Rewritten in dedication to Dad and played after his eulogy.
Many roads and many miles have brought me to this place. On bended knee I stop to think and memories embrace. They give me strength, they give me power. Hold me in my troubled hour, and leads me down that long and winding road. And though tomorrow I must journey on, tonight I think I’ll stop and rest, and somewhere beneath this starry sky I’ll think of all the ways that I’ve been blessed.
The dust within my soul is from a thousand winding roads. Oh the beauty we have seen. And you my dear have walked them all right here next to me and held my heart and held my every dream. And Oh my dear, oh my darling, who is with me every day, forgive me for my silence but I can find no way to stay. And mourn me not tomorrow for laughter is my will and it echoes in the voices of our children still.
And though tomorrow I must journey on, but tonight I think I’ll stop and rest and somewhere beneath this starry sky I’ll think of all the ways that I’ve been blessed.
I wrote and recorded this song for our wedding. Jen heard it for the first time during our first dance together on our wedding night.
You are everything I’ve dreamed of and an answer to a thousand prayers. A face that makes the angels envy and a smile that chases away my fears. And I know I’m half a man, without your heart, without you hand. Please un-derstand…
Chorus: If you’ll have me I will hold you, this day and forward. I swear this is my word, for better for worse. And be rich or be poor, I could never want for more. I swear it’s true… I Do.
A ship at sea alone and searching, till a harbor in your arms was found. Now I can face the waves of whimsy, because I am anchored in loves sacred ground. With all I am and all I have, no matter what may come to pass, I swear this love will last.
Chorus
Bridge: They say to everythings a season and that God in His Heaven has His reasons. Well I believe this much is true, I believe in me and you. I pray that you do.
I didn’t originally set out to write this song about my Grandmal, but as the verses came together the song seemed to find its own voice, a voice from the twilight that is Alzheimer’s. While Parkinson’s would ultimately take my Dad, he too would seem to struggle against a disease that too often seemed to rob him of his bright light and crash down around his halo.
When the world crashes down around your halo and the sun doesn’t shine for days on end. When the pain stays the same and it’s hard to face tomorrow. When you pray for a way to be young again.
Lie your head down on my pillow. Drift to dream in your sleep. I will hold you til tomorrow and in our love, you’ll find peace.
When your days turn to gray and your nights are filled with sorrow. When your world falls apart and your heart breaks at the seams. When you pray for a way to make sense amongst your sorrows. When the world turns on you, you can always turn to me.
And lie your head down on my pillow. Drift to dream in your sleep. I will hold you till tomorrow and in our love, you’ll find peace.
So let the world just slip away. Now it might go but true love stays. In a world of change we found our one guarantee… In our love, you’ll find peace.
I wrote and recorded this song after returning from the cruise where Jen and I met in 1994 (one of several songs she inspired). It seemed like I had know her all my life, so it did not seem like I was abusing “artistic license” too much to transplant her from the PA dairy farm of her youth to my old home town in the corn fields of Illinois (Charleston, IL) and pretend “what-if” we had met there. The locations in Charlestion are real, as was the girl I was lucky enough to meet years later.
It ain’t these old dirt roads and it ain’t this old town square. It ain’t the Dog-n-Suds or the ball field on 4th and Blair. And it ain’t this old high school and it ain’t the Dairy queen. Now sure they’re places I like to go and they bring back sweet memories. But the reasons I go home ain’t about no bricks and stones
Chorus:
What keeps me coming back… It’s you, it’s you, it’s you. What keeps me coming back… It’s you, it’s you, it’s you. You keep me coming back.
I found myself on a windin’ road head back for our county line. So I drove by Mr. Walkers fields were we broke down but had a good time. Then I stopped by the soda shop were we both danced to Patsy Cline and as I walked through those diner door the memories just flooded my mind. And the reason I was there suddenly became so clear.
Chorus
Bridge:
Now the parks may turn to parking lots and they may close down town square. And the tree we carved our name into may no longer be there but no city council, or act of God can change what I call home cause the home we’ve built here in this place ain’t made of bricks and stone.
I wrote this song while mowing and thinking about all those old school days and how they might look to me in the years to come. Recorded in Memphis with Clyde Brooks producing. One of my favorites. The pic above was taken at one of my High School banquets and every time I see it I think of this song.
