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1. |
My Wildest Ride
04:34
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Oil-soaked floors and spent gasoline
The smoke cleared, you were the prettiest girl I’d seen
I saw my fortune in the red flames of your hair
Hello, sir, that’s a nice bike you own
You chopped what’s slow, you threw away the chrome
Brass, steel, and leather always feel like home
Can you be strong enough to soften with the heat
Can you race a razor’s edge, but for me will you yield
‘Cause only the wild tames me
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
You’re my wildest ride
Heaven’s gonna catch its breath so hold on tight
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
It’s us and them, and they think we’re insane
Taking long-shots, living on short-term gain
But we can’t lose ‘cause we know how to play the long game
We don’t want what they think we’re missing
What good are dreams if not for chasing
Our tanks our full and we’re not breaking speed
For you I’ll be strong enough to soften with the heat
I can race a razor’s edge, but for you I will yield
‘Cause only the wild tames me
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
You’re my wildest ride
Heaven’s gonna catch its breath so hold on tight
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
We ride alone but by each other’s side
You’re what’s constant when the world’s flying by
We weave together through the broken yellow lines
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
You’re my wildest ride
Heaven’s gonna catch its breath so hold on tight
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
You’re my wildest ride
Heaven’s gonna catch its breath so hold on tight
Let’s make the angels cry tonight
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2. |
Heartbreak Transit Line
04:25
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I was born of Big Muddy
I look older than I am
Deep stains tell my story
In the lines of my hands
For a life worth half a real
Love comes not
So I live recklessly
I’m the one that care forgot
The straightest path I follow finds trouble every time
At the destination’s end on the Heartbreak Transit Line
From the depot station
Just off Basin Street
I’m beckoned by the sirens’ songs
Where the jolly good fellows meet
With a fist full of Queen Anne’s Lace
And a picayune
I’m searching for you one night only
In my book of blue
The shadows of the night pardon little crimes
My rites of passage ride on the Heartbreak Transit Line
So please just come to me
When I lay my money down
With you constant stranger
My fate is forever bound
The rhythm of the night
Twelve bars in ragged time
The sounds of my surrender
To my forever lonesome life
When dealer calls last round I pray it’s not unkind
I’m going to the rails on the Heartbreak Transit Line
Fare-thee-well my love, my dream
I buried my heart with your memory
For a good-for-nothin’ like me
Sweet release is all I need
Shame to him who evil thinks
Shame to him who evil thinks
Your southern belle rebellion
Took the best of me
Now I’ll walk these streets until I find
A cure for these maladies
One day I’ll sit high
In a hall of mahogany
Or be reborn a thousand times
From these sins I’ll be free
When the last whistle blows there’ll be no mark in time
At my destination’s end on the Heartbreak Transit Line
Fare-thee-well my love, my dream
I buried my heart with your memory
For a good-for-nothin’ like me
Sweet release is all I need
Shame to him who evil thinks
Shame to him who evil thinks
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3. |
Hard Winds
04:09
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Tears falling
At the kitchen sink
The chores are done
But the day is young
Too much time to think
It was a borrowed dream
Tried on for size
It’d fit just fine
If she’d give it the time
Darning worn-out seams
These days when the storms rage and the nights are dark and cold
That slow burn for love’s return died out long ago
For holding close when hard winds blow
For holding close when hard winds blow
There’s nothing left to hold when hard winds blow
She used to ride ‘em wild
In the good ol’ days
She was best in show
She won the rodeo
She wore spurs and lace
But reins slip away
And time runs long
And the broken bones
Make a broken home
For the soul to stay
These days when the storms rage and the nights are dark and cold
That slow burn for love’s return died out long ago
For holding close when hard winds blow
For holding close when hard winds blow
There’s nothing left to hold when hard winds blow
Standing still
On Nebraska plains
The sky turns green
The sirens scream
Warning signs of change
These days when the storms rage and the nights are dark and cold
That slow burn for love’s return died out long ago
For holding close when hard winds blow
For holding close when hard winds blow
There’s nothing left to hold when hard winds blow
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4. |
Ricochet
03:25
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Here comes your traveling caravan
The freak show fly-by-night
Peddling riddles like razor wire
In the borderlands
The crowd falls fast for your snake-oil sell
‘Round and ‘round you go
All your lies I know
You cast an empty spell
