Tim Easton is a folk-rock guy in the tradition of Dylan and Neil Young. Except with maybe a little more emphasis on the rock part, and with a bit more blues influence. He’s been at it for about a decade now, though to listen to the worldliness, gravity, and maturity of his songs, you might think he was a bit more a contemporary of those fathers of Americana.
I found out about him when a friend personally put up the money to bring him (and Rosavelt) through Walla Walla, Washington on a tour a couple summers ago. I had heard the name, but was blown away by the show.
You know that a song has left a lasting impression when you can recall a significant portion of the lyrics or the tune after just one listen. For me, that song was Poor, Poor LA, and the line was “A pack of dumb monkeys could write circles around that 4th grade mumbly-slang stream of consciousness jive that you call a song” which is just a fantastic put-down. It’s even more interesting when you hear the back story that something an ex-girlfriend once said about Easton himself.
This is the case with a lot of his songs–the ostensible topic is often directed outwards but the real subject of many of the songs is himself, his own faults and failings. That it also applies broadly, to a great deal of contemporary music and society is nice, but not necessary.
The song itself is like an amalgamation of every great Americana artist, all rolled into one. You can hear “Blood on the Tracks,” you can hear a little Tom Petty jangle, maybe some Whiskeytown. Seriously, pick a band and you can smell the influence here. The highlight is the bridge (“Now there’s sandpaper pants on the gutter punks…”) where he issues a series of short couplets with rising intensity.
He has a new album called “Ammunition” with a release date of May 16. A couple of the tracks are up on his myspace page. My favorite is Next to You, a beautiful love song. It’s gentle, sad, and touching. The harmonica is lilting and soft, and his voice is heavy. This is the demo version on his myspace page; it’s a little rough, but still great. And I can’t wait for the final version.