January 2010

Greetings to all from Joshua Tree, CA and I hope the new year will bring you peace.
2009 brought all kinds of traveling and I am happy to report that while 2010 should bring less traveling, it will bring more music.   I have TWO ALBUMS of material in the can.
One is a band recording made with my touring group The FREELAND BARONS.   That project is called BEAT THE BAND and it's a full length album that was recorded at Club Roar in Nashville last fall.   The other collection is a solo acoustic recorded by me in Joshua Tree.  In the meantime, there is a very good sounding live recording called LIVE AT WATER CANYON which is availiable at iTunes.  
Thanks for all your support and I look forward to presenting you with these new recordings as soon as I can.

Tim Nominated for 2 Independent Music Awards!

The last 8 weeks...

Hello folks....

I have been nominated for two Independant Music Awards
Best Americana Song: Burgundy Red http://www.musiciansatlas.com/imanominee/
and Best Album Packaging for the Porcupine 500 hand painted series.

If you have any time, and feel like dropping your secondary email and password into the REGISTER TO VOTE page, you could vote for me if you wish.

Below is a letter I wrote to you while I was in Japan and Spain...

 

 Greetings from Japan.   It's been an amazing year with many, many cities and shows under my belt.   This week alone has been quite a blast from the past for me since I used to live in this country when I was in grade school.   Way back in the day, I used to ramble around Tokyo with my posse of school kid amigos- jumping on the subway or elevated trains around town as we wished.   Today, it's a much different place.   I've never seen so many people jammed into one area.   The best part, aside from getting to sing my songs in new towns every night, is that now I am able to really enjoy all the different kinds of food/sushi, etc...in the land of the rising sun.  

  Just last week, I was enjoying some tapas and seafood paella in Spain in between playing some seriously late night gigs in that beautiful country.   I am able to speak Spanish so I was at least able to discuss some things with my hosts.  Here in Japan my language skills are pretty bad.   I am going to learn something, but it might take a few visits.  For now, it's "nice to meet you," "yes please" "good morning" "good evening" and "thank you."   I can also count to ten.

  Before Spain, I went to Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Austria, Alaska, and around the USA two times and had very good times in those places as well.   I've learned to travel a lot lighter after all these years.   I don't bring many clothes and I drink as much water and get as much sleep as possible.   That's not exactly the rock and roll lifestyle you may have pictured but the fact is I want to do this for as long as I can because I love my "job."  There has been plenty of nights or mornings this year when I saw the sun come up, but for the most part I try to take it easy so I can sing in every town.

   Just before I left for Europe,  I was in Tennessee with the Freeland Barons band making a new record.   Together with Mark Stepro,  Aaron Lee Tasjan, and Alex Livingstone, we recorded 12 new songs at Club Roar studios in Nashville.  It's the same place where I made Porcupine a few years earlier.  I'm very happy with the results and now it's time to mix and get ready to put it out in 2010.   So far, that project is called BEAT THE BAND.  
  I also have a complete collection of acoustic songs that will either be called the Highway 62 Love Songs or Campfire Propaganda, and I'll be working on finishing up that project as well- along with two art shows that are taking place, one in Houston at Cactus Music in February, and one at Buffalo Brothers Guitars in North Country, San Diego.

  It's going to be a busy start to 2010-after a massive siesta in Yelapa, Mexico during Xmas and New Years, and I want to thank everybody who helped me along the way in 2009.  It's a very, very long list of people who helped make this all possible.   I appreciate you all very much and could not do this without your assistance and generosity.  There are so many folks who made this year great, and I want to simply say thank you for making my life such a blast.

  To the musicians:  I played with four completely different bands this year.   Five different drummers:  Sam Brown, Mark Stepro, Benjamin Paul Kennedy, Kliff Hopson(Alaska)and Kees Schaper(Europe).  Thanks for lugging your kits around and holding down the beat.  On bass we had Alex Livingstone, Damian Lester, and Matt Surgeson.   Thanks for holding down the big bottom.    Guitar players were few...only me and Aaron Lee Tasjan holding down the fort there, but when Aaron was playing my job was so much easier and I was able to cut loose and sing with a bit more swagger.   
  Other MVPs are the great Megan Palmer on violin and the drummer James Dommek Jr. from Kotzebue, Alaska who came to Joshua Tree and recorded his debut album at my house.  It's called SOMETIMES, ALWAYS, NEVER and you can find it on the interweb if you work hard enough.  I am very proud of this work and you should probably check it out so you can say you were digging it way back when.  

