Ann Arbor folk super-duo Ember & Ash unites members of Ragbirds and Native Howl

This story is part of a series about arts and culture in Washtenaw County. It is made possible by the Ann Arbor Art Center, Destination Ann Arbor, Larry and Lucie Nisson, the University of Michigan Arts Initiative, and the University Musical Society.

Erin Zindle says there’s a “real yin-yang vibe” to her new Ann Arbor music super-duo, Ember & Ash. The group brings Zindle, best known as the frontwoman of the folk group the Ragbirds, together with Alex Holycross, who fuses bluegrass and thrash metal into “thrash-grass” in his band, the Native Howl.

“I help to bring out the softer side of what Alex is and what he does, and he helps me dig into my aggressive and darker sides,” Zindle says.

Ember & Ash will perform at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 11 at the Ark, 316 S. Main St. in Ann Arbor. Zindle, a long-time staple of the area music scene, is a founding member of Ann Arbor’s the Ragbirds (now Erin Zindle and the Ragbirds), while Holycross is a founding member of Leonard, Mich.-based the Native Howl. Zindle describes their collective sound in Ember & Ash as “outlaw Americana.”

“We’re a folk duo, but we’re a lot more high-energy and a little bit darker than what you’d expect from a typical acoustic duo,” Zindle says.

Zindle and Holycross first met in 2016, when the Ragbirds were invited to perform at a house concert at The Native Howl’s home recording studio in Leonard. Holycross and Zindle were each invited to sit in on each other’s sets, and Zindle says the result was “unbelievable musical chemistry.”

“We were speaking the same language. That’s the best way I can describe it,” she says.

They stayed in touch. In 2019, Holycross reached out again, this time to ask Zindle to record a small violin part.

At that point, Zindle says, she was “going through a lot of huge changes” and “in a really desperate and depressed place in my own life.”

They wound up having some rich conversations about songwriting, she says.

“Alex writes about his pain while it’s fresh,” she says. “He just writes it so raw — and I had a very hard time with that.”

Zindle preferred to write only after she felt she’d gained some perspective, and especially “at that time,” says she was “always trying to make it positive.”

By the end of their session together, they’d not only had some great conversation, but they’d also co-written a fully formed song. That was six years ago, and according to Zindle, the duo has been “writing and developing songs” ever since. She says the “overarching theme” of many of their songs is “”destruction and grief and death, and also fire and passion and that burning energy of what’s real and what’s important.”

As a band, she adds, Ember & Ash has been raring to go for a while now. Various scheduling conflicts have gotten in the way, not least of which is the fact that, in 2022, The Native Howl won first place in “Hit Parader’s No Cover,” a music competition reality show judged by Alice Cooper and Gavin Rossdale, among others. The Native Howl won a six-figure recording contract with Sumerian Records, booking representation with UTA, and management with the Shelter Music Group, among other perks that kept the band busy.

According to Zindle, “Both of us just happen to have a little more time this year, and we’re more intentionally coming at this [project] now.”

Zindle and Holycross debuted as Ember & Ash in March 2025. Combining their disparate styles has been “super fun,” Zindle says.

As “seasoned performers,” she says, “we love stoking up the energy, so our shows are really dynamic.”

In the meantime, they’ve also been recording music, which Zindle says they’re “eager to get … out into the world.”

“We’re definitely going to release an EP,” she confirms. “We’re strategizing at the moment to figure out the timing and the scope of the release. We have a few albums’ worth of songs. We’re just figuring out how to share it in the best way.”

Zindle calls the partnership “a great outlet for us,” but not one to be pursued “at the expense of the other projects,” which both she and Holycross will maintain. Holycross will continue performing with The Native Howl, and Zindle will carry on with both the Ragbirds and her solo career.

For the time being, Zindle says, “it’s really exciting to be able to release the music to the world,” especially since “this has been growing in the dark for a long time.”

Tickets to Ember & Ash’s show at the Ark are available here.