Cromwell ... and Other Roads - Lyrics:

1. Diggin’ Ol’ Albert’s Grave - Mike told me a story about how he helped dig a grave for old Albert 30 or so years ago to help Albert’s wife with the cost.
Diggin’ ol’ Albert’s grave in the light of the mornin'
Rain comin’ down, mud in the hole
Diggin’ ol’ Albert’s grave in the light of the mornin’
I hope this don’t go too slow

Cecil took a hammer and a box of nails
Boards of cedar from the shed
A 5th of whiskey and a heavy heart
He made a box for his friend --
And Edith took some scissors and some old goose down
She cut up her wedding dress
Lined that box and made a soft pillow
Tears on the satin where they laid his head

Albert used to say “don’t you bury me ‘neath the willow
I don’t like the way that ol’ tree cries
Bury me on the hill underneath the maple
I want to watch the leaves when the wind goes by”
So we laid him to rest underneath the ol’ maple
In the Burley valley where the creek goes by
And we sang that song about the circle bein’ unbroken
And see you again in the sweet bye and bye

2. Blackberry Wine - To the family in Farmington, Missouri. Thank you for the memories.

In the heat of another Midwestern summer’s day
From the porch hear the whippoorwill sing
Out in the yard ol’ Silver is grazing
He’s full of the devil and quick as the wind
For another year now the swallow’s nest on the back porch
Cow’s call down from the eastern hill
Here I am on the back porch swing again
Another year older swingin’ here still

And the old folks are doin’ just fine
Livin’ out their lives as I’m livin’ out mine
Mellow and aging like blackberry wine
In the cellar and doin’ just fine

Ben bought a horse at the sale barn the other day
A little bay mare with a gentle eye
He rides her through the backwoods and grassland
Says she may be gentle but how she can fly
Julie’s turnin’ 18 she’s found herself a boyfriend
They got a lot in common and the country life
For Christmas he gave her a little spotted cow dog
She’s full of the devil but she’ll make a good wife

And the old folks are doin’ just fine
Say “they may be young, but it will work out in time
Mellow and age like blackberry wine
In the cellar and doin’ just fine

The family gets together every Sunday for dinner
Sit around the table for an afternoon meal
The ladies do the dishes while the men pitch horseshoes
I think the ladies get the poor end of the deal

But everyone is doin’ just fine
Livin’ out their lives in three quarter time
Mellow and aging like blackberry wine
In the cellar and doin’ just fine

3. Whiskey Holler

Down in Whiskey Holler where the sun barely shines
There’s a dry rock creek bed that winds
And you gotta be half crazy if you ever want to wander
Anywhere at all near Whiskey Holler

I was born in Whiskey Holler
In an ol’ cabin in the pines
With my ma and my pa and my older brother
And that dry rock creek bed that winds

Time moves slow in Whiskey Holler
Seems like it hardly moves at all
And the smoke hangs thick and sticks to your collar
Like an ol’ wool hand me down shawl

I’m gettin’ out of Whiskey Holler
I’m gettin’ out and I’m never turnin’ round
I don’t ever want to hear those faceless voices
Bubblin’ up out of that desperate ground

4. Alice - Alice lived on a ranch up the Hoback Canyon in Teton County, Wyoming. I spent a year riding those mountain trails on a sorrel mare named "Chantilly" and getting to know this precious, old woman.

I’d ride up to see Alice when the summertime was high
When most of the snow had melted and the meadowland was bright
With fields of wildflowers and hawks that glide and fly
I’d climb the rocky trails to Alice and her home near the sky

We’d spend an afternoon painting the woodshed
She’d talk about the life that she’d lead
Far away from her mountain home
The city life that she had known
But now she’d got to know the mountain spring
The mountain soul of the mountain king
The way the clouds roll in at night
And in the morning leave their blanket of white

An aging old shepherd that nobody sees
Bears in the forest, the wind in the Aspen trees
Secrets that live in the heart of the mountain
Alice will tell you about them
And deep in those crystal clear pools of her eyes
I felt like I could see into another time
But time didn’t matter, time didn’t dare
And Alice or I didn’t care

5. Oh Elijah - I Kings 19:11-13.

Elijah went to the mountain
As the Lord had asked
He stood and waited patiently
For the Lord to pass
A mighty windstorm came around
Shook the earth and tree
But the Lord he was not in the wind
That stormed around so fiercely


