Rock Island native Lissie Maurus will return home to play next week, carrying stacks of a brand-new EP that will be released the day before her Daytrotter Presents performance.

"It's probably one of the first things I've recorded that I really feel fully represents me," said Maurus, who is billed simply as Lissie. "It covers a good spectrum."

The five-song "Why You Runnin' " is diverse, she said, starting with a wild, upbeat track and drifting into more haunting and thoughtful work.

Press materials from her record label, Fat Possum Records, call the EP "Americana meets '60s girl pop/soul," and while she agrees with that presumption, she doesn't want to stretch the definition any further.

"I don't define it because it's me," she said. "It's hard for me to view myself as a set thing. People can call it whatever they want."

Lissie is in Asheville, N.C., recording more tracks for a full-length album that may or may not include the EP material.

She is on a bill with Sondre Lerche, who contributed most of the music to the 2007 Steve Carell dramedy "Dan in Real Life," and JBM, who Daytrotter.com founder Sean Moeller thinks will achieve fame the likes of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver.

Lissie is in the middle of opening a tour for rising adult alternative album star Ray LaMontagne and said she is relishing any chance she can get to play.

"I feel like it's exposure," she said. "The more people who hear my music, obviously, the better."

She says her direction has remained true through the years.

"There's never been a change of direction," she said. "I think time has passed and I've been writing and singing in different moments with different people to create a different thing."

She's already had a colorful career, including an unlikely dance chart hit with Morgan Page and being asked to sing at Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher's wedding.

Lissie, who turns 27 later this month, says she's happy as long as she can make a career out of singing.

"I'm not trying to 'make it,' I want to just continue doing what I'm doing," she said. "I want to do something I enjoy for a living so I don't turn into a bitter person."