"Put your dancin’ shoes on ... Ronny’s latest CD...
had me movin’ and groovin’around the kitchen."
By Vicki Ingle, Plank Road Folk Music Society
Read the whole review here
1. Can I Come Back Home 2:50
(J. Fred Knobloch and Darden Smith) (Fred Knobloch Music / Darden Smith Music ASCAP)
I first heard Fred Knobloch do this tune about fifteen years ago on an album with the great harmonica player, Jellyroll Johnson. The tune just knocked me out… and when I was singing it around the house, deciding if I should include it on this album, my seven year old granddaughter Catherine asked: “What’s a phone booth?”… and I knew I had to record it. We can’t let phone booth go out of our lexicon.
Standin’ in the phone booth dialin’ up your number
Well, all I get’s your message… could it be you’re gone
And I wonder, baby, can I come back home
Standin’ on the sidewalk, starin’ up at your window
Do I see a shadow of someone I don’t know
And I wonder, baby, can I come back home
Chorus
Just like Bill Bailey do you miss me yet
Or could you just be not ready to forget
Sleepin’ on your doorstep tryin’ not to get me head wet
Waitin’ for your paper… chilled down to the bone
And I wonder, baby, can I come back home
Chorus
I’d do it all different if I could do it again
I’d make a few changes if you’d just let me in
Writin’ you this letter to tell you that I’m sorry
And I’m all out of money and tired of being alone
And I wonder, baby, can I come back home
Oh, I wonder, baby, can I come back home
2. The Water is Wide 4:48
(Public Domain)
Mary had many songs that she would list as being among her favorites… none were more loved by her than this one. We played this tune at Mary’s memorial. This song is for Mary.
The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
Oh love is gentle and love is kind
The sweetest flower when first it's new
but love grows old and waxes cold and fades away
like morning dew
There is a ship and she sails the sea
She's loaded deep as deep can be
But not as deep as the love I'm in
I know not how I sink or swim
The water is wide, I can't cross o'er
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
And both shall row, my love and I
3. Grapes on the Vine 3:13
(Steve Gillette and Charles John Quarto) (Ensign Music/Tessa Music BMI)
I love this combination of a great melody coupled with dense lyricism. Steve, of course, is one of the great songwriter’s and he put music to Charles John’s poem. I like our approach to this song.. and Susan’s banjo takes it to a new place.
The are songs that birds don't sing to people
Secrets that keep right through to the end.
There are heroes that hide until forever
And I'm singin' this song for one of them.
He's the man that you passed on the road there.
The one with his life on the loose.
Goin' either somewhere or nowhere,
Goin' without me without you.
For he is this world's constant orphan
Travellin' out his long time,
Livin' on apples from orchards
And dyin' from grapes on the vine.
You can find him in big city winters
Down where the mission bell cries.
And the sorrow echoes through summers
As he tries to close all his eyes.
And dream of his railroad existence
As if it were some kind of dream.
As if the extent of the distance
Were what his heart would call him.
You can find him in Pittsburgh at Christmas,
You can find him in Buffalo in June.
And he knows all the back roads between them
Like a gypsy knows the moon.
And it's route twenty-two all over again
Put your thumb out and try to look like somebody's friend.
Look strong at the man and mild at the girl
And puzzled at the rest of the world.
For he is this world's constant orphan
Travellin' out his long time.
Livin' on apples from orchards
And dyin' from grapes on the vine.
4. The Diamantina Drover 3:52
(Hugh MacDonald) [Rondor Music Australia Pty Ltd (Universal Music Pub Mgb - Australia)]
My son, John, brought this song to my attention. He knows of my love for “cowboy tunes”, and this is an Australian cowboy tune set in the dusty, hot and arid section of Australia known as the Diamantina. It has all the classic elements of the rigors of cattle drives… of the regrets….the longings…. and a great melody.
The faces in the photograph are faded
And I can't believe he looks so much like me
For it's been ten long years today
Since I left for Old Cork Station
Saying "I won't be back 'till the droving's done"
It seems like the sun comes up each morning
Sets me up and then takes it all away
For the dreaming by the light
Of the campfire at night
Ends with the burning light of day
CHORUS
For the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina
The drover finds it hard to change his mind
For the years have surely gone
Like the drays from Old Cork Station
And I won't be back 'till the droving's done
I sometimes think I'll settle back in Sydney
But it's been so long and it's hard to change your mind
For the cattle trail goes on and on
And fences roll forever
And I won't be back when the droving's done.
CHORUS
5. Give it to the Rich Man 3:43
(Jack Williams) (Doc Owsley Music BMI)
In my estimation no album is complete without two things… a Jack Williams tune, and a doo-wop song. Luckily, this satisfies both criteria. Also, with the current economic crisis we’re all in the midst of, I think it’s important to have a folkie’s take on our financial situation.
