1. |
Train Town
03:50
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"Train Town"
Whistle blows, the brakeman screams against the tracks
People pass on through but they never look back
And it's hard to be a switchman's son
When everyone you meet here wants to run
The only work in this town
Are the few railroad jobs on that freight yard ground
So one day when I come of age I'm gonna go
And I'll leave this train town and I won’t look back
I've spent my whole life on this one-way track
Gonna catch that outbound, see what I can find
And I'll try to leave the past and this train town
Behind
Grandpa shoveled coal on the old steam lines
Now Daddy switches rails when the trains come in to sight
So I guess the only job for me
Is a brakeman working under a conductor's lead
But I won't be tied down
The trains leaving here have to be somewhere bound
So one day when I come of age I'm gonna go
And I'll leave this train town and I won’t look back
I've spent my whole life on this one-way track
Gonna catch that outbound, see what I can find
And I'll try to leave the past and this train town behind
Gonna leave this train town
I've spent my whole life on this one-way track
Gonna catch that outbound
And I'll try to leave the past and this train town
Behind
Leave it behind
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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2. |
Dry Creek Saloon
03:23
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“Dry Creek Saloon”
Swingin’ doors, and we have plank-board floors
And horse thieves are the company that we keep
Straight blades where there’s poker played
And bullets fly every night of the week
Oh do drop in
And won’t you
Come back soon
To the Dry Creek Saloon
Late nights, and we have barroom fights
The ragtime man will play your favorite tunes
And Madam Mae will let you have your way
With a pretty girl who’ll take you to her room
Oh do drop in
And won’t you
Come back soon
To the Dry Creek Saloon
We have gunfights out front
And cheap whiskey inside
Our only request
Should you ride by
Oh do drop in
And won’t you
Come back soon
To the Dry Creek Saloon
Oh bring all of your friends
We’ll see you soon
At the Dry Creek Saloon
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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3. |
Sweet Virginia
02:58
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“Sweet Virginia”
Sweet Virginia, where have you gone?
Sweet Virginia, you left me all alone
Why did you leave me?
Why couldn’t you stay?
Oh, Sweet Virginia, why did you go away?
Did you go back to the city
Where your folks still stay?
Did you move out to the country
Or somewhere far away?
Lord, I’ve cried and cried most every night
Ever since you’ve been gone
Sweet Virginia, why did you leave me alone?
Sweet Virginia, where have you gone?
Sweet Virginia, you left me all alone
Why did you leave me?
Why couldn’t you stay?
Oh, Sweet Virginia, why did you go away?
Sweet Virginia, where have you gone?
Sweet Virginia, you left me all alone
Why did you leave me?
Why couldn’t you stay?
Oh, Sweet Virginia, why did you go away?
Sweet Virginia
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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4. |
Loaded Gun
03:45
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“Loaded Gun”
A six gun and a saddle are two of my best friends
The other one’s a horse named Gypsy, she can run like the wind
For six months or maybe longer, this posse’s been on my trail
See, there’s a price on my head to shoot me dead or to take me back to jail
‘Cause I’m a wanted man from here to Wichita
And my picture’s on every poster, and they call me an outlaw
And the last ten men I’ve killed had me on the run
I’m warning you son ‘cause it ain’t no fun looking down the barrel
Of this loaded gun
They’ve been writing about me in the dime novels of the west
With their stories told of me chasing me with badges on their chest
The last thing I read, the count was up to twenty five
Oh but they don’t know I’ve taken over forty men’s lives
But that’s why I’m wanted from here to Wichita
And my picture’s on every poster, and they call me an outlaw
And the last ten men I’ve killed had me on the run
I’m warning you son ‘cause that ain’t no fun looking down the barrel
Of this loaded gun
I jimmy’d a bull on my first take after the war
And ever since then, trouble has come around
So I sleep with one eye open and my hand on my pistol
‘Cause them Pinkerton boys just may gun me down
‘Cause I’m a wanted man from here to Wichita
And my picture’s on every poster, and they call me an outlaw
And the last ten men I’ve killed had me on the run
I’m telling you son ‘cause that ain’t no fun looking down the barrel
Of that loaded gun
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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5. |
Longleaf Pine
04:01
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“Longleaf Pine”
Down Highway 501, past old-man Pate’s land
Way beyond the cotton fields where the old paper mill stands
You’ll see a riverbank where you will find
John Miller laid to rest beneath that longleaf pine
I came home from work one day, I heard my Emily cry
I made my way to her room, I had to find out why
John Miller, he had my little girl pinned on her bed
So I pulled my .38, put a bullet in his head
I dragged his body down to the riverbank that night
I can still see the blood where it ran down and dried between his eyes
I have no guilt or shame for the deed I’ve done
He hurt my little girl, and deserved to die by my gun
I came home from work that day, I heard my Emily cry
I made my way to her room, I had to find out why
John Miller, he had my little girl pinned on her bed
So I pulled my .38, put a bullet in his head
Yes I pulled my .38, put a bullet in John Miller’s head
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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6. |
Gone
03:40
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“Gone”
What’s my name?