Running through the maze of your confusion
You stand before me now the grand illusion
Your house of mirrors reflection, changing direction
You ricochet
You smile at me with a carny’s delight
There is no chance or skill
You take your aim at will
And set me in your sights
It’s a hair-trigger pull with the hammer down
Step right up, get ready
Breath held, hand stand
Fire a trick-shot round
Running through the maze of your confusion
You stand before me now the grand illusion
Your house of mirrors reflection, changing direction
You ricochet
White heat burns from the flash bang blast
Little bits of truth
Like shrapnel piercing through
The skin’s aftermath
Running through the maze of your confusion
You stand before me now the grand illusion
Your house of mirrors reflection, changing direction
You ricochet
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5. |
House of the Soiled Dove
04:27
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The passing years have been hard on me
Forgotten dreams and a heart that doesn't mend
So I work the bottle to fade all my memories
‘Cause I was a beauty queen back then
When the red clouds churn and the sun goes down
The dust kicks up on the road from town
The back step’s lined with old and worn out souls
But, no sir, we don’t sell love
Just by the hour for some fun for you, for you
Every night at the House of the Soiled Dove
I always thought I’d cross horizon’s line
I’d do anything if I could leave this town behind
But the devil only paves an endless road
'Cause you can drive for miles and have no place left to go
‘Cause nothing’s free and no one’s proud
So loosen up and buy the house a round
Indulge in all your fantasies
But, no sir, we don’t sell love
Just by the hour for some fun
That’s all you’ll ever get from me
Every night at the House of the Soiled Dove
Underground they still call me queen
But used or useless, it’s all the same damn thing
The nights are long, but I dread the morning light
‘Cause the darkest hours are when the sun shines bright
When the red clouds churn and the sun goes down
The dust kicks up on the road from town
The back step’s lined with old and worn out souls
But, no sir, we don’t sell love
Just by the hour for some fun for you, for you
Every night at the House of the Soiled Dove
Every night at the House of the Soiled Dove
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6. |
Dry County
03:37
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I watched until you reached the edge of town
A broken heart is all I have left
Maybe this hard luck will make me glory bound
And this dry thirst will save me from myself
Then a cold wind claims the quiet night
And the sound of your voice haunts me
I’ll feel the heat when the white lightning strikes
With a reckoning that brings me to my knees
Tonight I’ll get drunk in a dry county
I’ll be howling at the moon and speaking in tongues
I’ll draw the venom and sip the strychnine
Any deadly thing to tame my misfortune
I’ve been baptized in the slick of back waters
And forged in the flames of strange fires
I’ll keep dancing even when the music falters
And pray to god my legs with never tire
Tonight I’ll get drunk in a dry county
I’ll be howling at the moon and speaking in tongues
I’ll draw the venom and sip the strychnine
Any deadly thing to tame my misfortune
When the moonshine’s just right
I see visions of you
When the moonshine’s just right
I can almost taste you
Tonight I’ll get drunk in a dry county
I’ll be howling at the moon and speaking in tongues
I’ll draw the venom and sip the strychnine
Any deadly thing to tame my misfortune
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7. |
Family Secrets
05:12
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History of heartbreak runs through my veins
So many untold stories and misplaced shame
I wonder if I was born just to carry forward
These burdens of yours that are not my own
So I saved face and held my tongue
I sure smiled pretty as I came undone
I can’t fall in love without reminding you of your regrets
I can’t pour a drink without thinking why you never left
I’m the one trapped inside when you cage the past
You can’t deny what you won’t confess about the family secrets
The whole town talks in whispers ‘bout the sins of my bloodline
I know now the blame you cast around was truth in disguise
I found misplaced letters torn in pieces
They revealed the mystery of your high treason
I never asked for much
But you thought the truth was too much to want
I can’t fall in love without reminding you of your regrets
I can’t pour a drink without thinking why you never left
I’m the one trapped inside when you cage the past
You can’t deny what you won’t confess about the family secrets
I never asked for much
But you thought the truth was too much to want
I can’t fall in love without reminding you of your regrets
I can’t pour a drink without thinking why you never left
I’m the one trapped inside when you cage the past
You can’t deny what you won’t confess about the family secrets
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8. |
Centerville
04:04
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No one remembers when the gas pumps ran dry
When did anything feel full for a buck eighty-nine?
