Tag: Tim Easton

Podcast #11 Tim Easton and “Paco & the Melodic Polaroids”

April 2, 2018 in Americana Music, Nashville music, New releases, Podcast

Tim Easton has an intriguing new album called “Paco & the Melodic Polaroids,” a celebration of his black Gibson J-45 acoustic guitar, christened “Paco” by a Deadhead in Paris. The album was recorded direct to lacquer in Bristol, Virginia, the storied birthplace of country music.

In this Americana Music News podcast, Tim Easton talks about this compelling collection of songs – due for release on April 13 – and the path that brought him to Bristol.

About Americana Music News: We’re in our seventh year covering Americana, roots, country and folk music from our base in Nashville. We’ve just launched a new Americana Music News podcast, available free of charge through all the leading podcast providers, including iTunes, Stitcher and Google Play Music. And please join our 23,000 Twitter followers to continue the conversation.

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Review: Tim Easton’s “American Fork”

August 27, 2016 in Americana Music, New releases, Reviews

By Paul T. Mueller

Tim Easton has some advice for you: Stop wasting time. Put down your smartphones. Talk to each other.

Any folksinger worthy of the title throws some messages in with the music, and Easton, a singer-songwriter based in East Nashville, is no exception. But on his new album, American Fork, he does it in an entertaining way instead of preaching. His earnestness is wrapped in excellent musicianship, which happily results in his best album in a while, and one of his best ever.

Fittingly, he wastes no time in getting to one of his big themes, leading off with a polite diatribe on wasted time. “Every minute that you stare at that stupid screen,” he sings in “Right Before Your Own Eyes,” “and read all the chatter that you think you should read/is another minute sooner that your young old mind is dying.” That’s a serious point, passionately made, but the delivery is good-natured and it’s backed by some terrific instrumentation that includes saxophone and steel guitar.

“Killing Time” explores a similar theme in a slightly different way, incorporating a concept – “What do you live for?” – that Tim Easton has used in a series of social-media mini-interviews with people he’s met during his travels in the past few years. “Don’t hang there like a broken door,” he sings. “Find out what you’re living for/There has to be something more than just killing time.” Again, strong advice, but the tone is gentle and encouraging, not hectoring.

Easton takes a tougher tone on “Gatekeeper,” an angry blast at the powers that be – maybe in the music industry, maybe on a bigger scale. “Then you knocked me off my feet as you pinned me to the ground,” Easton sings, accompanied by sinister-sounding slide guitar and ghostly background vocals. “But I called you as you walked away/but you never turned around/Gatekeeper, go count your money.”

Easton shows his lighter side on “Elmore James,” a lively tribute to the pioneering slide guitarist, and the rollicking “Alaskan Bars, Part 1,” which recounts a series of nightlife anecdotes that one suspects might be based on actual experiences.

Another reality of the troubadour life – one Easton is no doubt familiar with – is its transient nature. In the album’s closer, “On My Way,” he sums it up: “Like the trucks out on the highway/like the seasons and the days/like the river that passes through your town/I really must be on my way.” The quiet tone and understated playing hark back to Easton’s sound on earlier works such as The Truth About Us and Break Your Mother’s Heart.

The full-band production on this album is a big jump from the minimalist approach of Easton’s previous outing, 2013’s Not Cool. Here he and co-producer Patrick Damphier use a broad spectrum of instrumentation. Jon Radford’s drums and Michael Rinne’s bass provide the foundation, while Easton handles the guitars with his usual formidable skill. Further color and texture come from talented Robbie Crowell on keyboards and horns, Russ Pahl on pedal steel and Larissa Maestro on cello. Backing vocals are nicely done by Maestro and fellow singer-songwriters Megan Palmer, Ariel Bui and Emma Berkey.

Tim Easton has spent a lot of years on the road and he’s learned a lot about life and music along the way. We get the benefit of some of that hard-won knowledge on American Fork, in a way that’s both thought-provoking and pleasing to the ear.

Cayamo Day 6: Shawn Colvin, Tim Easton, Black Lillies

January 23, 2015 in Americana Music, Festivals, Music Cruise News

By Paul T. Mueller

On Thursday, Jan. 22, the Norwegian Pearl, having left St. Croix the previous evening, was heading north and west through the blue Caribbean, on the homeward leg of the Cayamo music cruise 2015.

Days at sea mean days with more music, and one of the first shows scheduled was Amy Speace’s 11:00 a.m. set in the Spinnaker Lounge. And an excellent set it was, beginning with the title song from 2013’s How to Sleep in a Stormy Boat.