Its Monday night and the boys are all gathering/ Down at Lucy’s Good Time Grill/ The regulars walk in and they order their gin/ And Lucy serves ’em up they’re meal/ She says you all gather round the TV set/ Put your money in the jar boys and place your bets/ The games comin’ on and it won’t be long/ Till you all start to spin your yarns
Billy starts in remembering when/ And a smile jumps across his face/ One look in his eyes and there’s no dis-guise/ He’s in another time and place/ He says I could have been a football star/ Had all the pretty girls and a fancy car/ But things don’t always work that way/ But God knows I could play….and I say now
Chorus: High School buddies grow up and grow old/ But the years disappear when the stories are told/ They’re young once again when they’re remembering/ Their glory days of old
From the corner of the bar Bobby’s talking ’bout his car/ He had back in ’74/ With a smile and a grin they all listen in/ To a story they’ve all heard before/ Then Billy jumps up puts a slap on his back/ Says Bobby would you shut up ’bout that old Cadillac/ It was a fine old car but it never got you far/ With the girl from the laundry mat …..and they laugh and say
Chorus:
Bridge: Now Billy and Bobby and that whole gang/ Show up every Monday every week its the same/ They all gather around that TV set/ Pretend to watch a game they’re all soon forget/ They laugh and they joke and they have their fun/ It’s a few good buddies just growing young
I was staying outside Memphis when a girl came to my door/ I said the show was over but she said she wanted more/ So what was I to do boys I grabbed my old guitar/ Walked out on the front porch and I gave the girl some more/ Played some country bluegrass/ Played some rock-n-roll/ I did my best Elvis she did Marilyn Monroe
Oh how she got excited and her feet they hit the floor/ Well that was all it took boys I couldn’t stand it anymore/ I bit into my guitar so hard it popped a string/ She pulled me close and held me tight and started into sing/ I’d sweared that it was Patsy if I dared to close my eyes/ With every breathe she took I swear my temperature would rise.
Chorus: We made music ’neath that Memphis Moon/ Was the sweetest soul felt country tune/ And I swore I heard a choir backing up each sweet refrain/ One night beneath that Memphis Moon and I’ve never been the same.
Now I don’t know how long we’d been there just caught up in the beat/ But we had done plumb forgot about all the neighbors trying to sleep/ But we were soon reminded as we both spun around/ To find the frowning faces of half the folks in town/ Then we heard the sirens a coming down the road/ But this music wasn’t stopping so we just let it go/
We pumped up the rhythm and we sand it out real loud/ Changed those frowning faces into a cheering crowd/ By the time the police got there, there was nothing they could do/ The peace had done been disturbed/ We had broke it clean in two/ Now I’ve sung in front of thousand but boy it don’t compare/ To the magic that I felt that night in the Memphis air,
Chorus:
Now I ain’t got the answers to the magic of that night/ But I’ve been told it’s something in that Memphis Moon light/ They say if your caught beneath it with a woman by your side/ And a guitar in your hand than prepare to take a ride/ It will fill you up with music/ It’ll rock you to your soul/ It’ll let you rest at sunrise but it’ll never let you go.
So if your staying outside Memphis and you plan to spend the night/ if you want to get some sleep boys you better lock them doors up tight/ And if a girl comes knocking says she wants to play some more/ Buddy hey that’s your choice but on this you can be sure/ If the moon’s arising if it’s shining bright/ Chances are son your goiing to spend a sleepless night.
On March 27th, 1994 on the cruise ship Fantasy, I met Jen as we both waited in line at the concierge desk. From that moment on my wish has been simple… that she would always think a thought of me. I wrote this song about us in the days after I returned to my cabin in Tennessee and I feared she had returned to parts unknown.
I don’t know where you are, but think of me/ Oh, I’m hurting bad tonight/ I’ve nearly lost my faith in all I’ve loved/ I’m hoping everything with you is alright/ I know it’s been a long, long time since we’ve been together/ But I never left you in my mind/ So if you find a moment of silence/ Won’t you Think a Thought of Me tonight
Chorus: Won’t you think a thought of me tonight/ I’m afraid that’s all we can share/ Besides the same moonlight/ So say a prayer for me/ And hold my memory tight/ Oh my darling Think a Thought of Me tonight
I know when we did our leaving/ You said there would be some grieving/ But I never dreamed it’d hurt this way/ You said there would be tomorrow/ If on faith we could borrow/ The strength to get us there/ Now that strength I need to face my sorrows/ I find in the strength of loving you/ So if you find a moment of silence/ Won’t you Think a Thought of Me tonight
This was the first song Jen inspired. Written on the cruise ship only a day or two after meeting… I knew I would love her.
