1. |
the iowa sky
01:46
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The Iowa sky opened up over 35
Giants swinging their blades over king corn’s domain
The sun making war with what remains of the snow
Des Moines rises up out of nowhere then slinks back real slow
Listen to music, going back in time
All the songs that I liked back when you were mine
Then the ones before and the ones before
To think that things stay the same is the real joke
And I know there’ll be more
just around the corner
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2. |
nebraska
01:46
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Nebraska was colder than I expected
The state trooper asked if I had a weapon
He couldn’t have been much older than me
His voice cracked when he gave me a warning
The Sandhills were braying all day long
Filling the cornfields up with their song
Fattening up for the long trip north
But I’m headed southwards in search of some warmth
There’s no one in my way as I venture forth
Fill up my tank and head towards the border
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3. |
ad astrad per aspera
03:00
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Mounds of kibble for the RV cats
Trailer park punching bag out back
Fields of gold dotted with oil wells black
Meadowlark on a fence stopped me dead in my tracks
Spent the night in el dorado
to the stars to the stars through our hardships
that’s the motto
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4. |
on the wing
02:32
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Red earth
Blue heron
I know you from elsewhere
far from home
but what is home
when you live on the wing
I thought you were mine
but you were always free
all that will be made clear
eventually
red earth
blue heron
home is where you make it
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5. |
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It makes sense that it’s Texas where I’m writing you this song
A state so big my heartache fits like dead grass fills the lawn
Tell the truth I didn’t think it’d go on for so long
Both Texas and this heartache, girl, they just keep rollin on
A thousand miles from Minnesota but it’s still the same time of day
So I wonder if you saw last night when I let my fingers stray
Didn’t mean to like your picture but you know it’s designed that way
To make me cringe and hit undo and pray you were away
Yeah it makes sense that it’s Texas where I’m writing you this song
About as far south as I could get without jumpin in the gulf
You know the Houston trees were pretty and the grackles caught my eye
But now I’m lonesome and I’m hurtin under a big blue Austin sky
Yes it makes sense that it’s Texas where I’d finally settle down
Enough to realize that movin on’s more than movin out of town
So I’ll put my heart into this song like so many have before
Yes it makes sense that it’s Texas where I’d remember what songs are for
Yes it makes sense that it’s Texas where I’d let you go some more
Yeah it makes sense that it’s Texas where I’d let you go a little more
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6. |
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Listening to Minnesota radio in New Mexico about the war in Ukraine
crying for you and all who feel senseless pain
it gets too much so I put on some music
that gets too much so I turn off the music
dive deep into a gorge 50 shades of brown
driving through a ramshackle tinderbox ghost of a town
Eating bread with my hands made by my last friend for miles
full tank of gas enough water to last for a while
a black horse tends to a black calf
two ravens nuzzle atop the gates to a ranch
Unreadable sign bleached clean by time
zigzagging my way through Ponderosa Pines
For the hundredth time I think about what you did
Then I’m off the grid
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7. |
arizona
03:17
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I’m just one phone call away
I just have one thing to say
Was that a black eagle?
If so godspeed
I can be whoever you want
Whatever you need
Signal goes in and out
learn not to mind the space and doubt
maybe all my expectations could be set free
like I were on a foreign planet, all new to me
Had a good night’s sleep with a saguaro sentry
Relaxed my mental checkpoint allowed some bandits entry
But the quails' soft gossip through the night
Reminded me that I’m alright
Seeing the canyon I feel a rush
Suicide hotline on the shuttle bus
Was that a black eagle?
If so godspeed
I can be whoever you want
Whatever you need
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8. |
california
03:22
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I tell my stories til they fade out
In the warm sun and cool breeze of California
Seagull wheeling out of the corner of my eye
This is where I’d want to be if I ever had to die in California
I want to be like the white egret totally at home in the middle of nowhere
home is where the heart is
or the mountain dog sitting at the end of his long driveway
watching the cars go by
You couldn’t take the mystery
You couldn’t take the tragedy
I’ll take it all I like to read
All alone I still find peace
I didn’t want to be your dream
I wanted to be just what I seem
And when it turned into a nightmare
You barely gave me a chance to scream
Some things aren’t funny
But we laugh anyway
This hate could eat me alive
but I don’t want to go out that way
And I know how to lose
I can lose everything and still have nothing to prove
You can’t take what I was never gonna use
You can’t break what was never gonna bruise
What I’m really traveling through is time
Lookin for spring in California
Spent a night in the valley of summer
Stood on the rocky cliffs of autumn
Slept on the slopes of winter
In California
Hopin to get home when the bluebird sings
Yeah hopin to get home when the bluebird sings
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9. |
city of roses
01:51
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i fell out of love with you
in the city of roses
i fell back in love with myself
in the city of roses
you can strike the band
i'll strike the poses
but for now it's just me and my hand
in the city of roses
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10. |
cairn
03:06
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even the moss has flowers
even as the trail has snow
pick up a third leg from the leaf litter
all around us the greens glow
fiddleheads like embryos
banana slug with spots
BC your rugged beauty
fills my head with braver thoughts
what if I'm blessed beyond measure?