Windows are boarded, but a light’s on inside
A blue glow of fluorescence and cigarette smoke
I remember those summer nights when we were nineteen
You couldn’t tide me over; hunger’s a fickle thing
In the last place standing east of the cemetery
We were in Centerville off of Highway 33
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
Nowhere is somewhere in between
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
Nowhere is somewhere in between
I rolled my windows down, turned the heat on full blast
Leaned out to look past what’s too foggy and cracked
Sun blinds as it rises so I watched the rearview mirror
I passed Centerville, then I watched it disappear
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
Nowhere is somewhere in between
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
Nowhere is somewhere in between
I sometimes think I see you
It’s a trick my mind plays
’Cause it’s been a long time
But what’s there still remains
I sometimes think I see you
And you still look the same
Before the center shifts
And times change
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
Nowhere is somewhere in between
What you’re hoping to find and what you’re trying to leave
I pass through you, you pass through me
I pass through you, you pass through me
I pass through you, you pass through me
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9. |
Crossing the Rio Grande
03:30
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“Hello nothing” is the sign that welcomes me
And nothing, it seems, is all I see
The empty boxcar, the load it lost
Unanswered prayers, the roadside cross
Wood, bottle caps, and tin
Candles lit for the saints of sin
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
We are born of unchosen circumstance
And only at our death defined
Some hold papers for passing through
Some are otherwise confined
What will be remembered
When the things I carry get left behind
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
I slipped the noose and fell through the womb
And found myself on the other side
I could wait it out, or rush it through
The consequence of a changing mind
I’m always on the other side
The rage of the river once ran wild
Now, at its end, the water runs dry
It’s dammed and drained and taken from
Some say money, some call it love
For roses, cotton, and sugar cane
The dividing line just fades away
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
I’m crossing over the Rio Grande
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10. |
Leavin' in the Morning
02:54
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Darling, I love you so, that's not why I have to go
I need to believe that I can stand on my own
I'm stepping out to come back home
You have to trust me that I won't do you wrong
I'm the one crying and you're still standing strong
I need to find what you see in me
There's no escape, this is my leap of faith
But I just don't know, when I'm coming home
I'm leaving in the morning
Darling, I love you so, that's not why I have to go
I need to believe that I can stand on my own
I'm stepping out to come back home
Love may be enough just to survive
But it takes more than love if we're going to thrive
And just surviving is never good enough
The ties that bind are patience, faith and trust
But I just don't know, when I'm coming home
I'm leaving in the morning
Darling, I love you so, that's not why I have to go
I need to believe that I can stand on my own
I'm stepping out to come back home
Down the line, we'll be happy for ourselves
Down the line we will go
Down the line we'll be happy for ourselves
When I know that I'm coming home
I'm leaving in the morning
Darling, I love you so, that's not why I have to go
I need to believe that I can stand on my own
I'm stepping out to come back home
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11. |
Path Already Paved
04:14
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I don’t listen when you go on and on
'Bout the life that could have been
As we sit and stare at the setting sun
To pass the time of the summer evenings
The heat was high despite the early hour
Like morning gave up the night before
Another stillborn day time is pushing through
Another someday lost on you
You dream about running away on the open road
To ride the rails and the lost highways
Where the day is long and the night is young
But when you carry with you what you’re running from
Every open road is a path already paved
Every open road is a path already paved
We trace the town every Sunday drive
One mile squared and grid-lined
Back at home the map is torn apart
Along the lines where it’s kept folded up
Pull the choke and light the fire
To ride away on a two-stroke dream
You can dance when the engine idles
She runs fast but you’ll never leave
So I don’t listen when you go on and on
'Bout the life that could have been
As we sit and stare at the setting sun
To pass the time of the summer evenings
You dream about running away on the open road
To ride the rails and the lost highways
Where the day is long and the night is young
But when you carry with you what you’re running from
Every open road is a path already paved
Every open road is a path already paved
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Hardened and Tempered Austin, Texas
Hardened and Tempered: hard enough to hold an edge; soft enough not to break. Austin-based duo Kristin Davidson and Carolyn Phillips live that balance and express it in their music. Their songs take root in the story-telling traditions of folk and country and flourish with textured melodies and harmonies, revealing an intimate look at the human condition and one’s search for meaning. ... more
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