[Cover photo credit to Madison Thorn]
Twenty-five years after its initial release, the songs from Tim Easton’s Special 20 are still in demand. The record, produced at Nashville’s Alex the Great Recording in 1998 with producers Brad Jones and Robin Eaton, suggested the Americana music path that Easton’s career would take. Special 20 and later Nashville record Not Cool, both long out of print, will be reissued on vinyl and CD via Black Mesa Records on October 20, 2023.
The songs on Special 20 blend real life mixed with a little bit of fiction from young love to unfortunate decisions. They draw on Easton’s Rock ‘n’ Roll college days and his turns as a solo street performer across Europe.
Fifteen years Easton, then a newly minted Nashville resident, became an early adopter in the East Nashville arts boom and returned to Alex the Great to record Not Cool. He collected a troop of Nashville performing vets in Joe Fick, JD Simo and Jon Radford, as well as a couple fellow newcomers, violinist Megan Palmer and guitarist Sadler Vaden.
Easton says:
‘Not Cool’ is the record, from start to finish, that I call my best album. Any one of the twenty songs on these two albums still rings a bell in my book. No disrespect to any of my albums, but these two are my favorites.