CHORUS:
Oh Elijah, Oh Elijah, Oh Elijah
Went to the mountain there
Oh Elijah, Oh Elijah, Oh Elijah
God is everywhere

After the wind there was a quake
But the Lord he was not there
And he was not in the raging fire
Burning everywhere
After the fire there was the sound
Of a whisper gently made
Elijah listened and covered his face
At the entrance of the cave

6. The Miller's Daughter - A strange, true story and all about forgiveness.

My name is Mary, I’m the Miller’s daughter
I turned 18 the first of May
I have a son, born last winter
On a cold, dark morning – I call him “Gray”

The wind blows through these southern mountains
sings like a choir through the trees
I pray to heaven for my redemption
And ask sweet Jesus to give me peace

My daddy’s life was never easy
He did his best to give me bread
And momma dyin’ on that mornin’
Left me my daddy’s only thread

He came home drunk that crimson morning
left the blood stain on the bed
He gave me Gray and then he left me
A bullet lodged in his head

7. The Mustard Seed - I grew up in sunny Southern California and spent many days wandering the foothills of the San Raphael. Matthew 17:20-21

In the dry dirt hills of California
Where the sun burns hot no chance for rain
There is a flower that loves the sunlight
And seems to praise God’s holy name
I used to walk those hills of gold
A little ways beyond our town
Through tangled oak and golden flowers
The mustard sweetly standing ground


CHORUS:
And the little seed of the mustard wild
The golden flower, the yellow weed
The tiny seed that Jesus said
Held all the faith we’d ever need


Some days are hard and I grow tired
I don’t know how I’ll carry on
My heart is sore, my body weary
All of my hope seems to be gone
When in my mind I see a vision
And there I am in golden fields
Walking again down dry dirt pathways
With fields of mustard at my heels

8. Road to Cromwell - Cromwell is a beautiful and misty place near home. This song is about rebirth and is a love story.

The wind cuts over the water, a ghost across the waves
The mountain rises to the sky in a watercolor glaze
I am no stranger to this place – I know these mossy trees
And every burst of sunshine that warms these rain soaked fields


CHORUS:
I’ll not take these things for granted
Or the love that’s broken through
Along the road to Cromwell
I fell in love with you

There is no place I’d rather be than with you on this road
You’re every song I’ve ever loved – each deep and darkened note
Like sun that breaks through days of rain and lights each weary face
You’ve broken into this old heart and warmed this empty place

9. Santa Ana Wind - When the Santa Ana’s blow, everything changes, the air is charged, fires rage or on a clear day you can see forever.

The last time I saw Tolson, he was leanin’ on his cane
Standin’ at a corner, waitin’ for the light to change
He turned round to look at me, whatever it was he said
Was lost in the roar of a plane that flew by miles overhead


CHORUS:
And the Santa Ana winds were blowin
Kickin’ up that summer thing
By the time I caught my breath
He was lost and gone again, gone again...
With the Santa Ana wind

A gentleman from Carolina, he stole my heart away
With the knowin’ in those green eyes and the things he had to say
I was 21 and searchin’, he was older and a man
A cigarette on a Southern drawl, took me where I’d never been

Time goes by, time runs out, won’t come back again
The years that treated me so gracefully had battered him
But I hold on to a photograph a time we were younger then
Facin’ off another day in a Santa Ana wind.

10. Fields of Gold - Written by Sting.

You'll remember me when the west wind moves along the fields of barley
You'll forget the sun in his jealous sky when we walk in fields of gold
So she took her love for to gaze awhile among the fields of barley
In his arms she fell as her hair came down among the fields of gold


CHORUS:
I never made promises lightly
And there have been some that I’ve broken
I swear in the days still left we’ll walk in fields of gold

Will you stay with me, will you be my love, among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky, we loved in fields of gold
See the west wind move like a lover’s soul among the fields of barley
See her body rise when you kiss her mouth among the fields of gold

Many years have passed since those summer days among the fields of barley
See the children run as the sun sets down among the fields of gold
You’ll remember me when the west wind moves among the fields of barley
You can tell the sun in his jealous sky how we loved in fields of gold