  For me, the highlights of the live performances were this year's SXSW shows- especially at Jovita's, plus Portland, Oregon, Amsterdam, Johny Bredas in Philly,  Porto Colom in Majorca(wow!), Anchorage solo acoustic, Vienna, Ghent, Belgium, the always fun Toogenblik in Brussels, Madrid was great, Orlando with Matt Butcher and Kevn Kinney in the house, New London, CT(Shawn for mayor)Claremont Folk Music Center,  Homer, AK, Columbus, OH is always groovy, Tokyo- a first for me, and it was truly great, Vitoria in the Basque Country- very cool...ah, let's face it, all the Spanish gigs were fun...how could they not be?  This may be difficult to do but I could handle touring Spain, Japan, and Alaska every year forever.  And thank you Bucyrus, Ohio for letting the Freeland Barons rehearse for a few days in order to prepare for the Beat The Band recording sessions.    Thanks very much to all you music fans who support the troubadours that come through your town.   We need you in order to do this.

  Folks send me requests to give my top ten albums of the year for whatever reason and here's something that I wrote in Spain.   I have been sending them this as a response:

Tim Easton's 2009 Top Ten List
 
Screw top ten album lists.  Anybody can make a record.  Here are ten things that rocked my 2009.
 
1. My home and family.  I didn´t spend much time there this year, and I still have a lot of work to do on it, but my high desert crib is an invaluable decompression station to me.  And to Katie, the real rock.
 
2. the Dutch.  Inge, Daphne, Peter, Kees, and many more....it´s beautiful when the stereotypes of your nation are actually a good thing.   Thanks for the very good times.
 
3.Aaron Lee Tasjan.  It´s probably good that I finally learned how to spell and pronounce this musician´s name.  He brought the recordings we did in September 2009(something for your 2010 pipe)to another level.  Once, when he was too shy to speak to Patti Griffin backstage, I wish I would have stepped up to say that he is the kindest, most professional cat who has enormous talents of musicianship PLUS the invaluable skill of providing tour stress relief through his brilliant sence of humour.
  Every single one of my band mates- I had four separate bands in three regions this year- were great, but somebody had to be the ace.  If you get the chance, go see him and Mark Stepro in their band the MADISON SQUARE GARDENERS.
 
4. Yeah, Me, Too    I have had my addictions poked and prodded by the best, and this coffee shop in Columbus, Ohio provides some heavy doses of the dark stuff.   Brewed one cup at a time, this joint is owned by the two drummer/songwriters Sam Brown and Jovan Karcic.
 
5. Pho.  I first had this mainstay Vietnamese beef and noodle soup in Cleveland.  It was prepared all day and served carefully by a man named Khiem who learned the recipe from his grandmother.  I´ve been trying to find a better bowl in all my journies and have come close a few times, especially in the Little Saigon part of Seattle.  I love it for it´s healing and invigorating powers, and so I suppose I could add  Kombucha to this part of the list as well.
 
6. Richard and Kim /  Connie and Roland/ Kurt and Meredith/Mark and Carol Barnhill
   Here´s three couples I know.  The first own a bar in Winston Salem called the Garage, and they have stuck with me through thin and thinner and for that I want to say thank you.  The second couple live in Austria and are big fans of mine who provided me with gigs in in Vienna plus a comfortable place to be while I had a bad cold on the road this year.   The third used to put on the greatest house concert in North Carolina, now they are raising a future viking in Austin, TX.  The fourth live in Anchorage, AK...way up the hill, and are simply the coolest.   Of course, as soon as I start this list there are dozens more great couples that come to mind...The great Foote/Judkins clan or JP and Rudy Olsen for starters, but this isn't a competition...just a shout out to those who inspire with love.
 