I’ve played the game of love and I’ve held the losing hand/ It seemed Lady Luck was no lady at all/ And then I held you and I almost turned and ran/ Afraid of the pain in the fall
Chorus: All my life/ I’ve searched for you/ Here you are/ So here I’ll stay/ I will love you tomorrow/ Even more than yesterday
I thought I’d felt it all till I felt this love for you/ Oh, your love opened up my eyes/ To a world of beauty that I never knew/ To a love I thought I’d never find
Chorus:
Bridge: Now when all else seems uncertain/ This much you’ll always know/ Darling you’ve been loved/ And you’ll be loved tomorrow
When the road is long and lonely/ And my burdens more than I can bear/ Oh, my thoughts take me homeward/ And I find peace in them there/ I think of supper on the table/ I think of sunshine in your hair/ And then with the highway as my witness/ I say a silent prayer
Chorus: Take me Home, Lie me down/ In the place where my happiness is found/ And when I wake in that place/ Let me wake to the beauty of your face
When my work stacks up before me/ And there seems to be no end in sight/ I close my eyes to the world around me/ And think of holding you tonight/ I’d lie my head down on your pillow/ And then I’d turn out the light/ Then in the quite of our bedroom/ Every thing would be alright
Chorus:
Bridge: Now I lay me down to sleep/ My heart to you I give to keep/ And should I go before you wake/ My love I leave for you to take
Recorded at Belmont with fellow classmates and band members.
Dancing in the lights of a worn out Ford, miles from town on Rural Route Four. Listening to the songs on the radio. Where we’re going next nobody knows. But I say, it’s going to be okay
Chorus: As long as we got tomorrow. As long as we got a road to follow. I say it’s going to be okay.
My windows are down and my radios up. My head is hanging out of a pickup truck. The wind in my face it makes me feel alive. Tomorrow I’ll worry tonight I’ll drive. And I say it is going to be okay.
Chorus
Bridge (2x): Call me crazy call me a fool. You can call me anything you want to. But tonight I’m having a ball. And I don’t care what you think at all.
Written during Belmont break and recorded as title track for Shadow of a Dream project.
Summer sun’s a’setting on the autumn leaves tonight/ Northern wind rustles in beneath the last days light/ Har-vest moon’s a’rising making diamonds out of dew/ Star-light’s casting shadows that makes me think of you/ I know there’s no music/ But I don’t need a ballroom/ To go Shadow Dancing With The Moon
Lightning bugs are chasing while the crickets sing their song/ And the whippoorwill’s been asking me “What in the world is wrong?”/ Evening breeze comforts me with its gentle embrace/ And the grass growing stirrup high dances in your place/ I know there’s no music/ But I don’t need a ballroom/ To go Shadow Dancing With The Moon
Bridge: Now I know it must sound crazy to be here all alone/ But it’s in memories and shadows that I feel most at home/ So until I feel you close to me, and I hope that will be soon/ I’ll be shadow dancing with the moon
I wrote this song while in the dorms at Belmont. The first version below was recorded at Belmont in the basement studios with friends and band members. The second was recorded as part of my Shadow of a Dream project.Belmont VersionShadow of a Dream Version
I’m going to jump in my truck/ Going to pick her up/ Goi-ing a’ cruise all over town/ Then we’ll take it to the coun-try/ And well get real snuggly/ When we roll those win-dows down/ If she’s got to see the levy/ In my 4×4 Chevy/ We can take it out through the field/ Run it through the Cool Clover/ And up the hill and over/ To the place that we both know.
Chorus: Now when it’s me and you/ There’s nothing we can’t do/ When the moon is shining bright/ You know-there’s nothin’ better than you and me together/ So baby just hold on tight/ I got a full tank of gas and I think it will last/ For whatever you got in mind/ No need for hesitation cause there ain’t no reservations/ Oh baby I’m yours to-night.
