Is it possible to make drawable tinting work for api < 21?
You can achieve that using source code.
Previously tinting was not supported by DrawableCompat.
Starting from support library 22.1 you can do that, but you need do it in this way:
Drawable normalDrawable = getResources().getDrawable(R.drawable.drawable_to_tint);
Drawable wrapDrawable = DrawableCompat.wrap(normalDrawable);
DrawableCompat.setTint(wrapDrawable, getResources().getColor(R.color.colorPrimaryLight));