Stanley Brothers: "Mountain Dew"

Carter and Ralph Stanley with the Clinch Mountain Boys

they call it that old mountain dew
and them that refuse it are few
i'll hush up my mug if you fill up my jug
with some good old mountain dew

Joe Ely: "If You Were A Bluebird"

if you were a bluebird
you'd be a sad one
i'd give you a true word
but you've already had one
if you were a bluebird
you'd be crying
you'd be flying home

if you were a raindrop
you'd shine like a rainbow
and if you were a train stop
the conductor would sing low
if you were a raindrop
you'd be falling
you'd be calling home

--butch hancock

Joan Baez: "Mary Hamilton"

word is to the kitchen gone
and word is to the hall
and word is up to madam the Queen
and that's the worst of all
that Mary Hamilton has borne a babe
to the highest Stuart of all
arise, arise Mary Hamilton
arise and tell to me
what thou hast done with thy wee babe
i saw and heard weep by thee
i put him in a tiny boat
and cast him out to sea
that he might sink or he might swim
but he'd never come back to me
oh hold your tongue my sovereign liege
and let your folly be
for if you'd a mind to save my life
you'd never have shamed me here
last night there were four Marys
tonight there'll be but three
it was Mary Beaton and Mary Seton
and Mary Carmichael and me

David Rawlings: "Sweet Tooth"

with Gillian Welch
No Depression Festival,
Redmond, Washington
7/10/09

Simon and Garfunkel: "Sounds of Silence"

hello darkness, my old friend
i've come to talk with you again
because a vision softly creeping
left its seeds while i was sleeping
and the vision that was planted in my brain
still remains
within the sound of silence

in restless dreams i walked alone
narrow streets of cobblestone
beneath the halo of a street lamp
i turned my collar to the cold and damp
when my eyes were stabbed
by the flash of a neon light
that split the night
and touched the sound of silence

and in the naked light i saw
ten thousand people, maybe more
people talking without speaking
people hearing without listening
people writing songs that voices never shared
no one dared
disturb the sound of silence

"fools", said i, "you do not know
silence like a cancer grows
hear my words that i might teach you
take my arms that i might reach you"
but my words, like silent raindrops fell
and echoed
in the wells of silence

and the people bowed and prayed
to the neon god they made
and the sign flashed out its warning
in the words that it was forming
and the sign said,
"the words of the prophets
are written on the subway walls
and tenement halls
and whispered in the sounds of silence"

--paul simon

Johnny Horton: "Honky-Tonk Man"

i'm a honkytonk man
and i can't seem to stop
i love to give the girls a whirl
to the music of an old jukebox
but when my money's all gone
i'm on the telephone
saying "hey, hey, mama
can your daddy come home?"

Sinéad Lohan: "To Ramona"

Sinéad Lohan--vocals and guitar
Donal Lunny--bouzouki
Steve Cooney--guitar


everything passes
everything changes
just do what you think you should do
and someday maybe
who knows baby
i'll come and be crying to you
--bob dylan (from "to ramona ")

Joe Strummer: "Minstrel Boy"

with The Mescaleros
Brixton, England
2001

"Cam Ye O'er Frae France?"

Jane and Jenny Holohan

Cam ye o'er frae France? Cam ye doon by Lunnon?
Saw ye Geordie Whelps and his bonnie woman?
Were ye at the place called the Kittle Hoosie?
Saw ye Geordie's grace riding on a goosie?

Alison Krauss: "Shadows"

let me reach out, love, and touch you
let me hold you for awhile
i've been all around the world
how i long to see you smile
there's a shadow on the moon
and the waters here below
do not shine the way they should
and i love you just in case you didn't know
let it go
let it happen like it happened once before
it's a wicked wind
and it chills me to the bone
and if you do not believe me
come and gaze upon the shadow at your door
--gordon lightfoot (from "shadows")

Tony Rice: "John Wilkes Booth"

they said there were five
and they said there were ten
some said there was never more
than just one man
who would smile to see Mr. Lincoln dead
in the name of God and Dixie
in the name of God and Dixieland
--Mary Chapin Carpenter (from "John Wilkes Booth ")

Billy Bragg/Wilco: "Walt Whitman's Niece"

lyrics by Woody Guthrie

Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good fortune-—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Strong and content, I travel the open road.

The earth-—that is sufficient;
I do not want the constellations any nearer;
I know they are very well where they are;
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

(Still here I carry my old delicious burdens;
I carry them, men and women-—
I carry them with me wherever I go;
I swear it is impossible for me to get rid of them;
I am fill’d with them, and I will fill them in return.)