Ah give me a little kiss honey’s all I wish/ I’ll take you any where you want to go/ They say that life is a stage well I’m here to say/ That baby you can run my show/ Just give me your directions/ There won’t be any questions/ We’ll just hit that open road/ Run it through the Cool Clo-ver/ And up the hill and over/ To the place that we both know.
Chorus:
Bridge: Baby, I’m yours, baby I’m yours/ Like a guitar string/ You pick me and I’ll sing/ Honey for you all night long.
Now if you gotta move your feet/ To that country beat/ We can take it out to the barn/ We’ll stomp in the hay/ While the music plays/ Honey baby all night long/ We’ll walk that floor/ Till it can’t take no more/ Then we’ll hit that open road/ Run it through the Cool Clover/ And up the hill and over/ To the place that we both know.
Mama told me boy when you grow older/ Remember the love your Mom and Daddy had/ And if it comes your way hold on forever/ It’s the greatest gift that you will ever have/ Now there are those who’ve taken it for granted/ For fame or fortune they have made a trade/ But a life without love’s not worth the living/ And a dying love’s the hardest thing to save
Chorus: Yes a life without love’s not worth the living/ A dying love’s the hardest thing to save/ A mans wealth is not measured by possessions/ But measured by the good love he gave/ And what matters in the end/ Is family and friends/ Well, that’s what Mama told me way back when
Now some will run from home to find their freedom/ Believing all the while they’re on their way/ That this life they left behind was to confining/ And that love can come without the price to pay/ But son you don’t be fooled life’s never easy/ The better things in life they never are/ And you can search this whole world for what your need-ing/ And return to find it in your own back yard
Chorus:
Bridge: Now the years have changed this young boy from Momma’s child to a man/ And as I stand here before you her words I understand/ See love’s the greatest treasure two hearts could ever hold/ And I’ll be holding you dear long after we’ve grown old
This song was written and inspired by our first gig… “The Barn.” Our band was named “Out of Town” at the time and was a bluegrass-band-turned-country. My brother Sam managed us (and the sound board) while we provided the music and Shannon taught the line dances. This particular song had it’s own custom line dance… and no, I don’t recall the steps. It was good times in a place and time long since gone. Recorded for the Shadow of a Dream project.
The fiddle’s pumping so I get out on the floor/ My cowboy boots are shuffling till they can’t take no more/ This coun-try rhythms rocking to the backwoods beat/ The steel gui-tar breaks in to turn up the heat
Build: Well you take a little rhythm and you throw in the blues/ And add a lot of country for that two stepping groove/ You got your tush push, double step, touch and go/ Moving to the rhythm with it hillbilly soul/ It’s a heel clicking, high stepping, hand clapping country groove
Chorus: It’s Country Rhythm/ It’s Country Rhythm/ It’s Country Rhythm/ It’s Country Rhythm/ Well it’s heel click-ing/ High stepping/ Hand clapping country groove
Over in the corner with her records stacked high/ Shannon plays the tunes while the moon goes by/ The people in the barn they don’t seem to care/ Let the world go by just as long as they’re here
Build/Chorus/Chorus:
Now the rhythm’s hot and simple the words are short and sweet/ There is no philosophizing it is just all about the beat/ So forget about your worries, forget about your cares/ Get out on the floor and let down your hair
I wrote this song about my Granddad. You see when we were kids back on the farm, if you ever did anything to make Granddad proud he’d say “You’re a good boy Jack”. Now the funny thing was nobody in our family was ever named jack, but that didn’t seem to matter much. One Christmas my Granddad passed away. I realized then he never had the chance to say those words to me.
I was just a boy of fourteen/ Living on the family farm/ Watching and helping my Daddy and Granddad make some repairs on the barn/ We worked all day till the work was done/ Then Granddad stood beside his son and in his loving way/ I heard my Granddad say
Chorus: You’re a good boy Jack/ You made your father proud/ Now where others might have given in/ You saw your job to the end/ Your father loves you so/ Don’t you know you’re a good boy Jack
Now those days we spent with Granddad they seem so long ago/ For the Lord has had him as His guest for sev-eral years or so/ It hurt so much to see him leave for with him went my childhood dreams/ Of growing old one day just to hear my Granddad say
Chorus:
Now when my time on earth is done/ The Lord and I will journey on/ And with Him on that day/ I hope to hear my Heavenly Father say
This was the first song I wrote for our band “Out-of-Town” with Julie Fischer and the Fink boys. Somehow we don’t have any pictures from those days of playing festivals, practicing in the garage, or recording our three tunes in Nashville but the pic above was from that time frame. Years later, this turned out to be one of Jen’s favorite songs I have recorded… I can’t say it is any good, but it is different. 🙂
My engines cooling on a summer evening/ The country’s quite tonight/ My old Ford radio has been keeping me company/ I’ve been driving a while/ Up and down these old country roads/ I almost did stop by/ But every time I passed your door my heart it just ran wild/
Sun is setting behind the hills before me/ I guess it’s time to go home/ Supper is waiting and my chores need tend-ing/ I’m so lonely and cold/ Now tomorrow I’m stopping going to lay it on the line/ Tell her that I love her and I want her for mine/ No city slicker is going to keep me from getting her/ Going to tell her I love her this time.
