Released 2010
Sojourn Records
- True Grit
- Gamblin’ Man’s Blues
- Restless Heart
- Breathe
- Hard Weathered Life
- On My Feet Again
- Cannot Win for Losing
- Muscadine Wine
- Daylight
- Don’t Feel Bad for Crying
- Open Road
- The Fool
Lyrics
True Grit
Some have walls,
Some have freedom
Others have faith
But I don’t believe them
Do they have true grit
Rivers do flow
Mountains do tower
Some get weak
While others get power
They need true grit
Some get stoned
While others get soured
The ones with courage
Overcome all the cowards
They’ve got true grit
Breeze on by
Gone with the wind and the sky
Take hold while you can
Just shut your pretty mouth
And stop asking questions
Trees will fall
Rocks will crumble
The cities we build
Will some day tumble
Do we have true grit
My head is strong
After years of weakness
My fate is sealed
With a wink and a kiss from you
Because I know your grit is true
Gamblin’ Man’s Blues
The sun is up seems like it just went down
light from the maker shines on the hallowed ground
refraction of that light through a stained glass door
I don’t even know how to pray to god anymore
Hustlin’ out on the streets for days
Counting my score at night to keep my fears at bay
For every dollar I lost there’s a penny I earned
Oh but I learned
There’s a hole in the pocket of my jeans that the money just burns- right through
I’ve got the gamblin’ mans’ blues
Standin’ on the eadge of the road to oblivion
Wonderin’ if my life made a difference to anyone
I was cocky when I came now I’m humbled as I go
I guess the tolls taken in my life are beginning to show
Tattered clothes and a face that’s worn
The look in my eyes show all the desperate places that I’ve gone
Everyone’s in line and they’re playin’ for keeps
But defeat
Is another motivator for those who are built to last – but some of them were born to lose
They got gamblin’ man’s blues
Everyone can relate to some bad news
It’s how you choose to react that’s up to you
(don’t worry about the verse here)
every step you take you take 2 steps back
then a crack
has fractured in the mirror that does nothing but reflect the fact… that no one gives a damn about you
you’re just a gamblin’ fool
Restless Heart
Lately you won’t see me anymore
You said I’m a fool with love
Cuz I’m not sure
Which one is in doubt
And who is left without
As good company is walking out the door
You try tellin’ me it doesn’t work
And tryin’ only seems to make it worse
So leave and say good-bye
And take a breath and wonder why
Inside of you you know its not the first time
Thank you for the kindness to let me go
This kind of love recedes and doesn’t grow
Where would we be
I guess we’ll never see
Who is all alone and who is free
Freedom always has its price to pay
And I get paid by freedom every day
You conscience never leaves
That’s what I believe
As long as you look at yourself
Off the pane of your window
Through the trees that the wind blows
I’m kind of restless in my heart
That kind of restlessness that breaks your soul apart
And it might be easier
For someone else to tell us who is crazier
Is it you or is it me?
Or does everyone have a restless heartbeat
Don’t ask me to respond
When that love is long gone
And I won’t bother asking you how you feel
Cuz I’m doin’ fine
And all I’ve left behind
Was everything that was hopeless
For something real
What’s real to me is something I just learned
That heading straight for you I had to turn
Cuz I don’t want to crash
But I don’t want to dash
The hopes that you might return
Off the pane of my window
Through the trees that the wind blows
I’m kind of restless in my heart
That kind of restlessness that breaks my soul apart
And it might be easier in time
Everything you thought was wrong is fine
And you open up your chest
And find another restless heart like mine
So I won’t have to bleed alone
To restless hearts like ours belong together
Breathe
If I could breathe you in
Like a cloud of smoke
I would inhale
I would hold my breath
And keep you in my chest
Till I passed out
Cold
With you in my lungs
Then I wouldn’t die alone
Love runs deep as the night is long
Will I live to see another day
That I’m with you where I belong
If air is where you go
When the body of you leaves
I hope you float by
Then I could catch my breath
And still have something left
When I passed out
Cold
With you in my lungs
Then you wouldn’t die alone
With just a memory I can’t go on
And live to see another day
To miss you when you are gone
Hard Weathered Life
I went down to a grave by the edge of town
Over by the ocean in the inlet sound
And what I found was my name on a stone
Of a man who died exactly on the day I was born
I won’t live in this life like I’m made of stone
That’s damnation and it almost put me out
It all came down to me and a razor and the edge
And somehow I got out
But that ain’t nothin’ that I really want to talk about
Cuz I’m sweet as the dogwood tree
That shaded me from the sun
And I will be there when the rain comes in
And that’s hard weathered livin’
I went up to a hill and I almost got a thrill
From being up so high and all without pills
And I’m amazed at that how up and walking now
With a lightened burden and my head is in the clouds
If I have changed I was hoping I’d had made that separation
Between wrong and right
I’ve been out of my head once too often
And I got used it, and I’m not alright
I’m just holding out for some changes in the afterlife
I’m clean as the whistle blows
No more powder up my nose
And I have always walked that knife
On the sharpest side of life
Danger in my ears
Danger in my eyes
Danger that true love might die
I went down into hell
It went down so well
I don’t know the reasons why
That I
Didn’t die
If I get back up on my feet again
I swear I’m gonna leave alone everything I should
If I get tempted I’ll just hold on to a piece of that emptiness
That I knew it would bring to me
If I took the opportunity
To be everything I used to be
Now when I look at me I grin
Cuz there’s a change in the weather tonight
And I’m giving up this hard weathered life
On My Feet Again
Maybe I’m a little slow
Maybe my skin’s too think
But still I wanna play the game
Although I may never win
I may not understand the rules
So I might look like a fool to you
But I still carry myself around
Despite your ridicule
