~~~
TUNES FOR HALLOWE'EN (2006)
SAMHAIN
I saw the season in the sky tonight
Lit up by the pale moonlight
We scattered leaves to the ground
I was looking for what you found
It's time to see what the last year brought
I know the labor, I know the cost
My hands are aching for the candle's head
I am awaiting the returning dead
Harvest time has come at last
Hide your face and hide it fast
Harvest time has come at last
Hide your face and hide it fast
Every ghost will walk the earth
Find them soon or be found first
TRICK OR TREAT
Looking through holes in my second face
I can see my breath in the air
I’m hoping someone will recognize
Who I am this year
Lat year wasn’t so bad
Last year we managed to laugh
I forgot “trick or treat”
I forgot to say “please”
Taking my first step to my neighbor’s house
There are voices down on the street
My hands are held out in the blacklight
Eager to receive
Lat year wasn’t so bad
Last year we managed to laugh
I forgot “trick or treat”
I forgot to say “please”
Sitting on the carpet of the living room
Spoils of war spread around
Looking for poison in cellophane
I saw your face on the ground
This year wasn’t so bad
This year we managed to laugh
Reminded of “trick or treat”
I forgot to say “please”
YULETIDE GREETINGS FROM SAMUEL AND MATTHEW (2006)
SNOW
Outside my window, wind in the night
Outside my window, waiting for the sight
I'm dreaming of a white a Christmas
I'm dreaming of snow
I'm dreaming of a white blanket
Over everything we know
Outside my window, it's cold across the earth
I should be asleep but I want to see snow first
I'm dreaming of a white a Christmas
I'm dreaming of snow
I'm dreaming of a white blanket
Over everything we know
YULE BE SORRY (2007)
CRYIN' ON CHRISTMAS DAY
Well you left me all alone
When you went so far away
But if you are happy to talk on the phone
I'll be crying on Christmas Day
The distance is likely to break my heart
And your gifts are so hard to take
But I saw it coming from the start
And I'm still crying on Christmas Day
This Christmas tree don't mean much to me
Where the light are, I cannot say
And now I am so sad and lonely
And that's why I'm crying on Christmas Day
Yes, I am crying on Christmas Day
Yes, I am crying on Christmas Day
LETTERS (2008)
LOST DOG
We rode to you in silence
Made up my mind and was resigned
To pick up my pride and to move on
But you met me with sunglasses and a smile
I feel just like a lost dog
I’m hoping it’s not a lost cause
We parked the car under a cloudless sky
You told me to follow
I know I might just be another guy
But that’s some bitter tea to swallow
I feel just like a lost dog
I’m hoping it’s not a lost cause
I feel just like a lost dog
I’m hoping it’s not a lost cause
Take me inside to get a drink
A boiling cup of Earl Grey
And I can hardly stand to think
That I’m the only one who pays
Just a little collection of moments
I find they want to slip away
Whenever I try to hold them close to me
At the end of the day
I feel just like a lost dog
I’m hoping it’s not a lost cause
I feel just like a lost dog
I’m hoping it’s not a lost cause
SUMMER DRESS, WINTER COAT
I met you with your winter coat
To keep out the chill
Your beauty cannot hide no matter how much the wool
I couldn’t take my eyes away
You know the drill of watching all the seasons change
You light a cigarette and look away from me
I try to tell you just how pretty you seem
I met you with your summer dress
Made my heart go weak
Gorgeous in the April air, made me wanna cry
To see that floral pattern
Flutter in the breeze, and oh we watch the seasons change
You light a cigarette and look away from me
I try to tell you just how pretty you seem
You light a cigarette and look away from me
I try to tell you just how pretty you seem
HEARTBREAK IN THE TIMES
He makes a pot of coffee
When he wakes up in the morning
Cuts it with skim milk
And a little bit of bourbon
Double knots the laces
On shoes a size too small
Forgets to lock the front door
And throws the dregs out on the lawn
She sits awake at night
With a smile in her head
Night light is no comfort
For the things she never said
The morning comes too soon
She’ll be walking in the cold
Doubting hopeful thoughts
And the smell of melting snow
I’m not sorry that I talked to you
But I’m guessing how to feel
The winter seems just that much bleaker
Knowing I’m still here
The moon is three quarters full
And there’s ice on the ground
And I can’t help but wonder
If you’ll come around
There’s heartbreak on the faces
And heartbreak in the times
You’re a thought on the end
Of a telephone line
I’m not sorry that I talked to you
But I don’t know how to feel
The winter seems just that much bleaker
Knowing I’m still here
Just guessing
Here just guessing
RODEO (2008)
BUFFALO NICKEL
He’d lie in bed, eyes to the wall
Where the posters were hung
Cowboys thrown into the air
Ropes around the sun
Daydreams of those eight long seconds
On the ride so fickle
Get me a pair of spurs
Shining like a buffalo nickel
Driving home on prom night
Wrecked his brand new Ford
Gave up on the engines
And found peace up on a horse
The drive to ride the circuit
Cut through like a sickle
Get me a pair of spurs
Shining like a buffalo nickel
You weren’t raised for the low-down rodeo