Chorus: Cause this Country Boy’s In Love/ And he likes what he found/ She can tell her city bo’ to pack his fancy clothes and head it on out of town/ Cause this Country Boy’s In Love/ I might have over stepped my bounds/ I know my pickup truck well it just don’t match up to the sports car he drives around/ But this Country Boy’s in Love with the country girl he found/ No maybe I can’t compete with those city streets/ But you can betcha I’ll stand my ground.
No my mind is racing faster/ But I’m driving slow/ And I’m trying to figure whether to stop or let her go/ But who is kidding who/ I know I’m in love/ So stop and tell her what your thinking of.
As a Yankee teenager traveling in the back seat from Illinois to Florida, headed to my new home in the South, the words came to me to me by the mile.
Now those Northern nights are cool and crisp/ And its Autumn charm is often missed/ But don’t go thinking the South don’t have its days/ Cause the summer heat of a Dixie night/ It still does this cowboy right/ And the Southern sun is turning this white neck red/ Those Northern girls, well they sure are pretty but these Southern girls got charm/ I guess a little of both kinds can’t do this soldier harm/ Yes, maybe I can play both sides when it comes to the loving game/ But when it comes to North and South it just don’t seem the same
Chorus: Cause I was born a Yank and raised a Rebel/ Started on steak and grown on grits/ This Civil War in-side of me has been giving this cowboy fits/ I got Northern blood with a Southern heart/ And that Mason-Dixie tears me apart/ The battles putting history to shame/ And if my Northern conscience don’t watch its behind/ I got a funny feeling the South’s gonna win this time
Now Grant and Lee they had it easy/ They didn’t have to fight themselves/ Cause the battle lines crossed fields and pines/ And left their minds alone/ But I got this raging battle being fought within my soul/ Casualties stand to be my sanity as a whole
Chorus:
Now in between the battle I got a chance to rest/ And I realized that both the Rebs and Yanks are Americans at best/ And this Southern heart would be no good without its Northern blood/ So I’ll forget about my differences and thank the Lord above/ That I was born a Yank and raised a Rebel/ Started on steak and grown on grits/ This Civil War inside of me has been giving this cowboy fits/ I got Northern blood with a Southern heart/ And that Mason-Dixie tears me apart/ Outsiders had best leave us alone/ See they got this misconception that our differences make us weak/ Well that’s what the Japs thought in ’42 and just look at who got beat/ Yea these outsiders they had best wake up and watch their own behinds/ Cause there ain’t no doubt that the Rebs and Yanks would win it again this time
What I held for but a moment has been hold of me for days/ I know its just a memory that I must put away/ But it was some kind of special when I held you so near/ I felt a warmth I’d never known when I whispered in your ear/ Oh how we laughed together, you would have thought there was no end/ But tomorrow found no lovers it only found best friends
Chorus: And they say that’s the way it should be/ But I won’t forget the moment I felt so free/ And every now and then in my memory I’ll spend/ One Moment with You
As I stare at this crumpled paper at the sweet words you once penned/ The silent words they speak to me causing me to remember when/ When it was I said I love you/ When it was you said good-bye/ It hurts to see how quickly time can change our love and lives/ Now I’m supposed to face tomorrow without a thought of yesterday/ I guess I’m not alone dear it’s a game that we all play
Chorus:
Bridge: No matter where I go tomorrow/ No matter what I do/ No matter what it seems to be/ I’ll still remember you/ You don’t judge a book by its cover/ So don’t go judging me by the smile I wear as I’m leaving here/ It just hides your memory
