He Grew up running with the Western Sioux Fighting crows, counting coup Til the buffalo jump cleared the plains, Mr Winchester took what remained Lost his brother in the Indian Wars. at Little Bighorn to Custers hoards. but He took eight scalps, a bayonet hole, a Hard heart, and a revolving colt Oh knife, horse and blood, it don’t pay to lose, when the West is Won. She was the daughter of a Mennonite hay farmer, she knew the prairie, the prairie knew her. Until the crop dried up and blew away from a lack of rain due to lack of faith So her daddy looked for work with hat in hand, took a job with the livery in Sutherland. Til he got kicked by a green broke roan, never got up, never came home. Hard work, , horse and blood. it don’t pay to lose, when the West is Won. So he took up riding in a western show. Firing blanks of black powder smoke. He killed General Custer every Friday night, watched him die in the kerosene light. He got word about Wounded Knee, smoke twirled In the pale breeze. He cried for blood, prayed for peace, cut his braid in the shade of a cottonwood tree. Oh knife, horse and blood, it don’t pay to lose, the West is Won. She’s got forty acres of her own land, hunts what she could and grows what she can. Sleeps with a lever action .44, she ain’t got no use for a man no more. Orions Belt shining true, she says I’ll search the sky for a sign of you. Hell I’ve done you proud, look at these hands and leaves the light on for her old man, Hard work, horse and blood. it don’t pay to lose, when the West is Won.

I took that last ridge out north Of Sante Fe I took my time, must have broke down on the way Drifting out across the middle Center line Bury that needle like the sun burns across the sky You can set my name on some stone some day Dont you look for me where those old bones lay Lost my head in Kansas Lawrence town It was almost forever but I somehow made it out And I knew that day Something I cant explain But I know ill never be the same again Brothers we’re out in the desert Lost again I know I was home, just aint sure where or when But I think I might just stay here Cut out for awhile Maybe turn my head against time sifting by You can set my name on some stone some day But don't you look for me where those old bones lay

All that remains Of the night, my dear Is out the window, with the coyotes retreat Those who hunt by the light of the yellow moon Here comes the sun Now its time to sleep But linger there my darling Where the light lays still And belies the chaos of your dreams For morning surely plunders the rest that you seek Like a traitor With secrets to keep Rivers lay like lighting In the canyons where they run Bless the soul who knows how long and how deep He who relinquishes his fate to the rocks through which he weaves Like temptations to the shore that he seeks Holes in my pockets they are long and their deep And my shoes, they no longer fit my feet And i have walked every mile in new jerusalem Bless my soul Where is a man to sleep Waiting in vain like a cold desert rain I remember the words you said to me First the sky, than the ground, to your heart and through your hands Fall away and there in the light we will meet

Got an old Dodge, sitting out in the drive It don’t run, it ain’t for some time Oughta crank it over, get it right It don’t seem to care, I don’t seem to mind It don’t hurt, not a bit Well I’ve given everything that I’ve got to give a shit. It ain’t your place to tell me when, just keep it coming friend. I don’t wanna change my mind, while this old world is spinning on a dime. Until you hardly recognize, good intentions from a slug right between the eyes. I won’t quit not at all, harder they come you know the harder they fall It ain’t their place to tell me when, just keep it coming friend. Oughta haul my tired ass into town, keep my nose clean my boots on the ground. I need a breaker bar, got bolt breaking blues. God knows I got an awful lot of awful work to do. It’s gonna hurt, quite a bit. I thank god everyday I rise, the Devil each night I quit It ain’t their place to tell me when, just keep it coming, friend. Just keep it coming, friend.

May my heart break completely in two, until the whole world falls right on through and lands in the belly of my beastly blues. Let the whole world fall right on through. My mind may fail me in time, hands start shaking in the gathering light One thing I know, a hard wind will blow…a hard wind will blow. I find myself cold in the night, draped in the dust of a long lost fight. Just the half dead wreck of an old redneck, still cursing the light. I often have a dream of the sea, bright burning blue, swallowing me. I Struggle to tread, as the waves lap around my head, draggin me towards the deep. Way, way down. Way, way down. Enjoy the sweet noise it’s all crashing down, boys I’m gone, it’s all crashing down. So do your worst world, do your worst. I got an old rawhide saddle and a mean goddamn horse. This howling pain is just a passing old train, just a lonesome old thing. May my heart break completely in two, until the whole world falls right on through and Lands in the belly of my beastly blues. Let the whole world fall right on through.

