Singer-songwriter Jolie Holland has joined forces with fellow Los Angeles-based artist Max Knouse to create “Wolf Dispatch,” a seven-song EP celebrating the life and art of folk nonconformist Michael Hurley.

They will perform in Astoria July 18 at the Charlene Larsen Center for the Performing Arts.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. show. Tickets are $20, available online at https://partnersforthepac.org.

The show is part of a seven-stop release tour that kicks off in Eugene, Oregon, on the EP’s release day, July 16. 

Hurley died in April at 83; his outsider persona and his profound lyricism have influenced generations of artists. 

For Holland, it began when producer Lemon DeGorge, who engineered her albums “Springtime Can Kill You” and “Escondida,” handed her a copy of Hurley’s “Long Journey.”

“I could hear it was sourced from the same ancestral swamp where all folk/rock/blues musicians of his era were fishing. He evidently had been using different bait,” she adds. “The way he referenced melodic lines from earlier jazz and gospel felt so fresh. He gave me the bravery to write from my own subjective experience. He emboldened me to question form and every musical choice.”

The Wolf Dispatch EP and tour was inspired by a wake for Townes Van Zandt, where Holland, Knouse, and other Los Angeles-area musicians came together to let Van Zandt’s music say the words they were searching for.

For the Wolf Dispatch tour, Holland and Knouse are inviting artists at each stop to perform Hurley’s songs with them and the band.

The 34-minute album gathers newly recorded and previously unreleased material, a soulful collection of Hurley’s songs interpreted by Holland, Knouse, and more. Some recordings date back decades, while others were created freshly in the wake of Hurley’s death.

The EP features Hurley tracks including “I Paint A Design,” recorded live at Holland’s house, and title track “Wolf Dispatch.” “Max’s interpretation on guitar is a real distillation and refinement of Hurley’s kinda Muppet-y, ham-fisted, piano version,” says Holland.

The album closes with “Ghost Woman Blues.”

“It’s a helluva recording,” says Holland. “It is pretty poor quality, but we chose to use it because of the pure kismet. Just as I pressed play, the coyotes of my neighborhood erupted in song just outside my open window. You can hear LAPD sirens and helicopters. 

“The great David Coulter (The Pogues) shreds a musical saw over it all as an overdub. The original song is by George Carter, but we first heard it through Hurley’s version. I rode the line between Hurley’s and Carter’s versions; as a Southerner, I think I may have been able to hear some of Carter’s lyrics a little better than Hurley did.”

Holland priased Hurley’s contribution. “He hung the moon and stars. He planted a magical tree in a sacred forest — never to be cut down — forever regenerating.”

The Wolf Dispatch EP will be available digitally, beginning July 16. 

The tour begins July 16 in Eugene, July 17 in Portland and July 18 in Astoria. The musicians plan stops in Washington before gigs in California.