7  Dirty Bird To Go   When you go to New York City, make sure to stop in and have some seriously good, buttermilk brined, southern fried chicken from this Chelsea eatery.   The owner also plays a mean washboard.
 
8.  España    You know I´m writing this in Spain when there is an "Ñ" key on the keyboard.   I´´m writing this list in November and I haven´t even finished the road yet.  Japan is next!   However, it´s safe to say Spain is tops for me because I just had five great gigs here and each night the food and company was amazing.  I wish every American could come and chill out here for a week or two and see how the Spanish people relax and have a good time enjoying life.  They may be the coolest people on the planet.  Europe and Africa meeting together...just as in the USA, except here they left the puritanical business behind.
 
9.  Alaska.     I know, I know....my bandmates like to make fun of me when I go for a whole day without mentioning my favorite state.   I went there three times this year.   The people, the nature, the musicians, the fishing...me gusta mucho.  Alaskans will give you the shirt off their back, and now that I am a land owner there, I extend the same courtesy to those I invite to travel northbound.   However, if you get there before I build a cabin, then you will be camping.
 
10. J.P. Olsen  I started admiring this film maker/musician years ago- mostly for his songs, only to be further inspired by his example as a great father and family man while simultaneously pushing through all the rigamarole that goes along with doing your own thing in regards to making art/music/film.

 11.  ¿Albums?   Hell, I´m just glad David Rawlings and Gillian Welch squeeked something out by the end of the year.    I dug the Monsters Of Folk and think those four dudes are basically the best of the best in American music today.
__________________________________________________________
  
  This year also had a true tragedy that is still not easy to deal with.   When I was on tour in Europe, our big Akita dog, #1 best friend and security system in Joshua Tree, Mia the great, was killed in an incident that I just don't need to go into here.   The desert can be harsh on animals, and in fact she is the second dog that we have lost in the last year.  Here's to those who love and care for their animals- it's a reflection of how we care for each other as human beings.  To those who are lazy, non-commital, and abusive, I hope you can learn.
___________________________________________________________

Here's a song I wrote on a bus in Spain that sums up my life as of late.  It's just another traveling song, but that shouldn't be a surprise.  

THANK YOU FAR AWAY CITY

You were supposed to sleep
but you got high instead
Now you are bent on a bus
instead of your bed
It's not half bad
in fact it's happening.
Two hours to go
until it's time to sing:

Chorus:
Thank you far away city
Thank you in between town
I am here to learn your ways
and carry them all around
You can teach me what you know
about living side by side
Or you can teach me
how to swear at those
who don't wish to abide

The very next day you woke up to pain
saw the north through the window
of a Spanish train
Felt pretty rough but it wasn't long
until I stood in front of you
and sang this song.

Chorus....

bridge:
I'm not going to be here long
but I'll come back again
if you'll have me then

I don't have very far to go
before I lay down with a comforting soul.
Talk about highs, she's the only one
who can put me back together
when I've come undone.

Thank you far away city
Thank you in between town
I am here to learn your ways
and carry them all around
You can teach me what you know
about living side by side
Or you can teach me
how to care for those
who don't wish to abide.
You can teach me
how to care for those
who don't wish to abide
___________________________________________________


Happy New Year and I wish all the best to you and your families.   Check back in at TimEaston.com to see about the art and music shows I'll be doing in Texas and California early in 2010.  Then comes the Alaska Folk Festival in early April and a tour with Carrie Rodriguez in late April.   See you there.

from Tim, on a Japanese Bullet Train.

BLURT Online Video Exclusive

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7th Wheel World Premiere

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Sunday, March 30th, 2008

SXSW and then some...

