the Far East to this collection. Mila lived in a Hindu monastery in India for many years, and his knowledge of Sanskrit, eastern philosophy and guitar enhances Ezekiel’s guitar artistry. Mila has a special affinity for steel-slide guitar, and he has been featured in Guitar Player magazine’s Jerry Garcia issue. He attended the Berkeley School of Music, and has been a strong influence on Ezekiel’s music over the years of their friendship. All of the music on this album was recorded real-time. Javier and Ezekiel sat in the recording studio together and took turns improvising off of each others’ recorded tracks. “Wow,” was the artists’ first reaction when listening to the finished product of the 4-hour recording session. The finished album is a crackling, intricately woven fabric of steel-string acoustic and electric guitar.
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“Christmas Guitar” is a straight-forward, classic holiday album highlighting Ezekiel’s guitar talent. This album was recorded in single tracks, recorded live in the studio. It features traditional Christmas song arrangements with an old classical guitar that brings an earthy, slightly rough sound to the pieces. This album, recorded in 2002, in Newport, Washington, was one of three albums Ezekiel recorded that year. Offered in local cafes and other venues, this album sells out every holiday season.
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A third 2002 album, “Solo Guitar,” was created by the request of a fan of Ezekiel’s. Howard Wilbin offered his 1969 Dieter Hans-built Hauser guitar as the perfect vehicle for Ezekiel’s new project. The Hauser guitar is made of the best woods in Germany, and that older, well-seasoned instrument was the perfect vehicle to showcase Ezekiel’s classical guitar pieces in this album. There are several tracks using Ezekiel’s favorite guitars as well. This album is a mixture of religious songs, traditional songs like “Greensleeves,” and many original compositions by Ezekiel. One song on this album is especially close to Ezekiel’s heart, “October,” which he composed for his mother Linda. Ezekiel was studying a music theory class when he built this song from the ground-up on paper. “Diesel Dave” is another piece with a personal tie for Ezekiel, that one written for his truck-driving brother-in-law Dave.