CHORUS
Give it to the rich man
Give it to the rich man
Give it to the rich man
He’ll know what to do
Give him every cent man
He’ll put it in a tin can
He can pay the rent, man
That’s all you gotta do
The winds of change are blowin’
Blowin’ me off the road
I’d give my last dollar
Just to lighten up the load
I’d send it to the devil
Sell it to the priest
Send it off to China
And sink it in the east
CHORUS
If you can stand the thunder
Then you can take the rain
If you can stand the lightnin’
Then you can take the pain
And you can learn the secret
Not known to everyone
That if you give it to the rich man, baby
You’ll have all the fun
CHORUS
6. A Horse Called Music 4:33
(Wayne Carson) (Wayne Carson Music)
My friend Wayne has a wonderful story, (probably apocryphal) he tells about this song. He woke up one morning in Nashville, and looked out his window… it had snowed during the night, and the snow on the roofs of the adjacent apartments reminded him of his boyhood in Montana. He turned and picked up his guitar and sang the song from top to bottom and has never changed a word or a note since. I sing a slightly different version.
High on a mountain in western Montana
A silhouette moves across a cinnamon sky
Riding along on a horse he calls Music
With a song on his lips, and a tear in his eye
He dreams of a time, and a lady that loved him
and how he would sing her sweet lullabye's
but we don’t ever ask him, and he never talks about her
I guess its just better that we all let it slide
Chorus:
And he sings Oooh to the ladies
and Oooh he makes 'em sigh
Then he rides away on a horse he calls Music
With a pain in his heart, and a tear in his eye
Now he rode the Music from Boston to Bozeman
For not too much money, and way too much ride
But those were the days when a horse he called Music
Could jump through the moon and fly across the sky
Now all that’s left is an old time worn cowboy
With only his dreams of the days long gone by
And trailin’ behind is a horse with no rider
A horse he calls Memories that she used to ride
Chorus
High on a mountain in western Montana
Two crossed cut through a cinnamon sky
Marking the place where a horse he called Music
Lays with a cowboy there by his side
7. Grady 3:58
(R. Cox & A. Shambiln) (Elk Horn Music / Alamo Music Corp- Hayes Street Music, Inc.-Allen Shamblin Music BMI/ASCAP)
This is one of only three songs I have written on this album… (someday the writer’s block I have had since Mary’s death will, perhaps, go away). This story is loosely based on a man from my hometown of Portales, New Mexico. I have taken a great many liberties with the facts.
Grady walked the two miles into town most every day
With his funny jerky gait, it seemed he galloped all the way
With his baseball cap on backwards, he’d sail into the wind
He was always on the outside, we wouldn’t let him in
The boys down at the fillin’ station said that he was touched
He hid a grin behind his hand, he didn’t talk that much
Mama used to say “You kids, leave that poor man alone”
But we’d follow him and giggle, sayin’ “Grady, sing your song”
Chorus
Grady would dance for a penny
While he sang “Those Oklahoma Hills Where I Was Born”
I carry this picture of old Grady
Even thought it’s getting kind of worn
The edges are raged and torn
Grady roamed the alleys, it made some people mad
Was he peeking in their windows, seeing what they had
Lots of folk were sayin’ they should put that boy away
They thought he was liable to hurt someone someday
I remember the day it happened, I was comin’ home from school
The banker’s baby daughter had fallen in their pool
Grady saw it happen…he climbed the fence and he plunged right in
He saved her life but he gave his…he never learned to swim
Chorus
I wish you could have seen the funeral they had for old Grady
He even got his picture in the paper
My dad cut it out and gave it to me…said he was a hero
Chorus
The boys down at the fillin’ station said that he was touched
And he was, by God
8.Happy Father's Day 4:16
(Jonathan Byrd) (Jonathan Byrd Music SESAC)
Jonathan played this song for me at the Kerrville Folk Festival last year… it knocked me out. There were so many aspects of Jonathan’s relationship with his father that were analogous to my relationship with my father and I asked Jonathan for permission to record the song. I’m honored that he has allowed me and the band to be the first to record it. I’m sure we won’t be the last.
Well, it was Father’s Day the last time I saw him alive
He was living up in Rockwell with his third wife
We took him to the Outback, that was the place
Where he could eat a steak, and still watch the race
And he thought Richard Petty walked two inches off the ground
And I thought that that was dumber then, than I do now
A man needs a hero and he was mine
I couldn’t see it then… some things take time
Chorus
If I could sing this song for him today
He’s say “Son, did you ever learn Amazing Grace?”