what if the door opens from inside?
what if I'm waiting for a lover
like a clam waits for the tide?
only to be plucked by a soft hand
and cracked open wide
and served for dinner with butter
have my self serve something outside
what I want to do
with the life I have left
leave a stone on the cairn
for whoever comes next
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11. |
date night in spokane
02:16
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Washington washed out in the rain
Come across a vision of snowpeaked evergreens
Suddenly in a vortex of flurries
This is a time to not hurry
Lord take me home
No matter what is waiting
Take me a place I can be patient
Rain falling from a cloud up ahead
But right now I am dry
The cloud lit up by the sun from inside
and I want to cry
Driving into an atlas of cloud
Citadel mountain waterfall shroud
Date night in Spokane
Love while you can
And when you can’t
Try to love again
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12. |
montana
03:38
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it's just me in my car in Montana
assorted trash, bags of nuts by my side
I have no way of knowing what's before me
but to drive and to drive and to drive
I might have stopped at Yellowstone or to see a dinosaur
if the visibility out my windshield weren't so poor
as it is I'll keep driving, who's to say how long for
but I'll drive and I'll drive and I'll drive
Magpies fly over the freeway and perch upon the rest stop
as I contemplate the pros and cons of momentum or the next stop
the news filters in to my capsule from a distance
as I drive and I drive and I drive
I'm the only car on I-94
the same road that'll take me all the way home
the light's fallin outside but the trees and rocks shine
so I'll drive and I'll drive and I'll drive
yes I'll drive and I'll drive
oh I'll drive
and I'll drive and I'll drive and I'll drive
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13. |
going to bismarck
01:59
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i'm going to bismarck
yeah i'm going to bismarck
and no weather emergency is gonna stop me
from going to bismarck
yeah i'm going to bismarck
only one thing could make the badlands badder
and that's to be covered in white particulate matter
i'm going to bismarck
yeah i'm going to bismarck
somewhere just a few miles away
a herd of bison beginning their day
but I'm going to bismarck
yeah I'm going to bismarck
i'm going to bismarck
yeah i'm going to bismarck
and no weather emergency is gonna stop me
from goin to bismarck
yeah i'm goin to bismarck
yeah i'm goin to bismarck
i'm goin to bismarck
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14. |
minnesota
03:27
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Minnesota my home for the time being
Minnesota where my lovers are
Minnesota I’m alone for the time being
But you know wherever you go there you are
Minneapolis you’re like a second skin
I see your face every place I’m in
But I want to know you new this time
like a child learning a nursery rhyme
Home is a place where people know your name
but there are so many strangers all the same
I love my city like I love myself
full of pain and hope and something else
Birds fly through here on their way up north
and some people haunt the streets like ghosts
I thought you were an island all your own
but every wall depends on every stone
In Minneapolis it’s cool to hate the cops
but they’re just reapin’ where we sowed the crops
I’m sick of bein’ idealistic
I want to face my shit right where I pissed it
I don’t have much to say about the past
fresh new slate each day no gold can last
and if some new love comes knocking on my door
before I let them in we’ll have tea on the porch
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Witness Minneapolis, Minnesota
Witness is a garage-country/jazz-fusion/rock-n-roll power trio from Minneapolis, MN. Our new travelogue album just passing through is a mix of full-band and solo arrangements of songs Gabe wrote while on a six-week solo road trip last year. Loud guitars and heavy drums intersperse with minimalist piano and banjo for a rollicking journey through heartbreak and back. ... more
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I Get Into Trouble (LP | 2023)
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The Australian folk-pop singer tackles deconstruction, her Christian childhood, and sexuality on her infectious sophomore album.
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To Enjoy is the Only Thing (LP | 2021)
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On this debut by Maple Glider, a moniker of singer Tori Zietsch, acoustic guitar and piano chords back vignette-like songs.
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