Tim Easton has been singing and writing songs since he was 14 years old. He never considered another career. After finishing college, Easton hit the road with his guitar and spent seven years singing and playing on European street corners. When he got back to Ohio, Easton joined the Haynes Boys, a roots-rock outfit that made one album before breaking up. Free again, Easton picked up his guitar and returned to the road, touching down long enough to make nine albums that earned him a loyal following with their blend of gritty roots-rock and heartfelt songwriting. Every LP took a slightly different approach and his latest, Not Cool, shows off his love of rockabilly and early R&B. Easton will be quest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our new feature on him.
Easton: I’ve traveled enough to see hundreds of different country singers do their thing. You could debate it all until the sun comes up, but what you have here are two different kinds of traditionalists who are out there singing up a storm in their own ways. Robert Ellis is from Texas, and JP Harris is from Alabama. Both of them have studied their history while also bringing something to the form of county music that will make you feel it the way you are supposed to feel it. Around my neck of the woods, they are also just some other dudes at the bar, just as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard were at one point or another before going out to change the world. Willie and Hags worked together briefly in the ’80s when they recorded a Townes Van Zandt song together. They knew a gem when they heard it and could interpret it well.
Video after the jump.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Sn-Nvq2o2o
