By STEPHEN HU FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR Fredericksburg, July 27, 2022
Some good things are worth waiting for. That’s definitely the case with the new album “Witness” by South Carolina singer–songwriter Angela Easterling. The album was originally intended for release in fall 2020, but as with so many projects planned at that time, it was delayed due to the COVID pandemic. Coincidentally, Easterling and her music and life partner Brandon Turner had planned to take a career break around that time. Their third son was born in May 2020 and they wanted to take time off. It also allowed them to consider changes they wanted for “Witness.”
“During that time, I spent a lot of time with my family and I wrote some more songs and Brandon and I set up a studio here,” said Easterling. “We started working with another studio closer to us. During the pandemic, the first studio where we were recording closed their doors and went out of business, so we had to switch everything over to another studio. I recorded some more songs and decided to put some of what I had done on the back burner, combine some of the new stuff with the other songs, and put out an album this year. So that’s the album that I have coming out this fall.”
As the album title implies, “Witness” has songs that describe Easterling’s impressions of a volatile time in our history. The first song she recorded, “Halfway Down,” was released as a single in 2018.
“ ‘Halfway Down’ is about the endless cycle of gun violence,” said Easterling. “I always tell people when I sing that song that my goal is someday to never have to sing that song again. I would like for a week to go by where I don’t feel like I have to sing that song. It’s called ‘Halfway Down’ because we live down the road from a firehouse and a church and every time there’s a mass shooting their flags are at half-staff. The chorus goes: ‘I drive the long road into town all the flags are halfway down.’ ”
Some songs on the album are more personal. Easterling often draws on her experiences raising a young family for inspiration.
“There’s a lot of stuff on there to do with my family and my kids because that’s what my life revolves around, raising my boys up to be good men,” said Easterling. “I have a song called ‘Little Boy Blues,’ that’s what that’s about. The last few years have brought up a lot of things through the MeToo era. There’s a lot of things that I thought were just a part of life that I had to accept as a woman or things that I felt I had dealt with. Then when all this stuff started going on, it forced me to look at it. In the middle of that I’m raising three boys. How do I raise them up to not be part of the problem? Also, how do I not put some of my viewpoints on men onto them. That’s a fine line to walk.”
Easterling is keenly aware of the divisions that seem to be growing among residents of the United States and one song on “Witness” directly addresses them with an interesting allegory of the relationship she has with the country.
“There’s a song called ‘Have You Seen My Friend,’ ” said Easterling. “It describes a dysfunctional relationship that started out good and grows dysfunctional. I wrote it trying to understand our country and looking for what is my role to play. How am I responsible? How can I help? Has it always been this way? Growing up in the ’80s and ’90s, I had a certain viewpoint of America that my children don’t have in what they’ve seen in the last few years. Was it always like that and we had a little reprieve from it, or we were just not aware of it? I don’t know.”
Unlike her previous albums which were mostly recorded in Nashville, “Witness” was all recorded in Easterling’s home state of South Carolina. Along with Turner, who produced the album and plays many of the instruments, members of Easterling’s touring band contributed to the sessions and give the album more of a live, rocking feel than her previous releases.
“This album is a lot more representative of what I do at a live show, especially with a band,” said Easterling. “When I was going to Nashville, I was going for more of a rootsy, country sound, but when we play live, we tend to go in a more rock direction. I’m always going to have the country, roots and folky stuff going on. I’m just a folky at heart; I can’t help it. But there’s a lot more rocking stuff going on in this record. That’s how the band plays live.”
Easterling and Turner will be performing as a duo at the Music on the Steps concert series at the downtown library Aug. 1. Although not yet officially released, they will have copies of “Witness” for sale at the show.