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Tim Easton Releases New Album |
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Roll back the decades and imagine busking on the streets of numerous
European countries, at a time when travel was easier in Europe or
counting among the places where you either lived or spent a great deal
of time in your childhood and adolescent years, Ohio, Japan and Canada.
It therefore is not a great leap of faith to understand why musician,
singer and songwriter Tim Easton so easily embraced his nomadic music
lifestyle early in his career. Fittingly enough, during our
conversation, Tim Easton was on his way from Nashville through Kentucky,
while on his way to Ohio for a gig. Do not worry folks he was handsfree
the whole time. No, not on the steering wheel on the phone!
Wait you are thinking you said Tim was originally from Ohio, Akron to be
precise. Well, he has also lived in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree,
California and the aforementioned Nashville, Tennessee. It is almost as
if Gene Mack’s 1959 song, “I’ve Been Everywhere,” was written for him.
Rather than start with the first song from the new album Find Your
Way we are going to begin with the last song on the record,
one of the prettiest and most tender songs you will hear, “By The End of
the Night.”
“Today when a songwriter is recording a song, he just turns his phone on
and records whatever he has in a voice memo. That is why most of us
songwriters will have 170 voice memos of half-written songs. It is
really simple and convenient to use a smart phone. Back in the day it
would be a handheld cassette thing, so I would hold the cassette
recorder and sing part of the song. Sometime in the eighties or the
nineties I sang a line and [he sings by the end of the night with nice
smooth vocals] and that (those few words) were all that I had. I
finished that song right on the spot and I was not thinking of any
particular person. All I know is that I was going to write a sincere
love song that the Everly Brothers could sing. I am going to write a
song that Harry Belafonte could sing. I wanted a standard song that
could go to any time period. I hope someone finds that song, sings it
and means it, because I believe it is timeless. It is the first song
that I have written that I believe is a standard. It is as strong as
anything I have ever written,” and Tim Easton explains he rediscovered
that cassette during the pandemic when he was digging through some old
cassettes.
The song “Everything You’re Afraid Of,” is set to the companion video in
a vintage style silent film (except for the song) that is cut much in
the mode of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and with video quality
that purposely mimics the often choppy and grainy film of that era.
Tim’s daughter Ellington Easton directed and filmed the music video, and
the song was produced by Victoria, Canada’s Leeroy Stagger.
“I wanted to make a reasonably budgeted (video) for that new song. The
song is of a very serious nature, and I am singing it to a friend who is
dying unnecessarily and also to a divided nation.
I wanted to match it with a video that is a little more
lighthearted. I decided to research vintage film apps and I found one.
My daughter filmed the video, with the exception of the scene that she
is in. We got that done in an afternoon and I edited it. I must say it
is my favorite thing that I have ever done,” he says.
Is it a little unusual for a fellow from Nashville, music city, to
travel all the way to Canada’s west coast to record an album?
“I met Lee (Leeroy Stagger) years ago years ago in Alaska and we toured
Ireland together, Alaska together and a little bit of Canada together.
We became songwriter friends. He visited me at Joshua Tree at one point
and I also know his wife, Coby. They built a studio in Victoria. Leroy
applied for a grant and knowing that my mom is Canadian, as she was born
in Thorold, Ontario. He knew using that information and producing a
record with me would perhaps be grant worthy material, he made the grant
happen. I was really fortunate to fly out there. He handpicked the band,
put it altogether and he produced this record.
I played the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and I wrote a song called
“The Festival Song.” That helped me to get a lot of gigs,” explains Tim
Easton.
Now let’s take a step back Tim and tell me about your nomadic life.