Amy Speace

“I come from a long line of sailors and priests,” Speace said by way of explaining the prevalence of nautical imagery in her songs. More of her sharply observed and carefully written songs followed, backed by Tim Easton’s guitar and Megan Palmer’s fiddle – “Ghost,” which she said was written for her grandparents; “The Killer in Me,” a song of dysfunctional love; “The Sea and the Shore,” a sad and beautiful ballad that Speace said was “No. 1 for about two weeks on the radio in Serbia – take that, Lyle Lovett!”, and the uplifting funeral song “Hymn for the Crossing,” which Speace said she wrote with Irish singer Ben Glover the day after Pete Seeger died. She closed with a heartfelt rendition of “The Fortunate Ones,” featuring Easton’s fine acoustic guitar.

Lucinda Williams played another fine set in the Stardust Theater beginning at 1:30. After opening with a solo acoustic rendition of “Passionate Kisses,” Williams brought out her band for a string of old and new tunes. These included “Metal Firecracker,” “Right in Time” and “Drunken Angel,” all from her breakout Car Wheels on a Gravel Road collection; “Cold Day in Hell,” a bluesy kiss-off song from the new album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone; “I Lost It,” featuring an excellent solo by guitarist Stuart Mathis; and “Are You Down,” featuring a jazzy intro and an instrumental break that drew applause from Willliams herself. Other highlights were a duet with Jim Lauderdale on “Jailhouse Tears,” a stark, almost harsh reading of “Unsuffer Me,” and rocking treatments of “Essence,” “Joy” and “Get Right with God.” “This goes out to all of you,” Williams told the crowd before launching into a vigorous romp through Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin’s 3:00 p.m. show in the Spinnaker consisted of well-chosen and beautifully executed covers. With stellar assistance from guitarist and part-time Eagle Steuart Smith, Colvin more than did justice to songs including Steve Earle’s “Someday,” Graham Nash’s “I Used to Be a King,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Tougher than the Rest” and the Eagles’ “The Best of My Love.” Reportedly also performed, but not witnessed by this reviewer, were renditions of The Band’s “Acadian Driftwood,” Emmylou Harris’ “Red Dirt Girl,” Tom Waits’ “Hold On” and several others.

Tim Easton and Megan Palmer played a third “guerrilla set” in Bar City at 5:00 p.m. This time, Palmer divided her time between fiddle and piano, another instrument on which she is quite proficient. Bob Dylan’s “You Ain’t Going Nowhere” and Easton’s “Don’t Lie” found Palmer at the keyboard and Bruce Lebovitz, a passenger and an accomplished player, taking over the fiddle duties. Palmer and Lebovitz brought a twin-fiddle approach to a couple of songs, including “Factory Girl.” Easton took over the piano for a rendition of his “Festival Song,” featuring a snippet of “Come Together” and some lyrics customized for Cayamo, and singer-songwriter Nellie Clay joined the group for her “Wichita Was a Bust.” The set closed with a rousing take on Big Bill Broonzy’s “How You Want Your Rollin’ Done,” again featuring Palmer on the piano.

Todd Snider drew a big crowd to his 6:30 show on the pool deck, backed by Elizabeth Cook’s band plus guitarist Jason Wilber from John Prine’s band. Seemingly as much at ease in the daylight as at midnight, Snider put on a loose and funny show, with more music and fewer stories than at his show the night before. The set included originals such as “The Last Laugh,” “Is This Thing Working?,” “Easy Money” and “Good News Blues.” There were also some fine covers, including the blues classic “I’m Ready,” “Enjoy Yourself,” Texas singer-songwriter Rusty Wier’s “Don’t It Make You Wanna Dance” and Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Rockin’ Pneumonia” and “Sea Cruise.” Snider dedicated his last song, “Come from the Heart,” to Texas songwriter Guy Clark and Clark’s late wife, Susanna, who wrote the song with Richard Leigh.

Black Lillies

The Black Lillies came to their 8:30 set in the Atrium ready to rock and ready to bring the crowd with them. They brought plenty of energy and excellent musicianship to their own songs, including “Smokestack Lady” and “40 Days and 40 Nights” (an account of the band’s first national tour), and to covers including the Everly Brothers’ “Wake Up, Little Susie” and the Grateful Dead’s “Tennessee Jed” (with Michelle Malone plus two band members, Trish Land on tambourine and Ben Holst on guitar).