“Cause he could never give a compliment
But I’d tell him that I loved him anyway
And I’d say Happy Father’s Day
He had a lot of bad habits… I get that from him
He smoked Salem by the carton and they did him in
I can’t help but think about those four heart attacks
Every time I see a pack.. and I wish it held me back
But I remember him so drunk that he couldn’t see
But he never laid a blind and angry hand on me
He died in South Carolina where he’d paid his way
To re-build a stranger’s home… after a hurricane
Chorus
Two Father’s Days ago I went to see him
It was me and my brother and a cold mausoleum
We took two chairs and two guitars and spent the day
And you can bet I played Amazing Grace
Chorus
If I could sing this song for him today
He’d say, “Son, did you ever learn Amazing Grace?”
And I’d say, “Yes sir.” And I’d play it
And I’d tell him that I missed him every day
And, by the way, Happy Father’s Day
Happy Father’s Day … Richard Gray
Happy Father’s Day
9. Compadres in the Old Sierra Madres 3:34
(Woody Paul) [(Buck Music (Paul Chrisman)]
I first heard The Waybacks do this number about five or six years ago. I find that this tune can be done in a myriad of ways. I’ve heard it done it with the violin kicking it off…I’ve done the song with an introduction played on a muted coronet… putting it in a whole different atmosphere… and now with Danny’s mysterious mandolin setting the mood… Great song.
There is a place I know, way down in Mexico
High in the old Sierra Madres
Where many an outlaw band from across the Rio Grande
Have found a haven, a hold up, a hide-away
But danger rides with those who stray upon that secret hide-away
Where death will surely welcome anyone within the law
But if a man must run from any lawman’s gun
He’ll find compadres in the old Sierra Madres
(break)
Deep in the dark of night beside the camp fire’s light
They weave the tales of the lives of the bandits
Where jewels rare and old and coaches filled with gold
Hold-ups pulled off just like they planned it
But danger rides with those who stray upon that secret hide-away
Where death will surely welcome anyone within the law
But if a man must run from any lawman’s gun
He’ll find compadres in the old Sierra Madres
(tag)
But if a man must run from any lawman’s gun
He’ll find compadres in the old Sierra Madres
10. Better Man 3:33
(Eric Schwartz) (Claritone BMI)
Eric was my roommate for a year and a half after Mary died. Frankly, I don’t know how I would have made it without him around. He’s like a son to me. He’s also one of the most talented singer/songwriters on the planet. Eric wrote this song at my house… he knew the band and I were about to go into the studio and I like to think he wrote it for us. Some people think it’s a departure from the songs Eric usually writes….
There is one whom I have wronged
And he looks at me angrily
This bothers me no matter what I do
I offer my apologies
Always he ignores my pleas
But I ask me
What the better man would do?
He would forgive me
So I forgive me too
There have been so many times that I
Have felt so low, I’d rather die
Than look at me from someone else’s view
Surely there were those who would
Gladly tell me I’m no good
But I asked me, what the better man would do
He would love me
So I will love me too
I’ve been ashamed
Of the life I’ve been living
Take my hand
Tell me I’m forgiven
If you’re walking on the street
And you see a soul who’s in defeat
Don’t you pass him by, no matter what you do
‘Cause brother don’t you understand
When you lend a helping hand
The person that you really help is you,
Love your neighbor
And he will love you too
If you do the things the better man would do.
11. Santa Ana Winds 2:52
(R. Cox & W. Carson) (Elk Horn Music/ Wayne Carson Music)
The Santa Ana’s are a distinctly California phenomenon… most people don’t realize this, but arrests for domestic violence and for other anger related crimes go up by a significant percentage when the Santa Ana’s blow in. There are some who consider them the “devil winds”. How could one not want to write about that?
Some people say there’s nothin’ to it
Just hot sandy air blowin’ in
There’s a California reason … the only change in season
Known as the Santa Ana Winds
Most people talk like it was evil
They don’t understand what it’s all about
Almost too afraid of what it’s blowin’ in
To be thankful for what it’s blowin’ out
(chorus)
Maybe it’s the spirits of the Conquistadores
Coming back from long long ago
Or the Conestoga sailors that foundered in Death Valley
Only Santa Ana knows
They’re the mystery of Southern California
To some they’re beginnings … to some the end
But to me, they’re as real as this old horse I’m riding
Known as the Santa Ana Winds
(chorus)
They never die, they’re in the San Jacinto Mountains
Waitin’ with an ever watchful eye
If you listen in the evening on the sand down by the ocean
You can hear their distant cry
(chorus)
Maybe it’s the spirits of the Conquistadores
Coming back from long, long ago
Or the Conestoga sailors that foundered in Death Valley
Only Santa Ana knows
Only Santa Ana knows
I said… only Santa Ana knows
12. Down the Trail to San Antone 2:23
(Deuce Spriggens) [Peer International Corp (Peer Music)]
This song is actually the title track from an old Gene Autry movie that I saw when I was a kid. No… I don’t remember the song from the movie… but I do remember the movie. I believe it came out in the late ‘40s. Anyway, I’ve been taking guitar lessons from David Ferguson for almost 20 years and he loves this song and this was one of the first songs he taught me.