If you look me over and feel like you
Haven’t seen much yet
You might be right I’m someone to
Forget
But if you’re like me and a storm is
Ragin’ from within
Remember
You can’t sail without the wind
Through the opening
That’ll get us over to a new
Beginning
And we’ll get back up on our feet
Again
Now if what I’m sayin’ sounds a little
Gilb
Then you don’t know the way I live
Although it’s on my own terms
I’ve got a lot to learn
There’s always someone who’ll sing
Sweeter and more in key
You can look to them but all I have is
Me
If it’s true that nothing’s born
Without some pain
And nothing grows without the rain
It’s finally sinking in
I’ll pour myself over to a new
Beginning
And I’ll get back up on my feet again
I might need a helping hand
When it gets hard for me to stand
If you can’t help to lift me up
Maybe someone else can
I might get lost along the way
To happiness there is no map
You can offer up directions
But I’ll make my own path to where
We’re going
And only then I’ll get back on my
Feet again
Cannot Win For Losin’
I cannot win for losin’
Every step I take
I just end up choosin’ a mistake
Cannot win for losin’
No matter how hard I try to quit
I’ll just keep on usin’ till I die
The light I think I’m used to seein’
Every time I look into your eyes
Is not as bright as it was
It’s faded out to nothing but
A remnant of what was once you and I
But that just died
Cannot win for losin’
How much time can one man waste
When he spends his life refusing to
Admit his mistakes
The time I thought we might have shared
Turned out to be just one man’s foolish dream
Oh but what a dream it was
The more I live I’m finding out that nothing is
Quite the way it seems
Or maybe it’s just me
Free rides, you pay for when you die
Cannot win for losin’
Every memory I make
I just get confused with the dates
They took place
Cannot win for losin’
No matter how hard I try
I’ll just keep on losin’ till I die
Muscadine Wine
Pick yer poison in the backyard from
The vine
The fruit is ripe
In the middle of a souther town
That’s quiet
And the county’s dry
With your casks holed up in a room
You think no one in town knows what
You’re doin’
But I know what you’re doin’
Holding up a glass and toast the
World
The world is yours
Good water makes good wine
Like in olden times when they drank
Muscadine wine
No one’s gonna tell the police what
You’re doin’
Or who you supply
There’s a party in the holler goin’ on
Tonight
You might should come by
It’s not what the law will allow
The sheriff’s grandfather showed
Me how
Now we all know what you’re doin’
Chrous
Bridge:
Let’s toast to all the best
Let’s toast to happiness
The smoke blows up in a plue
Intoxication fruit surrounds you
Chorus
Daylight
Daylight
Big boats are hookin’ to the dock
People watch them haul in what they brought
Engine oil colors swirl rainbow red
In the cool waters of the riverbed
Sick dog lies dying on the pier
No one does notice he was lying there
He hears a song in his head as he dies
And then he closes his eyes
White waves are raging on the bay
He watched the sun go down on another day
No final wish for a longer life
One twice as long but only half as nice
Daylight, don’t go
You left more behind you than you’ll ever know
It’s hard to see, see without light
But I’m in love with the night
Thinking over how everything was
He gets a feeling like a longing buzz
Memories come back, but time never does
White lights are glowing on the shore
A dog’s life in the cold dark night lost forever more
Nobody hears him as he slips into the sea
He made a splash, it’s the end at last,
He was all he will ever be
Thinking over how it could’ve been
If you sit and think as the tide rolls in
Long enough the sun will rise again
Don’t Feel Bad For Crying
Some people bleed in torrents
While others never bleed at all
And some people’s blood just boils
cause they hate it all
Some believe in violence to change
Another’s will
And others think that peace will
Make the violence still
Some think it’s time to hit the breaks
‘Cause what’s the hurry
And some can’t see mistakes
‘Cause their visions blurry
Warm bright light in a dark and freezin’ nights
Give you just enough warmth to make
Everything alright
Sometimes pain can be your guide
So don’t feel bad for cryin’ tonight
Some of us take pills
We swallow just for thrills
While other tip the bottle for the
Pain it kills
Some of us do both
While others (smoke their) stick with tea
They say all things must pass if you
Wait patiently
How can you escape
When there is nowhere left to go
You cannot truly run away when
The wheels turn so slow
Cold dark thoughts on a warm and
Sunny day
Kill just enough courage to make
Your decay
I can see the light fading from your eyes
Well don’t feel bad for cryin’ tonight
Pain can make a healthy man sick
If he wallows and he lingers in it
But hope can lead a blind man home
If he feels it down to his bones
Or maybe he’s just one of the lucky ones
But even he still recoils in hurt
But no one wants to hear a
Grown man whine
But you shouldn’t feel bad for cryin’
(Repeat chorus 1)
Open Road
There’s an open road ahead
I see a sign coming up for heaven
Been watered down with libations from hell
And we all drank the last drop from the wishing well
Don’t cry
Dreams never die
They’re right above you in the open road sky
Until you die
I love that place the best
Leave some behind you and get over all the rest
I have just three more words
California and Hazelhurst
Bye and bye
The cornfields fly
I hug that shoulder kind of tight
But it’s alright
I take in every single highway mile
And leave my foot off the break for awhile
Sign post up ahead says “take it easy”
And I can smell the ocean
I love the open road
I love the open road
I love the open road
I love the open road
Let’s wander down
The Fool
i have opened up my arms to you
and you just turned your back on me
though i never really knew you that well
you have the kind of face i won’t forget
you told me something i didn’t really wanna hear
but at least you spoke to me at last
time with you seems to disappear so fast
but i remember all the moments
as they drift into the past
i could never force you to be proud of me
or make you love me
i just get so tired from all the chase
i use a little push and refuel
i could take a little break
from the fool
you see in me
