Normally, it would be a cliché to call a performer multi-faceted. Not so with Rachel Brooke. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to put Brooke into any single category. Pick up her latest solo CD, “Down in the Barnyard,” and play tracks like “Meet Me By the Apple Tree,” “Don’t Forget Me When I Die” and “City of Shame,” and you’ll see the country and bluegrass side of Brooke, who lists Hank Williams and the Carter family with Johnny Cash among her musical influences. Think Loretta Lynn, with her clear voice and direct stories, with the styling of Clara Bow. But then take in “Barnyard,” and you’ll hear Brooke’s lovely voice croon lyrics with decidedly dark themes, along the lines of gothic country. The way Brooke makes her music also resists categorization. So far, the Michigan-based singer has toured as a solo act, featuring just her voice and acoustic guitar. But on “Down in the Barnyard,” Brooke plays not only the guitar, but also clawhammer banjo, upright bass, mandolin, drums and organ. Her father, musician Barry Van Guilder, joined her on banjo for “Don’t Forget Me When I Die.” The entire CD was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Brooke’s brother, Andy Van Guilder of Halohorn Productions in Traverse City, Mich. Brooke started performing in Akron in 2007. When she comes to town, she prefers to play at Akron institution Annabell’s in Highland Square, often sharing the stage with bands like Slackeye Slim and Akron’s The Misery Jackals. Last year, her father joined her on banjo. Brooke usually writes alone, enjoying the creative process of writing the stories that form her lyrics. She recorded “Down in the Barnyard” at her home in Michigan, “so I could take my time at it, and be creative with it,” she said. The “Barnyard” CD, which was released in February, took a year. “I was waiting to be inspired,” she said. It’s a process she enjoys. Brooke said she always wanted to be a writer, and she’s proud that she is. Most of her songs are based on her original stories. “That’s the cool thing about writing stories,” she said, adding that she aims to have fun with each song, even if it turns out to be a dark murder ballad. Some of Brooke’s songs are based in reality, such as “The Legend of Morrow Road,” about a spectral woman who walks Michigan’s real-life Morrow Road at night. “Nobody really knows” why the woman walks, Brooke said, so she gave the ghost a story. The ghost gave Brooke a story back, too. Because she had so much fun writing “Morrow Road,” Brooke and occasional collaborator Lonesome Wyatt (of Those Poor Bastards), with whom Brooke made the 2009 album “A Bitter Harvest,” are working on a new series of ghost ballads. That’s not Brooke’s only project. She’d like to eventually have the backing and the aural complexity of a band — and to rock out. She’s begun planning to put together an ensemble later this summer. She’s got the experience rocking out: Another of her many facets is her role as the drummer for punk band The Clots. This year, you can catch Rachel Brooke and her many gemlike facets back at Annabell’s, along with The Misery Jackals and Washington’s James Hunnicutt on Monday, June 27, starting at 10 p.m.