“I feel very lucky in the traveling department in that when we were
living in the city of Akron, Ohio, my dad worked for Goodyear and that
company transferred our whole family over to Japan when I was a child
when I was ten, eleven and twelve years old. I would spend the summers
in Ontario, Canada going to camp, so there were three Canadian summers
in a row that had a big influence on my life. I learned to canoe and to
go fishing and caught my first pike. One of the trips to Japan the
flight had a layover in Anchorage, Alaska. The impression of the
mountains and glaciers out of the window had a really strong impact on
me. I always thought that I wanted to get back there. On the cover of my
very first solo album, which was called The Truth About Us, I was
wearing a vintage Alaska T-shirt. A promoter up there saw the album
cover and he reached out to my agent, inviting me to come up to Alaska
and play. I have been going up there every year since. (Why doesn’t this
surprise us?)
I have also gone up to Canada quite a few times and if I had my way, I
would tour up there more often. Going up there once a year has been
amazing.
Joshua Tree is one of those remote places that I was lucky enough to
move to. I was in Los Angeles for about a year, and I decided to jump
out of the city and to go join the circus at Joshua Tree (Not literally
folks! He was not a singing acrobat). That was definitely a wild patch
of my life. It resulted in me getting married and becoming a dad and
everything that goes with that. Eventually, we moved to Nashville,
because we wanted to be around more families,” he says.
As for his European adventures, “I spent the best part of seven years on
and off the streets of Europe. I lived in Paris for a year, I lived in
London for a year, I was in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Germany. I
spent a good chunk of time in Ireland hitchhiking around and playing on
the streets. I met John Prine there. I met the singer, songwriter Beck
in Paris and busked with him a little bit. I still see a street corner
now and then or a spot where a busker can play, and it will spark a
romantic notion in my mind.
Busking is the beginning of almost all of my favorite artists’ stories.
Those streets in Europe were built before automobiles were invented, so
a lot of the acoustic nature of the centers of towns in Europe are
perfect for street music. That part was great. European countries have
been ahead of the curve when it comes to distributing taxpayer money for
arts and artists. The artistic scene is diverse, impactful and
incredible.
I lived in Madrid, and I was playing on the streets and in whatever bar
would have me and I loved it. I speak Spanish too. I will be there later
this year. I go every chance that I get.”
Oh, we thought maybe the song “Jacqueline,” is a romantic tale from one
of those European cities. Those hopes were quickly dashed.
He says, “It is interesting, because it is just a song, I made up using
the name Jacqueline. I have always been a fan of Jacqueline Bisset, the
great actress from England. I have always loved her name, so I added an
extra syllable to (fit) the song. I more or less made that song up and
it is not about anybody (Not even a fan crush on Ms. Bisset, Tim?). I
guess it is about anybody who can’t make up their mind. I am sure I have
been in a relationship with someone who had a hard time making up their
mind. That doesn’t really make for enough information for a whole song.
Once you get going on a riff “Jacqueline what’s the deal with your
ever changing mind? / Jacqueline turn the wheel, it’s only time on the
line.” Once I had that, I just finished the song for the sake of the
song. It didn’t have to have anything real or fictious, necessarily. It
was let’s just finish a song about a girl. There probably is some
composite work going on in there, but really, I was just trying to
finish the song. I can make up a song, just about anything at any time.
My songwriting does come from the point of view of the very personal
when I am singing about my life, as in the song “Find Your Way.” It also
comes from making up a story and making up a short film crammed into a
three-minute song, like in the case of “Jacqueline.”
For the songs “Find Your Way” and “Here For You,” that’s my life and in
the song “Jacqueline” or “Little Brother,” I am making up a story that
has nothing to do with my life. You can break it down in the world of
Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The one guy writes, “Help” and “In My
Life,” and they are very personal songs, and the other guy makes up
stories like “Lady Madonna” or “Eleanor Rigby,” and these are fictious
characters. Those two guys influenced
me, and I (realized) I do not have to write just about my life, and I do
not have to exclusively make up characters, like Randy Newman does.
Eavesdropping is another source for inspiration and ideas for songs.”