Seattle-based band The Dusty 45s kept the Atrium rocking during their 10:30 set, with charismatic front man Billy Joe Huels pushing the pace with almost unbelievable energy. With Huels alternating between guitar and trumpet, the band ripped through some older material – “Devil Takes His Turn,” “Why Darlin’ Why” – and newer songs such as “Chase Your Dream,” “Two Beers in Texas,” “32 Quarters” and “Walking in the Rain.” There were also some nicely done covers, including Herb Alpert’s “A Taste of Honey,” John Prine’s “Glory of True Love,” the 1930 tune “Bye Bye Blues” (dedicated to guitarist Jerry Battista’s father) and “Misirlou,” made famous by surf-rock king Dick Dale.

The Throwdown

As Thursday turned into Friday, the “Throwback Throwdown” got cranked up on the Pearl’s pool deck. A large cast of musicians, loosely led by Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale, spent the next 90 minutes or so doing honor to songs from the past. Highlights included Paul McCartney’s “Let Me Roll It,” getting the soul treatment from St. Paul and the Broken Bones; Fats Domino’s “I Lived My Life,” featuring Miller and Lucinda Williams; Jim Stafford’s “Swamp Witch,” performed with appropriate drama by Shawn Mullins; a convincing rendition of Loretta Lynn’s “You’re Lookin’ at Country” by Kacey Musgraves; Paul Simon’s “Slip Slidin’ Away,” sweetly done by The Lone Bellow; Willie Nelson’s “Crazy,” featuring the powerful vocals of Humming House’s Leslie Rodriguez and nice guitar by Davis Causey, and the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” by the Black Lillies. John Fullbright showed his range with a powerful take on Townes Van Zandt’s “Lungs” and a quieter rendition of Jimmy Webb’s “If You See Me Getting Smaller,” which left the often raucous pool deck in dead silence. The big finale was an all-hands-on-deck jam of the traditional blues “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad.”

Cayamo day 4: John Prine, Edwin McCain, Tim Easton

January 21, 2015 in Americana Music, Americana Music Festival, Music Cruise News

After two days and three nights at sea, the Norwegian Pearl arrived early Tuesday, January 20, at the island of St. Barts in the French West Indies. Many Cayamoans boarded the Pearl’s lifeboats to go ashore and spend a few hours mingling with the well-to-do; others chose to stay aboard and relax. As always on port days, organized music got started later to accommodate the daytrippers, with the first shows beginning at 6:00 p.m.

Guitarist Tim Easton and fiddler Megan Palmer, despite being talented singer-songwriters as well as fine backing musicians for Amy Speace, weren’t given official performing slots of their own. No matter. Tuesday evening found the duo, neighbors in East Nashville, playing the first of three “guerrilla shows” in the Bar City area of the Pearl. Their nine-song set, played acoustically, was heavy on Easton’s songs. These included “Don’t Lie” from his current album, Not Cool, and older material (some by request) such as “Don’t Walk Alone” and “Dear Old Song and Dance.”

John Prine and Dave Jacques

Palmer sang her dark tale “Knife Twister,” while Speace joined the two on her own “Strange Boat.” The relatively small audience at the beginning mostly comprised those who were already fans, but as often happens on Cayamo, a fair number of passers-by ended up in the crowd as well, contributing sing-along vocals and improvised percussion on covers of Lucinda Williams’ “People Talking” and the Rolling Stones’ “Factory Girl.”

John Prine’s 8:00 show in the Stardust Theater was an exercise in musical excellence. Highlights included the rousing antiwar anthem “Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven Anymore”; “Souvenirs,” which Prine dedicated to his brother Doug; the gentle “Hello in There,” performed with heartbreaking beauty, and Prine’s duets with the seemingly omnipresent Brandi Carlile on “In Spite of Ourselves” and “Angel from Montgomery.” Prine took a solo turn on “Lydia” and “Sam Stone” before his band – guitarist Jason Wilber and bassist Dave Jacques – returned for a rousing but slightly muddy rendition of the Carter Family’s “Bear Creek Blues.” The band followed with a nice take on the enigmatic “Lake Marie” before closing, with assistance from singer-songwriter Joe Purdy, with “Paradise.”

South Carolina singer-songwriter Edwin McCain’s Tuesday night set in the Spinnaker Lounge turned into a 45^th birthday party, complete with a clown, balloons and a cake. That didn’t keep McCain from showcasing his powerful voice and fine guitar playing with a set of intelligent adult pop – dealing, as befits a man in the early stages of middle age, with subjects such as a daughter’s wedding and lasting love. He also threw in some good stories, including one about discovering that Elgie Stover, the purveyor of his favorite barbecue, was in fact a songwriter and producer who co-wrote songs for Marvin Gaye, among others. McCain closed with Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” featuring a nice solo by saxophonist Craig Shields.

