Nashville-based songwriter Tim Easton presents ‘Sliver of Light’, a song that lives in the category of powerlessness over the behavior 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. The accompanying video, directed by Jamey Wood, was filmed in Pegram, Tennessee.
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 realization 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 recognized 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.
Born near the Niagara River and raised in upstate New York, Tim Easton spent his formative years in Tokyo, Japan and Akron, Ohio. Traveling early and often, he learned the ways of the road and rails, spending seven years as a modern-day troubadour, making his way around Europe, playing the streets and clubs, living in Paris, London, Madrid, Prague, Dublin and wherever he laid his hat. Here, he developed his songwriting style – folk-based storytelling and personal traveling tales, often peppered with bold confessions or “tell it as it is” reality. Rolling Stone Magazine praised him as “having a novelist’s sense of humanity.”
“There is a certain helplessness that is involved with the friends and family of people who are in active addiction that is never easy to understand. I have been in this frustrating place before, and all I have is songwriting to help me deal with it. Sometimes we are simply unable to help people get well. May this song bring comfort to those who are right on the edge, barely hanging on. You are not alone,” says Easton.
With 10 critically acclaimed solo albums to date, Tim Easton has had a burgeoning career that has seen him tour the world, perform with music legends, such as Lucinda Williams, John Hiatt, Townes Van Zandt and Kris Kristofferson, and recording with many equally talented musicians (his 2001 album ‘The Truth About Us’ featured three-fourths of Wilco).
His tenth album ‘You Don’t Really Know Me’ (2020) was released by Black Mesa Records and will be followed in 2023 by several vinyl re-presses – ‘Not Cool’ and Easton’s solo debut ‘Special 20’. This builds on a steady wave of great music from Easton, including North American Songwriter Volume 1 & 2, a 20-song project entailing the start of a series featuring acoustic recordings of favorite songs from Easton’s vast catalog of original material.
‘Sliver of Light’ is available across fine digital platforms, including Apple Music, Spotify and Bandcamp. More info about upcoming tour dates can be found at www.timeaston.com