Well it’s a crying shame I’m someone you’ll never get to know
Gotta find somewhere to leave behind
Another place I’ve gotta go
You see, you…you can’t tie me down
I’ll pull up my roots and move on
I’ve never been anywhere before
That’s ever held me too long
You can call me Gone
My best friend, I’ll never see again
I just met him an hour ago
Just like me, born to be free
He’s a habit of the road
You see, you…you can’t tie him down
He’ll pull up his roots and move on
He’s never been anywhere before
That’s ever held him too long
You can call him Gone
Like a yesterday, like a runaway
Never to return
Like a time in your past, when there’s no turning back
‘Cause it’s a bridge
That you have burned
Like the wind I’m up and gone again
Headed down another road
Always packed, and I never look back
‘Cause this highway’s my abode
You see, you…you can’t tie me down
I’ll pull up my roots and move on
I’ve never been anywhere before
That’s ever held me too long
You can call me Gone
Call me Gone
Like the wind I’m up and gone again
Headed down another road
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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7. |
Singer of the Blues
03:43
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“Singer of the Blues”
I make my living as a singer of the blues
Singing songs about nothing to lose
I play my guitar for the late-night crowd
Just trying to make a nickel
Hear them shout it out loud
Don’t look at what I’m doing
Just listen to the words of my song
If you like what I’m singing
You’re welcome here to sing along
Sing along
I’m known around as a traveling man
Making music wherever I can
And I like to strum across these tight wound strings
Sleeping late in the day then writing songs to sing
Don’t look at what I’m doing
Just listen to the words of my song
If you like what I’m singing
You’re welcome here to sing along
Sing along
I’m not a rich man
But I’m getting by man
With what little money that I make
In front of bright lights
Into the late night
To sing a song about a fool’s heartache
Don’t look at what I’m doing
Just listen to the words of my song
If you like what I’m singing
You’re welcome here to sing along
Sing along
I’m not a rich man
But I’m getting by man
With what little money that I make
In front of bright lights
Into the late night
To sing a song about a fool’s heartache
In front of bright lights
Even on cold nights
To sing a song about a fool’s heartache
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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8. |
Trail of Tears
03:53
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“Trail of Tears”
Truck stop, cigarette machines
I’m filling up with gasoline
They tell me coffee’s served here all night long
It’s about two a.m.
And I can’t remember where I’ve been
But I’m gonna crash here until dawn
And in the floorboard there’s a tattered map
And about a dozen beer bottle caps
That rattle around whenever I shift gears
And in the rearview there’s a broken man
He’s dazed, confused, without a plan
And down his face runs a long trail of tears
Big rigs firing up
And I haven’t slept enough
But I wipe the sleep from my eyes
I get myself a cup of Joe
He use to get me ready to go
Now caffeine just won’t treat me right
And in the floorboard there’s a tattered map
And about a dozen beer bottle caps
That rattle around whenever I shift gears
And in the rearview there’s a broken man
He’s dazed, confused, without a plan
And down his face runs a long trail of tears
Yes, in the floorboard there’s a tattered map
And about a dozen beer bottle caps
That rattle around whenever I shift gears
And in the rearview there’s a broken man
He’s dazed, confused, without a plan
And down his face runs a long trail of tears
A long trail of tears
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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9. |
Home on High
03:04
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“Home on High”
My crippled hands shall hurt no more
My feet won’t bother me
I’ll meet my savior at heaven’s door
And there my blind eyes will see
It seems I’ve come to the end of my road
And I’m called by that sweet by-and-by
Now I can set down this heavy load
I’m bound for my home on high
I know I’ll see my mother there
Lord knows, she’s prayed for me
With her weathered bible in her right hand
Shouting the victory
It seems I’ve come to the end of my road
And I’m called by that sweet by-and-by
Now I can set down this heavy load
I’m bound for my home on high
Oh, I’m bound for my home on high
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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10. |
Highway Son
02:59
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“Highway Son”
My old man was a trucker, and he loved those white lines
Grandpa loved corn liquor so he hauled that moonshine
In a ’49 Coupe de Ville
That’s how he got his thrill
And I’m a highway son, I was born to run
Ninety miles an hour from a setting sun
It’s true, that’s what I love to do
I don’t mind thumbing, lord, I’ll even ride shotgun
Baby, I’m a highway son
My mama’s great-grandmother was a gypsy on the west plains
Her grandson drove a stockcar, living in the fast lane
Turning left on a steering wheel
In a ’52 Oldsmobile
And I’m a highway son, I was born to run
Ninety miles an hour from a setting sun
It’s true, that’s what I love to do
I don’t mind thumbing, lord, I’ll even ride shotgun
Baby, I’m a highway son
When I leave this world, I’ll be burning rubber
With the asphalt under my feet
‘Cause everybody knows, everywhere I go
The grass don’t grow under me
‘Cause, Baby, I’m a highway son, I was born to run
Ninety miles an hour from a setting sun
It’s true, that’s what I love to do
I don’t mind thumbing, lord, I’ll even ride shotgun
‘Cause I was born to run
Ninety miles an hour from a setting sun
It’s true, that’s what I love to do
I don’t mind thumbing, lord, I’ll even ride shotgun
Baby, I’m a highway son
A highway son
Written by Michael Sessoms • Copyright © Skeptic Ear Music
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Michael Sessoms North Carolina
Music heard at the crossroads of Appalachia and Alt-Country
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