Blessed with one of the most appealing voices in all of rock music, Jim James has shone as the focal point of feted southern rockers My Morning Jacket, his beautifully clear vocals invariably cutting through the reliably excellent backdrop his fellow players create. The almost ubiquitous reference point for describing the band is Neil Young – fitting since they supported the iconic rocker on his tour earlier this year, but this new solo EP treads a different classic rock path, being a tribute to former Beatle George Harrison.

Recorded on an eight-track in 2001, with James still reeling from the news of his hero’s passing, the EP comprises half a dozen Harrison compositions, mostly selected from his best known solo record All Things Must Pass. If the results are somewhat predictable, they’re also predictably excellent, with James’ obvious love for the source material abundantly clear and an air of sombre reverence the prevailing mood. It doesn’t possess the perfectionist polish that often distinguishes My Morning Jacket records, but is all the better for its looseness.

My Sweet Lord sees James (or Yames) at his most soul-influenced and soulful, his voice wrapping around the evergreen tune, locating the contentment and inner peace at its centre. Deliciously drenched in reverb, the sound here is typical of an EP which is mostly a fairly stripped-down affair, recorded quickly and content to rely upon the strength of the songs and James’ voice, making it a welcome counterpoint to the stylised, lush (and arguably over-produced) sound of the most recent My Morning Jacket album Evil Urges.

Long, Long, Long, one of two Beatles songs featured here (the other being Love You To) actually improves on the original, being closer to Low’s slowcore cover than the version found on The White Album. It’s a thing of real beauty, gentle strumming occasionally giving way to subtle peaks of passion, before again subsiding to whispered vocals and barely-there accompaniment. Like everything here, it’s heartfelt and warm and will be be cherished by fans of either artist.

Yim Yames Tribute To is out now through Spunk.