Not enough hours in the day. I'm just going to say something really quick and that's THE WHIPSAWS saved the day for me at SXSW and I have to send a public shout out to them for working so hard and learning these newer, louder songs of mine. It appears good things are in store for them in the future- some European action, and some good press- and anyways they are a great, hardworking band who takes well to the road and deserves your love.
Some quick facts about the Whipsaws tour. We visited SUN STUDIOS in Memphis and ate at Gus's Fried Chicken, AND visited the Lorraine Motel where MLK was assassinated. It was a major day and maybe the boys have posted some photos of us hanging out on the Mississippi afterwards. I'm too lazy to get all that stuff done.
What else....oh yeah, the drummer, Junior, managed to scare Jack White and attract Lucinda Williams in the span of a few days. More on this later. We had ourselves a time, to say the least. When we had our set at Alejandro Escovedo's SXSW closing party at the Continental Club in Austin, Lucinda joined us on stage for Dylan's MEET ME IN THE MORNING. Leeroy Stagger also sat in with us on that evening.
The next day, the whole band missed their flights back to Alaska, except Evan Phillips, Leeroy, and I, who drove three days straight to Joshua Tree to resume work on our EASTON, STAGGER, PHILLPS album which will come out as an ALASKAN ONLY release this August.
We'll do something more with it in Canada and Europe, but the lower 48 release will have to wait until early in 2009. Just too damn busy. In the meantime, Leeroy will have a new record for you all, and The Whipsaws will continue bashing it out old school style across the continent in a sweaty bar near you. Maybe we'll even play together some more.

More news on the release of PORCUPINE just as soon as I can give it to you.

Take care of yourselves, and take care of each other.
Tim

November 5th Amsterdam

So many folks have asked me about updating this web site page so I figure I’d better get on it. Plenty has happened since the summertime and really I’m tired of being called “Mr. Swimming Holes” so here you go. There’s also been a lot of talk about me being influenced by Bob Dylan(and show me the person that is writing songs that isn’t) and so anyways even in my journal world one time somebody said “It’s like a Hard Rain for you….what did you see my blue eyed son?” My eyes are hazel but yes there has been plenty and instead of writing it all out I’m just going to write it as lyrics to that Dylan song. This will more or less cover the last few months of stuff- although there is no way to get it all in there. I can’t tell you how I felt about all this stuff- but I can tell you what I saw. So as you are reading please use the phrasing and voice of that song and I’ll get back to you some other day in my own voice.

I came home to rest after five months a tourin’

I didn’t play guitar for nearly three days. I watched as my dog became a celebrity. (see youtube.com)

I rode my bike 15 miles downhill in the full moon.

I swam in the ocean and gambled on horses. I saw Cat Power singing and Cat Power bitching.

I sat on my porch and saw my neighbor’s rebel flag a flying. Later that week, that same neighbor died. I went to Alaska for the 6th year in a row. I saw three of my brothers and my father while up there. We caught tons of salmon and saw lots of rain. (a literal “hard rain” where we had to volunteer to sand bag the river because the town was going to flood) We didn’t watch TV for over ten days. I saw Sean Penn directing the film “Into The Wild.” I saw two black bear cubs where I was supposed to go fishing. I saw the most intense rainbow in the town of Talkeetna. We flew over the bus where Alexander Supertramp died. We saw three grizzly bears right outside our cabin. I played a show in the middle of Denali. We flew a small plane around Mt. Mckinley. One minute I was in the wilderness and the next was in Cleveland. I saw us play a half ass show at the Rock Hall of Fame. We faired so much better in Dayton and New York. I went 6000 miles from one gig to another. (Boston to upstate New York via San Diego). I played to folks rolling in the mud at a little thing called Moedown. I saw Ziggy Marley sing “Love Is My Religion.” I ate three kinds of chicken at Dirty Bird To Go. I saw Bob Dylan singing “Masters of War” at a AAA baseball stadium in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and called Lucinda Williams to play it for her. I saw George Bush lying on September 11th. I ate dinner with Steve Earle and we talked about Pro-Tools. I saw Allison and Steve sing “Where Have All The Flowers Gone?” I saw both of my sisters and all four of my brothers and my mother and father within a 30 day period. I saw Taj Majal sing Mississipi John Hurt songs. I saw M. Ward sampling Paul McCartney in Nashville. Later I heard him in a Cadillac commercial. I was on stage my very first time in the Ryman Auditorium. I presented the award for best song to James McMurtry. I watched Elvis Costello sing with Allen Tousaint. I heard Vince Gill tell a story on stage about taking mushrooms with Rodney Crowell. I saw four rental cars and over 12 airplanes. I saw Cali, Alabama, Ohio, PA, New York, Massachusets, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennesee, Georgia, and of course Alaska. I saw the great art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I saw Jay Farrar singing a song by George Harrison. I saw a bald, black man who sang just like Neil Diamond. His name is the one and only Black Diamond! I saw an old high school friend who now had a family. I saw Dallas, Texas from a jumbo jet airplane. I soaked in the hot springs of the Desert Hot Springs. I bought a round trip ticket for Europe. I had a whole month off in my hometown of Joshua Tree. I wrote and recorded 14 new songs. I parted ways with my manager and thought of the future. I played a show with TOUGH SAILORS opening for Oakley Hall at Pappy and Harriets. I played some of these news songs at the Joshua Tree Roots Music fest. I sang “Next To You” in New York while wearing an Elvis wig. (it was Halloween, after all) I talked about songwriting with Allison Moorer for XM. I played a show in Brooklyn with Allison and Steve Earle. The very next day I was in Hoorn, Holland where I noticed that the scrapbook page on my website could use some updating.

