Tim Easton

Tim Easton

Break Your Mother's Heart (New West) Listening to Break Your Mother's Heart, Tim Easton's third CD, it's easy to pick out his influences. One song recalls the lowdown J.J. Cale; another is bright and sunny like Paul Simon; then "Hummingbird," with its easy, strummed acoustic guitar and shimmering harmonies, recalls early R.E.M. The Athens, Ga.-based Easton, like all really good songwriters, steals from everyone and makes it sound like himself. That means Break Your Mother's Heart is the kind of album that's familiar after only a few spins, yet skillfully deep and inviting enough that it doesn't wear out its welcome too soon. One reason is the recording itself, which is filled with air and light, and almost never dense. Then there's the loose, skillful interplay of Easton's band, which includes drum god Jim Keltner and Jai Winding, who's played with everyone from Jackson Browne to Poison, on keyboards. Still, it's Easton's songs that stand out. Whether anthemic or shyly quiet, countrified rock or jangle pop, Break Your Mother's Heart ebbs and flows with a rhythm that's entrancing. This is played out especially toward disc's end with "Man That You Need," a three-part suite of sorts, with a coda that recalls the Beach Boys circa Surf's Up. This is undoubtedly Easton's finest work to date, placing him in a league with Richard Buckner, Alejandro Escovedo, and Freedy Johnston, songwriters who you just can't pigeonhole, and that's just the way they like it. (Cedar Street, Saturday, March 15, 11pm)