It’s been three years since we’ve last heard from Tim Easton, but that doesn’t mean he has been a lazy man. Traveling across the world, opening for acts such as Cowboy Junkies, The Jayhawks, John Hiatt, and Lucinda Williams, Easton has experienced a world of drugs, pain, love, and hate. During the election year of 2004, he helped register voters in his home state of Ohio, hoping his work would lead to a change for the better. Although that didn’t happen, Easton was rewarded with 13 new songs, which he recorded for his fourth album, Ammunition, a collection of honest music that doesn’t misfire once.
With a title like "Ammunition," you might expect an array of tunes that explode on the listener requiring no necessary deep thought. However, Easton offers the exact opposite for his fans and hopeful new followers—stories and struggles of real life and desperate times that need time to soak in. “Oh People” takes us through his experience with voters in Ohio, “J.P.M.F.Y.F.” speaks of the danger of combining religion and politics, while “Dear Old Song &Dance” lists off every drug imaginable found in Amsterdam. And while not a full-fledged political album like Neil Young’s recent Living With War, Easton’s Ammunition does take some hits at our government, with songs like “News Blackout,” which includes the line, “I had a dream that the President did come clean.”
But perhaps the most tremendous feat on this album is Easton’s guitar playing, which continues to be overlooked. It’s the most delicate, yet powerful and precise playing that really is the reason why these songs work. Sure his songwriting is outstanding and his voice crisp and unique, but Easton can play, and that’s enough ammunition to last a lifetime.