I’ll hop upon my pony and I’ll ride away
Down the Trail To San Antone
She’ll be standin’, waitin’ by the garden gate
And she waits for me alone
Through the woods and o’er the trail
We’ll ride, ride, ride
I won’t rest until I have her by my side
Roll on little pony let that ol’ wind moan
I’m headin’ back to San Antone
I just received a letter from my gal in San Antone
Said that she would be my bride
I know she really loves me and her heart is true
So I guess I’ll have to take that ride
Roll on little pony let that old wind moan
I’m headed back to San Anton-i –o
Headed back to San Anton-i-o
Headed back to San Antone.
13. Holy Now 4:35
(Peter Mayer) [Blue Boat /Peter Mayer Music (% CARPE DIEM COPYRIGHT MGMT - Temple Door Music Division)]
This wonderful song was brought to my attention by Eric Schwartz… He came to me one day and said, “Ronny, this is a song that is perfect for you and the band”. It is such a wise and insightful song…. It’s a little daunting to try to match the artistry of Peter’s recording of the song…. but the band and I had a lot of fun trying.
When I was a boy, each week
On Sunday, we would go to church
And pay attention to the priest
He would read the holy word
And consecrate the holy bread
And everyone would kneel and bow
Today the only difference is
Everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now
When I was in Sunday school
We would learn about the time
Moses split the sea in two
Jesus made the water wine
And I remember feeling sad
That miracles don’t happen still
But now I can’t keep track
‘Cause everything’s a miracle
Everything, Everything
Everything’s a miracle
Wine from water is not so small
But an even better magic trick
Is that anything is here at all
So the challenging thing becomes
Not to look for miracles
But finding where there isn’t one
When holy water was rare at best
It barely wet my fingertips
But now I have to hold my breath
Like I’m swimming in a sea of it
It used to be a world half there
Heaven’s second rate hand-me-down
But I walk it with a reverent air
‘Cause everything is holy now
Everything, everything
Everything is holy now
Read a questioning child’s face
And say it’s not a testament
That’d be very hard to say.
14. Milkbone Underwear 3:30
(R. Cox & J. Stewart) (Elk Horn Music / Mill House Music)
Jimmie and I were watching an old re-run of “Cheers” one night and Norm walked in and said: “It’s a dog eat dog world and I’m wearing Milkbone shorts.” I think, in Nashville, that’s what’s known as a hook. It’s a pretty silly song, but we had a ball writing it.
When I walked in to work this morning, the boss was in my face
It ain’t my fault if Floyd screws up everything I delegate
If truth be known, he wants my job. He’s looking to move upstairs
Well, it’s a dog eat dog world out there
And it seems like I’m wearing Milkbone Underwear
I feel like a mailman sloshin’ through the rain
Instead of water pourin’ down, it’s rainin’ Gravy Train
I’m just a big ol’ friendly pup and there’s pit bulls everywhere
Well, it’s a dog eat dog world out there
And it seems like I’m wearin’ Milkbone Underwear
Linda Lu said she wanted me home by six.. the boss said overtime
I missed the fourth anniversary of our third date and when I rolled in at nine
Linda Lu had my steak in Fido’s dish… she was pointin’ at his pillow downstairs
Well, it’s a dog eat dog world out there
And it seems like I’m wearin’ Milkbone Underwear
Chorus
Tag… last two lines
15. Forever Ride 5:46
(Wendy Waldman, Bill Miller, Brad Parker) (Big Kitty Music/ Bro N Sis Music/ Crazy Cloud Music)
I have loved this song forever… Brad tells a story of how his brother was going through some difficulties and this song is a reflection of that. I can never hear it or sing it without thinking of Mary and of how much I miss her.
Out beyond the broken billboards
And the signs along the road
There's a trail your heart must follow
No one but you will ever know
Where the wind and the coyotes
Sing a song you've never heard
In a voice that's long forgotten
You'll remember every word
In a world that's always changing
Find the things that stay the same
Like the moon and stars that guide you
Out across the sweeping plains
Keep your eye on the horizon
When you cross that great divide
All you have is what's inside you
When you take that lonesome ride
Forever ride, forever ride
Forever ride, forever ride
Go to sleep now little brother
Dream of red tails in the west
I know until you find your way there
Your crazy soul will never rest
We'll chase the horses in the springtime
When the desert flowers bloom
You may never hear my footsteps
But I will always be with you
In a world that's always changing
Find the things that stay the same
Like the moon and stars that guide you
Out across the sweeping plains
Keep your eye on the horizon
When you cross that great divide
All you have is what's inside you
And may you forever ride
Forever ride, forever ride
Forever ride, forever ride
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