My Music Episode 240 - Tim Easton

Nashville-based songwriter Tim Easton presents ‘Sliver of Light’, a song that lives in the category of powerlessness over the behaviour of others. Literally inspired by a personal event and the thin line that exists between life and death, this single is released via Oklahoma-based Black Mesa Records. A mainstay of American roots music for more than 20 years, Tim Easton creates songs for the Great American Songbook. With reverence for the past and an outlook toward the future, Easton is easily among the greatest songwriters of our time. Pulling from a wide range of influences, his compositions lead you on a journey that blurs the lines between folk, blues, Americana and workingman's rock & roll. Penned with hope, ‘Sliver of Light’ finds him focusing on the present in the realisation of how quickly and abruptly things can end. An organic offering, this song showcases his abilities as a songwriter and performer, and the breadth of his inspiration. “I wrote the lyrics on a Dutch train during a European tour. I had just heard tough news from home. A friend who had fallen down was suddenly on life support. The words poured out fast and, when I arrived at my hotel, I immediately set the lyrics to music. Once back home in Nashville, the recording session was equally charged and completed in a few hours. Take one was the keeper track with me singing and playing guitar along with the band while a friend filmed us recording. Overdubs were added with some percussion, Wurlitzer keyboard and harmony vocals to complete a song that is two-thirds observation and experience and one-third baseball prayers,” says Tim Easton. Years before Americana music was recognised at the Grammy Awards with its own category, Tim Easton helped pioneer the genre's mix of classic inspiration and contemporary interpretation, writing songs shaped by forebearers such as Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, John Prine and John Hiatt, while moving forward with the modern world.