Don’t waste the life ahead
On a misguided fantasy
And a broken neck
Packed up his things
And left his ma a note
Stuck out his thumb
And got picked up out on the road
His hopes were riding high
And doubts slowed to a trickle
Get me a pair of spurs
Shining like a buffalo nickel
Buffalo nickel
Buffalo nickel
Buffalo nickel
Buffalo nickel
THANK GOD I’M YOUNG
By nine in the evening I’m two hundred miles away
Wind on my face and home at my back
Riding borrowed time I stole just today
The center line keeps flying lonesome on the track
I’ve gotten no sleep and thank God I’m young
Waiting for the morning and praying for the sun
Ain’t said my goodbyes to friends or family
Thought up some words and jotted them down
I got a bag for my clothes and the road for my dreams
Old boots on my feet and no ties to my town
There’s a hard road ahead and thank God I’m young
I’ll rise to the top with free air in my lungs
There’s a hard road ahead and thank God I can’t see
That my reasons to run will be the death of me
I’ve reached where I’m going by the next new dawn
Take in the smell of the horses and sound of the bulls
I haven’t felt this at home in I don’t know how long
My heart is pounding and I can feel the pull
There’s so much ahead of me and thank God that’s so
There’s something to do and somewhere to go
I’ll ride in the ring and to the setting sun
It’s a hard road ahead and thank God I’m young
DARK AT 3 AM
Hey, wake up, there’s something I want to say to you
Cuz I feel like I’m being left behind
It’s thundering outside and I’m feeling oh so blue
It’s dark at 3 AM and I got something on my mind
The house is quiet and the rain is falling down
Is hard to see you in this light
There’s nothing you can do to turn my heart around
But it’s dark at 3 AM and I got something on my mind
I sit up straight and give up on acting strong
As you rub the sleep from your eyes
And you turn to me and you ask what’s wrong
It’s dark at 3 AM and I got something on my mind
My worries are assuaged and my heart is warming
I feel like I’ve been acting blind
I’m lucky that you’re calm amongst the storming
It’s dark at 3 AM and there’s something
It’s dark at 3 AM and there’s something
It’s dark at 3 AM and there’s something on my mind
GASOLINE
I can’t really call what I’ve been doing dreaming or sleeping
I can’t put a name to the things I swear I’ve seen
It’s hotter than hell and my head’s splitting wide open
Nothing to help the taste of gasoline
I want nothing more than to burn out that light
That’s throwing shadows under my eyes
The room is empty but the lock’s turned tight
You shook and you laughed and you cried
Well the horse has been shot out from under you
And dragged you along on the ride down
It’s hotter than hell and my head’s splitting wide open
Craning my neck to see the source of the sound
I want nothing more than to burn out that light
That’s throwing shadows under my eyes
The room is empty but the lock’s turned tight
You shook and you laughed and you cried
It’s hotter than hell and my head’s splitting wide open
Nothing to help what burns with gasoline
I want nothing more than to burn out that light
That’s throwing shadows under my eyes
The room is empty but the lock’s turned tight
You shook and you laughed and you cried
FOURTH OF JULY
The fireworks bloomed grand over the music from the bandstand
As we lay there under the fog
And on the drive home we listened to the radio
And you know, I didn’t pay it no thought
You’ve gone on with your life
And all I got is the Fourth of July
When we got back home all the seeds were sewn
In the emptiness of that bottle we drank down
Later that night, under the stars and stripes
We tried so hard to not make a sound
You’ve gone on with your life
And all I got is the Fourth of July
Now it’s almost fall, and I’m trying to walk tall
But I feel like I’ve lost again
The sadness of life hits harder at night
I’ve got no friendly hand to lend
It’s easy to get carried away
In this goddamn lonely summer heat
Never found the right things to say
You never said nothing to me
You’ve gone on with your life
And all I got is the Fourth of July
You’ve gone on with your life
And all I got is the Fourth of July
ROCK THE CRADLE
Crossed the Hart County line
Stumbled into Central Time
All the music treating us just fine
Along the way
Out on the open road
Tuned in the Eastern mode
White lines forming Morse code
With every day
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
Three hours to country music Broadway
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
And in Memphis it already starts to rain
As we crossed the land
That Ernie Tubbs and Sam Phillips had
Placed between them by time
And circumstances
Minds were going down
And every little country town
Paraded in with sounds
And songs and dances
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
Three hours to country music’s soul
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
And Memphis is the cradle of rock and roll
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
Three hours to country music’s soul
Well it’s three hours to Nashville
And Memphis is the cradle
Memphis is the cradle
Memphis is the cradle
Of rock and roll
WRONG WAY OUT
My eyes fell heavy like warm weather
I spent my nights grinding my teeth
