Upstate native Easterling to perform Sunday at Sonny's
By Dan Armonaitis, Spartanburg Herald-Journal
Upstate native Angela Easterling wasn't sure if she was making the
right decision when she chose to move back to Greenville about
two-and-a-half years ago.
“After living in Boston and living in Los Angeles, I really thought
I was going to be miserable here,” Easterling said. “But I've been
really happy. Greenville has changed a lot since I was growing up. I
think this whole area is kind of a hidden little treasure.”
Easterling's homecoming provided the genesis for her recently released
album, “Blacktop Road,” which is a spectacular slice of folk-laced
Americana that details the singer-songwriter's relationship to her
maternal family's farm that has stood in Greer since 1791.
Hammett Farm is only a fraction of what it once was, much of it lost
years ago to make way for the “Blacktop Road” that Easterling sings
about on the blistering title track.
“Even though (the subject
matter of the album) is very personal, relating to my family, I've
found that it's also very universal,” Easterling said. “It seems that
every single time that I play the song ‘Blacktop Road' at a show,
anywhere in the country, I have at least one person in the audience
come up and tell me that their family went through the same thing.”
The response to the new album -- recorded in Nashville, Tenn., and
produced by acclaimed musician Will Kimbrough -- has been overwhelming.
Easterling has reached the Americana Music Association Top 40 chart
with it and recently received a glowing endorsement from Byrds'
co-founder Roger McGuinn, who called her “a bright shining star on the
country/folk/alt.music horizon.”
“When the whole thing happened
this summer with Roger McGuinn, that was a big sign to me that ‘OK, I
must be doing something right,'” Easterling said.
Just two
weeks ago, Easterling gave a major showcase performance at the
Americana Music Festival and Conference in Nashville, where she was
pleasantly surprised to have genre stalwart Jim Lauderdale approach her
and introduce himself as a fan.
“There's nothing better than
having people I look up to like my music,” Easterling said. “There's no
amount of money that you could make that could add up to a moment like
that.”
Although Easterling continues to build an impressive
national reputation, she said that she's looking forward to headlining
this week's installment of the Sonny's Sunday Songwriters series in
Spartanburg.
“I actually performed ‘Blacktop Road' and ‘The
Picture' in public for the first time at Sonny's, maybe a week after I
had written them,” Easterling said. “So, I definitely have a special
place in my heart for that gig. As long as I have open dates where I
can go play over there, I'm going to do it.”
Also, I was featured this month in Talk Magazine's annual "25 Most
Beautiful Women in Greenville" edition. You can look at some of my
photos and read about me here:
http://talkgreenville.com/..apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=BS&..Date=20091001&Category=TALK01&..ArtNo=910010801&Ref=PH&Params=..Itemnr=66
If you live in SC and want to pick up a copy, it is the October issue, available at Barnes & Noble & newstands.
Be sure to check out the other women and their stories. It is a very impressive group!
My friend Marianne Bessy (my French songwriting partner) went with me
to the party for the magazine and we got our pictures in the paper
again! My hair is a mess, but Marianne looks good, LOL:
http://www.greenvilleonline...com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?..Site=BS&Date=20091001&..Category=TALK01&ArtNo=..910010808&Ref=PH&Params=..Itemnr=22