The seventh song on the album, “Arkansas Twisted Heart,” is shared by a
co-write with Jaimee Harris. The album has a catchy, swampy vibe to it,
introduced by Tim Easton’s acoustic guitar, before he is joined by
drummer Geoff Hicks and violinist Daniel Lapp. Ryland Moranz is on
banjo. Tim Easton also
accompanies himself playing the harmonica.
Jaimee and I were participating in this incredible program in Arkansas
called The House of Songs and it is run by the songwriter Troy
Campbell. He put together this program where eight to twelve songwriters
live together in a house and have co-writes. In some cases, you finish a
whole song. With Jaimee that day we did not finish the song. I wrote
that one line, “I hear you singing in the kitchen, and you know it’s
breaking my heart.” That line just sat in a notebook for a while and
then later on when I finished it, I made up this story about a
co-dependent, train wreck of a couple. It was not based on anything
real, but it very well could be. It was more of a composite thing. I
just made up a story about a troubled couple. It was like a David Lynch
movie like Wild At Heart.
I finished the tune, and I figured I would put her name on there with
me, because she was there when we originally started together,” he says.
Tim, as you get older does it get easier for you to become more
vulnerable with your music?
“I agree with that. Strangely, when you are older it gets easier to deal
with life. You have had enough life experience as you know, they (other
people, who might judge you) aren’t thinking about you at all. They are
thinking about themselves. You should be kind to people and helpful, but
what other people think about you is out of your control. You learn to
understand that and process that a little better as you get older,” he
says.
“Dishwasher Blues,” is as you might guess is a Blues / Country ballad
about a guy meets girl.
“I would love it if a Country band or a Bluegrass band picked up this
tune and made it their own and got it to the masses. For me the
character in the song could also be the character in the “Arkansas
Twisted Heart” song. They are next to each other on the album for that
very reason. With all the traveling I have done in this world, I have
crossed paths with so many characters and disgruntled restaurant
employees. I have seen someone throw their apron on the ground and walk
out the door. It is like the beginning scene of a movie.
I was a dishwasher years ago and I loved that job, because you didn’t
have to talk to anybody. You had your own little section, and you worked
at your station. That song came out of the chorus, after seeing the
movie Five Easy Pieces.
I know it is a big stretch to think that a dishwasher was hanging out
with a girl who loved Five Easy Pieces. It immediately puts the
song in a whole different time zone. It goes back to the seventies at
least. It is a dishwasher who splits from his job, heads out west to
California, and meets a waitress. It is another movie song. I can see
this adventure happening. I am going to put him in a (sports car), and
he is going to cross the border. He is going to Mexico, and I am going
to name drop another movie in there From Dusk Till Dawn. It is a
vampire movie that takes place on the border.
There is a line in the song that is true to my life, and it wouldn’t
mean anything to anybody unless I explained it. “Killing roaches in a
flat over Squaresville.” I literally did live in a flat over
Squaresville Clothing in Los Angeles at one point in my life. The
cockroaches were so big that I placed this character in that scene.
There were also surfing roaches. They were so big you could surf them.
There was a Circle K gas station down the road, and it always looked
like some sort of weird drug deal was happening in the parking lot. It
looked really dangerous, and it attracted some unsavory characters. I
threw my old neighborhood into the song, and I said that’s that. The
only part of that song that is real to me.
I think I did cross the border with my girlfriend (at the time) and the
intent to get married, but we never did, because we got smart.
There were some adventures in my life that might have led to this kind
of song being written,” Tim Easton explains.
Please take time to visit the
website
for Tim Easton and you can view the music video for the song “Everything
You’re Afraid Of,”
here.
#TimEastonMusic #NashvilleMusic #TimEastonInterview #RivetingRiffsMagazine #RivetingRiffs #MusicInterview #EllingtonEastonVideographer #EntrevistaMusica #CompositorEntrevista
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The
song talks about meeting someone special and hoping romance will
blossom. 