She kissed my neck and smelled like hand-tooled leather
I don’t even win in my dreams
Lived out of a car for nine days
Smoky hills and bourbon skies
Wishing don’t bring about always
At least in my dreams I try
At least in my dreams I try
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know the morning’s so loud
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know what I’m fighting about
Wandering can’t cover the distance
And my focus can’t leave the South
Her dress caught the sun for an instant
My dreams are only made out of doubt
Living out of a bottle neck for the ninth hour
Far too gone to act out the part of the thief
Well I’m sick and the money’s lost its power
At least in my dreams there’s some relief
At least in my dreams there’s some relief
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know the morning’s so loud
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know what I’m fighting about
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know the morning’s so loud
It’s the wrong way out
I don’t know what I’m fighting about
RODEO
He stepped out of the car and onto the road
His eyes grew wide at all the hats and the buckles made of gold
Crossed the parking lot, to the first rider he could see
She was long and tall, with a number on her shirt and pinned to her Wrangler jeans
It’s hard to say what first lit the spark
And I know I’m my only friend
But lying here in the dark
I say it’s nice to be back in the saddle again
They introduced themselves, she asked him to watch her ride
Later at the honky-tonk they danced all through the night
Her wit was like a whip, and he was handsomer than some
Later in her trailer, his heart pounded like a gun
Things are just as good as they can be
But I know I’m my only friend
Cuz things ain’t never just what they seem
But while it lasts, it’s nice to be back in the saddle again
Three months flew by in the rodeo like a whirl
She found him in the bed of the champion bullrider’s girl
She cried, he said: “The thrill is gone, and I have no regrets
I still got my car, my beer, my boots, my pills, my cigarettes”
It’s hard to say just what threw us off
And I know I’m my only friend
And I’ve fallen so far from the top
But it sure was nice to be back in the saddle again
HIGH PRICE
Seems like there’s a high price to pay for anything that’s free
That’s why these misgiving are always inside of me
It’s been so long since I felt I could call something mine
I’ve lost my sense of direction about what to do with lost time
I don’t want to be alone
I don’t want to be alone
I don’t want to be alone
But it’s not up to me
Sometimes I think I could burn down everything I own
And I think I would survive it to hear your voice on the other end of the phone
We could hit the open highway and forget everything we were
Nothing but a tank of gas, you’d be mine and I’m already yours
I don’t want to be alone
I don’t want to be alone
I don’t want to be alone
But it’s not up to me
You don’t have to make up your mind today
There’s no writing on the wall to see
Seems like I high price to pay
It’s not up to me
No, it’s not up to me
DUSTY ROSE & MAGNOLIA (2009)
NOCTURNAL
The bedframe creaks
As you get up to go
But the door it opens smooth
Dry hands and red skies
And trucks falling asleep
Tossing seawater in my wounds
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
What you are is a door
That’s been kicked wide open
What I am is a rusty broken key
These moments
Of weakness make it hard
For me to ever leave
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
The light in my room
Is like the moon
It’s waning in the corner
Ripples of pulse
Remembered in my skin
These scars we hide from each other
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
These gifts that you gave to me
Don’t mean anything
BLOOD IN THE RIVER
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord,
Oh my Lord please save me
There’s a fire in the road, there’s a fire in the road,
There’s a fire in the road that I need
There’s blood in the river, there’s blood in the river,
There’s blood in the river where I bathe
And the wind is blowing, and the wind is blowing
And the wind is blowing my sense away
And I have no comfort and an emptiness in my heart
And I have no comfort when the moon leaves the dark
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord
Oh my Lord please save me
I’m waiting on the phone, I’m waiting on the phone,
I’m waiting on the phone to finally sing
There’s flies on the ceiling, there’s flies on the ceiling
There’s flies on the ceiling above my bed
I’m trying to forget, I’m trying to forget,
I’m trying to forget just what I said
And I have no comfort and an emptiness in my heart
And I have no comfort when the moon leaves the dark
Oh my Lord, oh my Lord,
Oh my Lord please save me
There’s blood in the river, there’s blood in the river
There’s blood in the river taking me away
PULLING DOWN THE MOON
Lost in animal dreams, my bones will always freeze
Under floorboards start to creak, predawn parties and fuzzy teeth
There’s maroon here under my nail, burning radios and trails
Like Jonah and the goddamn whale, swallowed down in the belly of the beast
And oh, I’d like to know
Who keeps adding to this feathery load?