Lucille never knew, when our family came. They're still pulling bones from the black Phelps County clay. There’s stories of the Cumberland, and a fight some Shawnee braves, cut free of the mud to a land that burns the rain. My great grandfather Joe, he ran cattle on these plains. At night, he’d sit and carve a horse from a cut of green osage. And he’d rarely say a word, he had a calm and gentle way. Helped his daddy stack the blue stem so they’d have a place to lay. And he knew a dollar bill can't hold a flame to a cord of cut wood. There’s men alive and they would leave you cold if they could. They don’t know the worth of what they trade away. This black clay is gonna swallow up everything the lord don’t take. A Daughter of depression, no stranger to hard times. She knew the sound of trouble bound to roll right down the line. Haunted by the dustbowl and the sins of 29. Well I’d watch them crooked fingers threading through her garden vines. She knew a dollar bill won’t see you through like a cellar full of food. Putting by for staving off the cold midwinters blues Some don’t know the worth of what they stand to lose, this black clay is gonna swallow up everything the lord can’t use. Everything that the lord can’t use. Try as we might, we’re all bound to lose. Because there is weak, and there is strong. Son there's only right, and only wrong. Looking back she saw the signs from her front porch at sunrise, she felt the pain of good man slain across the allied lines. She held to the wheel, sent a prayer up from the field. Lord if it’s your plan, won’t you save a good man for me. Because she knew a dollar bill won’t hold you through a night so long and low. There’s things that ain’t for sale, and there’s a wealth that you can’t hold. We all know the pain of a child of god alone. And this black clay is gonna swallow up everything the lord don’t own. Well this black clay is gonna swallow up everything the lord don’t own.

Something in the air didn’t feel right. Babe I’m used to heavy, hot and mean. I don’t fear the unknown, just the bottom of my lows. There’s wide open black beneath me. There’s a look in your eyes that I can’t face, dear. Tears have dried to a cold hard stare. Where once was forgivenesses, for my endless raging darkness, lies a resignation I can’t bare. If it’s broke I’m gonna fix it, gonna put my shoulder to it. I was blessed with the strength to do the work. Slipping through my fingers every word, every whisper. All I hear is the sound of breaking day. Damn the world, and this whole county My shortcomings are no one's fault but mine. If only a man was a stubborn will and hard hand, babe I’d be the biggest show in town But the food on the table is gone and clear I watch the moonlight fill the room between us dear Just when I should hold you, I stumble and I falter. Fumble with my shiny new regret. If it’s broke I’m gonna fix it, put my arms and back into it. I was blessed with the strength to do the work. Slipping through my fingers every word, every whisper. All I hear is the sound of breaking day. Slipping through my fingers every word, every whisper. All I hear is the sound of breaking day.

Well they call me a dying breed, son I’m feeling dead indeed. Ain’t a word for how worn out I feel. I got everything I need, with some ragged out tools and elbow grease. Seen the world out the window of an old F150. Son I ain’t had a drink, since your mama split and left you and me. Bare feet kicking up dust at my heels. It’s been a good run, some hard luck. Some quiet tears in a beat up truck. But there ain’t too many more miles in this old tank. I’m trying to find a way to mill my heart to a finer shape. And call for you in the words I can’t seem to find. But my lungs are tied in knots, gonna leave this world with a quiet thought. I see your heart boy and it eases my mind. You didn’t come with brakes. Tried to sow you but it didn’t take, what's the rush son, you know the end can wait. Drank yourself into a hospital bed, your guts a mix of vodka and red. Ten days later, you’re back on the bottle again. And I never was a man of faith, tried to find it but it didn’t take. But boy those days you drove this old man to pray. There’s a long line of hard headed men, cut from the stone and the timberland. You can’t tell an O'hare a goddamn thing. So I’m trying to find a way to mill my heart to a finer shape. Call for you in the words I can’t seem to find. But my lungs are tied in knots, gonna leave this world with a quiet thought. I see your heart boy and it eases my mind. Well they call me a dying breed, son I’m feeling dead indeed. There ain’t a word for how worn out I feel. But I got everything I need, sitting next to me in this rumble seat. There’s an easy light son, cutting through the pines

Whippoorwill whisper the night onto me Wrap the heat of the day unto thee With the last of your verse complete wont you watch Over my sleep I aint seen the rain now for a hundred days Tell you all about it in a hundred ways The sun cracked the earth like a golden spade and everything Slowly walked away The sun hanging down feels like a hammer on my head The dust settles down just to linger with your breath And death is the mountain upon where we will rest but you take Every longing breath The willow knows the maiden by her sleeping there Long restless dreams and her long dark hair No one seems to notice nobody seems to care and there they weep The loneliest pair

Oh darlin, time is on the wind And she's buried another Holding on by a string When something rattled Caught in a chain And cut free by a hunter who's never been prey While I know, love…darling will I know Can a fallen angel Take up again The very means of her anger Even though she cant win Just to change the measure By which we survive Id trade all my tomorrows to get through the night There's a strange and cruel darkness In a late spring freeze Where the first years blooms Hang dead on the trees And a haunting remains there For those who might see