Much like the folk legends that came before him — the Woody Guthries the Pete Seegers the Odettas (i.e. the founding family of folk music) — Easton developed his songwriting style by accumulating personal travel tales, peppering in bold confessions of life on the road and the reality of “how it is.” Originally from Akron, he currently hangs his hat in Nashville, and frequents Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Tim Easton is bringing his storytelling and poetry show to town June 21 at Vagabond Studio & Gallery, 130 Front St., Dayton. He will also, more than likely, have a guitar. Tickets are $20.
While he’s not a household name, Easton has been traveling and making music as his full-time gig for a couple of decades now. He doesn’t have a manager, an agent, or a hit, but he has a track record of putting out albums that people enjoy. In early 2023, he released “North American Songwriter Vol. 1 & 2,” a compilation of many of those fan favorites, which Easton re-recorded as raw, solo acoustic tracks. Volumes three and four are on the way.
His 2024 album “Find Your Way” — which was recorded with grant money Easton was awarded by the Canadian government — was soon followed up by the single “Ain’t That a River” in November. He just finished recording a new record in Nashville called “fIREHORSE.” The LP will be released in February 2026.
“If anything, now you have to work a little bit harder,” Easton said. “Recorded music is free, so you kind of have to work harder and travel more and play more shows… a guy like me anyway, to help make ends meet and keep the lights on. But you can make a living.”
When Easton was studying at Ohio State University, he reached out to the late Mick Montgomery, the once owner of Canal Street Tavern, after he heard bluegrass legend Doc Watson was playing there. He asked Mick if he could open up a show. It was the spark that caused the flame.
As a vagabonding troubadour, it’s only natural that Tim Easton would be recently walking down a random Dayton street to discover a new place to play, one aptly named Vagabond.
Toting his stories, the inspirations behind some of the songs, and a bit of prose poetry from his published works, Easton’s upcoming show is a culmination of his career as a real folk artist.
“After all this time on the road,” he said, “I certainly have some absurd and also uplifting and comically dark stories about all the things I’ve experienced.”
In Nashville, not everyone is writing pop country; there is a market for fringe performers. Easton calls it “one of North America’s great media towns… a superb place to live if you’re making records. You don’t have to be a part of that national country music system. They have their own music business school. That is kind of, in a way, the death of art to me.”
Easton says that when you mix commerce with art, things get icky. People like to imagine themselves as being purists, but the fact is that those who travel around playing songs can only get to the next gig if commerce is involved.
Tim Easton has had a very strange and beautiful life — an artist’s life that is as pure as it can be while also keeping the lights on.
Brandon Berry writes about the Dayton and Southwest Ohio music and art scene. Have a story idea for him? Email branberry100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
What: Tim Easton
When: 7 p.m., June 21
Where: Vagabond Studio & Gallery, 130 Front St., Dayton
Cost: $20
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