Who’s the one heading back to the womb?
Who’s the one pulling down the moon?
There’s a black I love the most, dead deer in her dark winter coat
Haunted but I don’t like to boast, all my neighbors are ghosts
The coals have all burnt down, climb to the atrium and fly around
I was born to this no-horse town, and my voice it just echoes
Dig up the salt of the earth and drag it ‘round again
There’s truth in the gems of the sky and I’m on the mend
Pulling down the moon and chaining it to paper and nothing will hurt again
And oh, I’d like to know
Who keeps adding to this feathery load?
Who’s the one heading back to the womb?
Who’s the one pulling down the moon?
GUN-SHY
You could come and widen my self-destructive streak
Its trap has sprung just inside of me
Pushed up against all the letters
That remain unsent
My back is breaking from the weight of the tug
Of the door
You touched my face and my fingers are begging
You for more
And most nights
I’m wishing that these dreams were real
My intentions got caught in the nest of your veins
And in the circles that are made from your hair
The resolution of blood and the cold, and the long drives home
How many hours must I spend throwing you from my bones?
And most nights
I’m wishing that these dreams were real
And most nights
I’m can only feel your warmth keeping me up in the dark
And most nights I try
Not to be so gun-shy
And most nights
I try not to wonder why I lie alone awake
Waiting for an answer that will never come
That will never come
That will never come
FEVER DREAM BLUES
Howling like a dog and watching videos
Outside the ice falls down hard encasing the trees in quartz
My heart skips as rifles pound the horizon
Thirty long miles of mountain highway to the nearest friendly voice
You could come and just put me under
Chewed up with typeset teeth
I’ll be waiting here till the A-frame starts waxing
And my hair and beard is longer by a week
Two bodies lie on a mattress on the floor
Basking like snakes in each other’s radiator heat
There’s no sound at dawn’s bloody breaking
Or when all of this dissolves like a fever when I awake from this sleep
There’s smoke in the walls and beasts in the woods
You took off my watch for good
But who needs time where dead men stood?