--Walt Whitman (from "Song of the Open Road ")

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

"Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"
Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
1980

Tom Waits: Press Conference

If you get far enough away you'll be on your way back home.
--Tom Waits (from "Blind Love")

Yonder Mountain String Band

"Reuben and Cerise "
Sheridan Opera House, Telluride, Colorado
6/19/09

the truth of love
an unsung song must tell
the course of love must follow blind
without a look behind
Reuben walked the streets
of New Orleans till dawn
Cerise so lightly in his arms
and her hair hung gently down

Belated Forgiveness Plea

as a pilgrim i did go
to a land that i did know
to the shores of Trist la Cal
to see if i still felt the same
and the sun blazed madly insane
but the seagulls they have gone
the seagulls they have gone

i searched the sand for sound
my eyes forced to the ground
the wind laughed wild and shrill
my heart it tried to spill
its crazy tears
there is nothing here for me now
the seagulls they have gone
the seagulls they have gone

i stand both young and old
but the winds of time blow cold
this much you must believe
it pains to see you grieve
i pity you
but there is nothing that i can do
for the seagulls they have gone
the seagulls they have gone

as a pilgrim i did go
to a land that i did know
to the shores of Trist la Cal
to see if i still felt the same
and the sun blazed madly insane
but the seagulls they have gone
the seagulls they have gone

--donovan leitch

Byrds: "All I Really Want To Do"

7/3/65

I ain't looking to compete with you,
Beat or cheat or mistreat you,
Simplify you, classify you,
Deny, defy or crucify you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

No, and I ain't looking to fight with you,
Frighten you or uptighten you,
Drag you down or drain you down,
Chain you down or bring you down.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I ain't lookin' to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up,
Analyze you, categorize you,
Finalize you or advertise you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to straight-face you,
Race or chase you, track or trace you,
Or disgrace you or displace you,
Or define you or confine you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to meet your kin,
Make you spin or do you in,
Or select you or dissect you,
Or inspect you or reject you.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

I don't want to fake you out,
Take or shake or forsake you out,
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me,
See like me or be like me.
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you.

--Bob Dylan

Joni Mitchell: "For The Roses"

The Troubador, West Hollywood, Ca.
11/17/72

I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Did you get a round resounding for you
Way up here
It seems like many dim years ago
Since I heard that face to face
Or seen you face to face
Though tonight I can feel you here
I get these notes
On butterflies and lilac sprays
From girls who just have to tell me
They saw you somewhere

In some office sits a poet
And he trembles as he sings
And he asks some guy
To circulate his soul around
On your mark red ribbon runner
The caressing rev of motors
Finely tuned like fancy women
In thirties evening gowns
Up the charts
Off to the airport
Your name's in the news
Everything's first class
The lights go down
And it's just you up there
Getting them to feel like that

Remember the days when you used to sit
And make up your tunes for love
And pour your simple sorrow
To the soundhole and your knee
And now you're seen
On giant screens
And at parties for the press
And for people who have slices of you
From the company
They toss around your latest golden egg
Speculation--well, who's to know
If the next one in the nest
Will glitter for them so

I guess I seem ungrateful
With my teeth sunk in the hand
That brings me things
I really can't give up just yet
Now I sit up here the critic
And they introduce some band
But they seem so much confetti
Looking at them on my TV set
Oh the power and the glory
Just when you're getting a taste for worship
They start bringing out the hammers
And the boards
And the nails

I heard it in the wind last night
It sounded like applause
Chilly now
End of summer
No more shiny hot nights
It was just the arbutus rustling
And the bumping of the logs
And the moon swept down black water
Like an empty spotlight

Molly Tuttle: "Annabelle"

Grass Valley, Ca.
6/19/09
Molly Tuttle--vocal, guitar
Sullivan Tuttle--mandolin
Michael Tuttle--guitar
Jack Tuttle--vocal, bass
A.J. Lee--vocal, mandolin

i lease twenty acres and one Jenny mule
from the Alabama Trust
half of the cotton, a third of the corn
you get a handful of dust
we can not have all things to please us
no matter how we try
until we've all gone to Jesus
we can only wonder why
--gillian welch

Nanci Griffith: "Roseville Fair"

she was dressed in blue
and she looked so lovely
just a gentle flower
of a small town girl
then he took her hand
and they danced to the music
with a single smile
she became his world
they danced all night
to the fiddle and the banjo
their drifting tunes
seemed to fill the air
so long ago
but they still remember
when they fell in love
at the Roseville Fair