SWIMMING HOLES

That's what summer tour is all about. Singing songs and going swimming in the various swimming holes all across the country. There are tons of them. The annual pursuit really started one summer in North Carolina when a friend took C-Dub and I to a slippery rock and river pool outside of Asheville, North Carolina. That is a place- as well as the eastern side of Tennessee and the Great Smoky Mountains, where swimming holes are plentiful and clean.
In the last month, I've even jumped in a few of the larger swimming holes around these parts. Namely, lake Michigan- just south of Sheboygan, Wisconsin and also the Atlantic Ocean, just south of Jacksonville, Florida. The difference in water temperature was palpable.

About two weeks ago, I had the heartbreak of my summer when my favorite swimming hole in the world, JOHNSON'S SHUT-INNS- an hour west of the Mississippi River in the state of Missouri, was closed for the season. I found this out after driving a few hours out of my way to go swimming that day. I guess a dam was breached last December that caused a lot of damage and debris to clog up the river around the Shut-Inns. A sad day until I jumped in the Black River a few miles down the way. Nothing wakes up the groggy traveler like laying in a cold, clean river.

I've visited well hidden hot springs in Washington State, jumped off rocks into the Blackfoot River outside Missoula, Montana, jumped into the quarries outside of Knoxville, Austin, Columbus, and Akron. I watched bon fires and fireworks while floating on a pond in southern Illinois and felt like the country was going to be all right after all. I remember a great rope swing and pulley system in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania that shot you out over a lake. Plus night swimming in ponds around Atlanta. Floating down the Chattahoochee and jumping off Naked Rock. I surfed like a true amateur in north San Diego, swam with the sharks in the La Jolla Nature Preserve, froze easy at York Beach, Maine, and took the hottest and most scenic soak of my life in the Jerry Johnson Hot Springs in Idaho.

I know there are plenty more swimming holes and I look forward to visiting them some day. The important thing is to know how good it can be. If you live in a place where you can't jump in the river than you might want to think about what that means. I guess I'm adding myself to the long list of people who strongly suggest that we are ruining the planet. It's true we are doing bad things, but it's a bit presumptuous to say that we will ruin the planet. The planet is going to be just fine. We can only ruin it for us. That is, we may not be able to be here for many more generations , but the planet will go on just fine without us. Earth was around long before we came along and started messing it up. It will cast us off and spit us out like a something that's temporarily caught in it‚s throat, and it will carry on. In the meantime, if we could just slow down on the trashing of the place, then maybe our children's children will be able to swim in the ponds, rivers, lakes, and oceans of our home.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