You could come and just put me under
Chewed up with typeset teeth
The glass is rattling and the water’s full of sulfur
I’ll be gone till I’m older by a week
DUSTY FLAGS
Well she’s drunk with the morning
And bored with the sunshine
That falls down on her face like
Rain through the curtains riding
Tiny specks of dust hanging
Helplessly and bright in the air
I can splash through the shadows
On the surface of the badlands
Driving twilight miles in hours
Shifting endlessly behind me
But I can never seem to find
A suiting place to begin
Well she sits in the evening
Staring at the bedsheets made from
Pictures that are printed
From what I could remember of
Time spent in a bus stop that was
Creaking ghostly in the wind
Nothing left but words
Caged and flightless birds
Wrapped in dusty flags
And rags
RAISE THE SUN
I’m going through my father’s vinyl
And quickly losing my head
I will kiss the liquor out of you
And you will share your cigarettes
Put another record on
Something to kill this bottle to kill these thoughts
I will learn to keep my mouth shut
And you will hold my hand when it goes numb
Birds wheel above hypnotic
But I’ve touched down, careened around, I’ve fucked up
Put another record on
Something to kill this bottle to kill these thoughts
Something to round off the lies I will sing to you
Something to raise the sun, something to watch and weep
Dusty rose and magnolia are the company I keep
Put another record on
Something to kill this bottle to kill these thoughts
LAST NIGHT MUTE
Sky glaring down is flat ash gauze
Gates closed and melt into…
Trying to follow the lines that I draw
Knots in my heartstrings
Came undone
Spent last night mute
On the words I move
Tendencies of driving wheels
Shifting as they’re friends
I beat out the sparks with blows I can’t feel
And then weep and wail and mourn
Their passing
Spent last night mute
What’s blooming isn’t true
I stretch out like a carnival train
And jump the tracks and fade
Pinpricks and carousel games
Wooden horses, verses carved
Into stone
Spent last night mute
(On the words I move)
Spent last night mute
(What’s blooming isn’t true)
Spent last night mute
(Box is talking, has no clue)
Spent last night mute
(On the words I move)
WARDENSVILLE
I read the Obits at the diner
And stain the newsprint faces with coffee
I pay in change and crumpled paper
And I’m out into the harsh dead winter
I’ve never been to LA
I was born right here in Hardy County
And that’s where I’m gonna spend
My dying day
I’ve been a confidence man
I’ve been nothing but a vagabond
There’s good here in this dark land
But the only things that never leave
I’ve never been to Tupelo, Mississippi
I’ve never been to LA
I was born right here in Hardy County
And that’s where I’m gonna spend
My dying day
Wardensville is all alone
And the trucks are on their way out
There’s more folks in graves than in their homes
Trying to find some peace for their souls
HOURS
Three hours of frequencies from a plastic horn
The water is calm where the reeds are sewn
Up in stitches over all the dancing thoughts
Ears crackling and twisted wires star-crossed
Sand keeps raining down
The stars are mirrored in the frost
Twenty-four hours and a line burned on my skin
Red-hot black iron and alarms up over the ridge
Frigid windows yawning out onto the lake
I got the aching fibers and the stimulant shakes
Sand keeps raining down
Carried the embers in a bed of straw
One hundred sixty-eight hours of occasional snow
My breath is smoke-rings and the rainbow froze
I’ve only got two eyes and a shot of thunder
Vision’s gone crazy, perspective starts to crumble
Sand keeps raining down
Smashed the clocks and all the years were lost
MISCELLANIA (2009)
ALREADY TREAD
Does the dawn come too fast
When your sleepless eyes flutter,
While I’ve got a new mask to drag around?
Clutched onto a melody
To feed like tinder
To my heart, it’s going out
And climb up to this cloud
But there’s a line crossed overhead
Looking down and getting nowhere
Cuz there’s no ground but what you’ve already tread
Does the breath halt in your breast
When the sky finally darkens
And the stars count off the seconds again?
It’s getting hard to see past midnight
With these demons creeping up like
Spots of dust on the lens
And climb up to this cloud
But you know now that you’ve been misled
Looking down and getting nowhere
Cuz there’s no path but what you’ve already tread
And it keeps on going
Over and over
HALF-HEARTED DECLARATIONS
She’s allergic to this city
And tries to cough it up
She enters, still smelling of the thrift store
She’s walking careful like a drunk
With a voice so cool and menacing
And eyes like a cat scratching up and down my
Bones show when the moon rises again
Singing “la la la la la”
La la la la la
Her face was seen all alone
In the demon-red glow of the taillights, I’m told
Mouth open and trying to say…
“Near the woods where I wandered away
Accounting for the syllables you lent me
It’s clear now my body’s the enemy”
And the house is coming down all around
Singing
Singing whispers of fragmented, half-hearted
Declarations
It’s better in person, it’s better in the flesh
Confessions don’t make it past the lips of the blessed
Singing “la la la la la”
La la la la la
MAYBE CONSTELLATIONS
Maybe constellations aren’t crying, they’re shining
A smile too bittersweet
After all of the puzzles and blood run together,
At the end like a sinner I weep
This is where I’ll be, this is where I’ll be
Drifting out a life too good for me
I wish I could damn everyone
And have no stories to tell
Valentine’s Day fell like an axe in the woods
On my skull, rings like a bell
This is where I’ll be, this is where I’ll be
Drifting on these words too good for me
Guilty of building this cage
The needle scratches a warning
It’s gone now, so far a waste
You’ll find me in the morning
~~~
Yep. Some exciting things are coming up for me. Stay tuned.
