During my first spin of Tim Easton’s new Not Cool album, Little Village came to mind. If you don’t know or remember Little Village, look ‘em up: John Hiatt, Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner – the same lineup who laid down Hiatt’s 1987 masterpiece Bring The Family and reunited to release a self-titled album in 1992. One of the greatest supergroups to ever come and go, Little Village were masters of white-guy-in-the-garage-next-door grooves and clever wordplay. They were loosey-goosey and dead-nuts-on at the same time – and deserved more attention than they received (even though they managed a Grammy nomination in ’93 – after disbanding).

So here you go, world: Tim Easton and his friends are doing that same deed on Not Cool – totally his own music and his own sound, but the same sort of everyman funkiness that made Little Village so damn good. This time, pay attention.

“Don’t Lie” kicks the party off, wop-bopping along courtesy of Joe Fick’s doghouse bass (if it’s not, I don’t want to know) and Jon Ranford’s cool-daddy drums. Add Easton’s no-shit, real-deal vocals and JD Simo sounding like he’s playing slide guitar with a greasy skillet and you have a tune that not only opens the door – it kicks it off the hinges and throws it in the puckerbrush.

Don’t stop now – keep on a’reading. Pluck the magic twanger right HERE to read the rest of my review of the new Tim Easton album on Jambands.com