one week on the road

I need to start writing about my last week on the road before the next one starts. If I don't, my head may explode.
Last Monday evening I was in Lexington, KY. Lucinda played The Kentucky Theatre and then I caught the Mendoza Line at The Dame before getting some sleep and having breakfast at Alfalfa and picking up a new hat at this amazing haberdashery in town. (the first of many run-on sentences in this bit- but I'm too tired to do anything about it) The next day was off and I took a long but easy drive to St. Louis, MO- listening to Kris Kristofferson finish his reading of A Man Called Cash.
Next day was Wednesday and I played the Pageant with Lucinda. Kevin Buckley was around to play some fiddle on a few songs. After the show I stayed up listening to the few Gram Parsons songs I was to sing the next day in Austin for the first gig at SXSW. A few hours of sleep happened and I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to return the rental car and catch a 6:00 a.m. flight for Austin via Dallas. On the ground in Austin I shared a taxi with a Dutch SXSW attendee and made it to the convention center in time to listen to Neil Young give the keynote address. (It was my 10th SXSW and the first time I had ever been up early enough to catch this part of the fest). After Neil--who was introduced on stage after a man read the lyrics to "OHIO" and then asked for more songs like it--it was off to an Ameoba Records Gram Jam with Goldrush, Susan Marshall, Soda and His Million Piece Band, and Tres Chicas, to name a few. I played a few songs and was starting to wake up a bit in time to play the New West tacos and beer gig with Kris Kristofferson and others. I went on after Kris and although the crowd was talking pretty loud--not to mention the band next door blasting--I had a good time with my friends Megan and Beth on violin and then it was off to rehearsals for that night's showcase at La Zona Rosa. Played that gig and wandered the streets a bit. Ended up back at the club to catch some more Kristofferson and then slept a few hours before catching a plane to Jackson, Mississippi via Houston. In Jackson, I rented a car and drove two hours north to Oxford where Lucinda and Doug and I played the Ford Theatre. It was my best show of the tour because I was too tired to give a shit and therefore played a very relaxed show. This being St. Patrick's day--and because I had never been there before, I joined some literary locals for a trip to Faulkner's grave and also to a local party which was a very fine time. Went for a bit more sleep and woke up, walked around the town square, picked up some books, and drove five hours south to New Orleans to play the House Of Blues with Lucinda. This was the first night I played three songs with her--and even sang one (People Talking) before getting a pretty decent night's sleep. Lucinda was very inspired in her old hometown and played a nice long set for the crescent city folk. (I should probably not mention it but during this show a woman was thrown out for masturbating in public). It was a great night.
Sunday brought the end of the Veterans For Peace march from Mobile to New Orleans and a demonstration in Congo Square where I played a few songs after Nanci Griffith and Susan Cowsill among many other speakers. A very inspiring time with many old and young veterans on hand to tell it like it is. By this point I was able to witness the devastation all over the city and on this day two bodies were found. How long ago did the Hurricane strike? And what country is this?
Sunday night--also known as Super Sunday to the locals--brought a tradition, going back over one hundred years, where the Mardi Gras Indians meet at the corner of LaSalle and Washington Streets and chant at each other before giving each other big hugs. Dozens of police were on hand due to the gunshots that had erupted earlier in the day. Nothing but a celebration and a vigil here with folks like Big Chief FiYiYi of the Mandingo Warriors in your face with his proud green colors and feathers and also plenty of SECOND LINE drums and singing/chanting about the Spy Boy and Katrina. I have never seen anything like it and people were saying it was kind of a small one due to the fact that not everybody was back in town since the devastation.
On Monday morning I actually slept in a little bit before touring more of the city and also visiting some of the relief and rescue camps such as the one that Common Ground set up.
Tuesday, or today, we made a trip over to Biloxi to drive along the coast highway and witness that massive destruction left behind by Katrina. I saw dozens of miles of destruction and it's not going away anytime soon. On the way back, we stopped by the huge relief camp in St. Bernard Parish known as the Made With Love Café to play some songs for the many volunteers, contractors and citizens who eat there every day. On this day, they served up around 1400 meals. The place was incredible with a very Grapes Of Wrath soup kitchen/camp feel to it with a whole city of tents. These folks need relief and there are people from all over the world helping to make it happen.

I'm just not able to comment on it all right now--I needed to just write it all out and so here it is. New Orleans is the birthplace of so much important culture and music and that city and the gulf coast are in pretty bad shape still--in case you didn't know already. Piles of garbage and complete destruction everywhere you look. Maybe the revolution should start now.

After so much heaviness it was great to go to the Maple Leaf and hear the Rebirth Brass Band give it up for the people. Their music was powerful today.

Some sleep is needed. I'll give a try right now.
Come back Woody Guthrie.