The second half of McCain’s show overlapped the first half of The Lone Bellow’s Atrium set, but judging from the last few songs it was a raucous affair. Late selections included a couple of songs from the band’s very successful 2013 album, The Lone Bellow – “You Never Need Nobody” and “The One You Should’ve Let Go.” No sophomore slump here – the band was every bit as good all week as it was last year in its Cayamo debut, and by some accounts even better.

A late-night jam in Bar City featured an all-star cast of artists, along with some talented amateurs. The event was anchored, as it were, by John Fullbright at the piano, along with Tim Easton on mandolin and Birds of Chicago’s Allison Russell on clarinet. Song selections included the Stones’ “Honky Tonk Women,” among others.

Tim Easton and Megan Palmer delight fans in Houston

September 15, 2013 in Reviews

By Paul T. Mueller

Tim Easton’s in-store performance at Cactus Music in Houston on Sept. 13 delighted fans who got considerably more than is typical of such gigs. Easton, accompanied by fiddler and musical partner Megan Palmer, didn’t stop at the four or five songs that are more or less standard for promotional appearances. Instead the duo stuck around for more than a dozen, throwing in some oldies, a cover and even a brand-new song, along with seven selections from Easton’s newest CD, Not Cool. From the look of it, they might have kept going had they not been scheduled to play a house concert later in the evening.

From Not Cool, Easton and Palmer played, not necessarily in this order, “Little Doggie (1962),” “Don’t Lie,” “Gallatin Pike Blues,” “Troubled Times,” “Four Queens,” “They Will Bury You” and one we’ll call, for the sake of delicacy, “Crazy MF from Shelby, Ohio.” Without full-band backup, the tunes got a folkier treatment than the rockabilly/Memphis versions on the CD, but Easton’s excellent guitar, harmonica and kick drum, plus Palmer’s lovely fiddle and vocals, proved more than adequate.

Megan Palmer and Tim Easton (Paul T. Mueller)

Easton also reached back into his extensive catalog for fine renditions of “Don’t Walk Alone” and “Carry Me” (the latter by audience request), as well as the more recent “California Bars,” “Dear Old Song and Dance” and “Burgundy Red” (Easton introduced the latter as an example of what he called “pre-hab music”). At one point he threw in a traveling song called “On My Way,” which he said he has not yet recorded. Palmer got a turn at lead vocal on John Hartford’s “In Tall Buildings,” also by request.

If fine songwriting and outstanding musicianship aren’t enough, give Easton and Palmer points for their work ethic as well. Earlier in the day, the two visited a local radio station for a fairly lengthy interview, including playing a few songs on the air, and all of it came less than 24 hours after opening for Billy Joe Shaver in Austin, a few hours’ drive from Houston. That kind of roadwork isn’t easy, but from the buzz Not Cool has been getting, it seems to be paying off.

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Review: Tim Easton’s “Not Cool”

August 21, 2013 in Nashville music, Reviews

by Paul T. Mueller

Someone once said, “Geography is destiny,” and that certainly seems true of Not Cool, the new CD from much-traveled singer-songwriter Tim Easton. Easton recently moved to the Nashville area after several years in the Mojave Desert town of Joshua Tree, California. Fittingly, many of the songs on Not Cool have an early rock ‘n’ roll/rockabilly sound that’s well suited to the home of country music, and Easton’s lyrics (he wrote 10 of the 11 tracks) have taken a more straightforward direction, in contrast to the sometimes oblique nature of much of his recent work.

In keeping with the vintage sound, the CD’s running time totals only 30 minutes, with eight of the 11 tracks clocking in at three minutes or less. Themes include life’s travails (“Troubled Times,” “Four Queens,” “Gallatin Pike Blues”) and bad romance (“Don’t Lie,” “Lickety Split” and the title track). But the grim subject matter is offset by bouncy arrangements, mostly featuring the excellent guitar playing of Easton, J.D. Simo and Sadler Vaden. Megan Palmer, Easton’s partner in a duo called Out of Our Tree, contributes sweet violin and vocals on several tracks.

Easton saves the best for last, closing the album with “Knock Out Roses (For Levon),” a beautiful tribute to the late Levon Helm. Written, according to Easton, the day Helm died, it’s an acoustic instrumental featuring an old-timey sound, set to a lively waltz tempo, but with a melancholy undertone. The song’s delicate interplay of guitar, banjo and violin fades out near the end, leaving only the violin to carry the tune to its end. Sweet.

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