Once upon a decade and a half ago, Tim Easton was making a big noise
out of Columbus with the Haynes Boys, his ass-kicking Americana outfit.
When that good thing came to a natural end, Easton launched his lauded
solo career with 1998’s excellent Special 20, followed by a
succession of equally impressive albums and increasingly glowing
praise. Since Easton’s relocation to Joshua Tree, California, the site
of Gram Parson’s impromptu Viking funeral, he’s become more
acoustically reflective, especially on his last outing, 2006’s
Ammunition. Now, it seems, Easton feels the need to blow some of
the rust out of his pipes and return to the craggy roots rock of his
Buckeye days. Porcupine bristles with the prickly charm of the
album’s title animal. Backed by former Haynes Boys bassist Matt
Surgeson and ex-New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown, Easton sounds
positively rejuvenated. “Burgundy Red” shimmies like a roots-rock spy
theme, while “Broke My Heart” lopes like a Nick Lowe pub-rock tribute
to Everclear. Even when Easton slips back into the quieter acoustic
mode of his recent past — the blues slither of “The Young Girls,”
the Ry Cooder-esque folk contemplation of “Stone’s Throw Away,” the
Ryan Adams-tinged “7th Wheel” — he’s still clearly sparking with
newfound intensity. —Baker
This article appears in May 13-19, 2009.
