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April, Texas

by Wartime Blues

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1.
The Island 03:44
Intro Verse 1 The Island lay before us on a calm and sulfurous sea mineral white and cobalt blue its salt sunburned my skin Verse 2 The strength I could muster to hold your hand as the gulf stream pulled us in to the mackerel fish and the oil rig lights that called the gulf their home Chorus A An ode to ignoring my plans Francis dying in the heat North Padre girls on the beach Instrumental (same as Intro) Verse 3 The rain it came in whispers then shouts across the beach then mumbled in the wind and ended in the light Bridge A Of a faint and a poem and a red, bloodied sun Chorus A Instrumental (same as verse) Bridge B
2.
Verse 1 I know the glow of a Christmas spent atop red rock Wake to the same breath, the hot breath of your girl in black top Verse 2 With you I heard of a dead dog and giggled a slow friend Stretched out a soldier arm, you were curled under blue screen You knew it best So hard and wrong Verse 3 I want this, I want this, I want this, I burn in my skin We drove the six hour slog back to valleys in mountains I know the cool of your void Verse 4 Slow this wheel so as to feel the wind pass through her hair
3.
Amarillo #2 04:49
Verse 1 Amarillo mid-afternoon the sky’s filled with the memory of a girl twirling in a J.C. Penney’s dress at the tri-state rodeo You and I, Jim, sipping pounders of Coors Light taking turns in the best of that girl’s light as the sound of cicadas rises above us Bridge A Friends, they went off to college Amarillo And we found work out on the Llano Estacado Verse 2 Autumn felt like a distant moon winter blanched out red as the afternoon work pulling yards of barbed wire across a potter’s field But the pay was decent well enough to afford an Omnibus and five months in Guadalajara chasing the phantoms of our youth Bridge B Through an arroyo blacked out with rain a wet flask of mescal in your pocket pockets of bone-blue moon in the rain I don’t want to go through life on my own Instrumental Verse 3 Nowadays I drift from coast to coast Great Plain to staked plain chasing the oil plays as a rigger for a company out of Dallas Two weeks on then two weeks off two weeks spent chasing a friend, Amarillo you coiled and carried him away Coda Amarillo, you coiled and carried him away
4.
Verse 1 Choke the bedroom this star is dying out Settle the lightning and the thunderous sound Aim for a motel out on the 71 The rain comes in torrents the rain comes in torrents the rain comes in torrents Chorus A In Fredericksburg on Saturdays In Fredericksburg on Saturdays Verse 2 I could sense it when you pulled up the driveway I’d never touch you again never touch you again When you read to me in the afternoon I’d never touch you again never touch you again Chorus B In Fredericksburg on Saturdays In Fredericksburg on Saturdays Fredericksburg on Saturdays Verse 3 Now I wet these walls with a fresh layer of paint Booming bass on the microphone This is how I learn to leave I’m not gonna run this time not gonna run this time But I just wanna leave this place, I wanna leave this place Not gonna run this time, not gonna run this time I just wanna leave this place, I wanna leave this place Chorus B In Fredericksburg on Saturdays In Fredericksburg on Saturdays Fredericksburg on Saturdays
5.
Build a Sun 03:42
Verse 1 I stood at the precipice crowing So proud my sun outspoken I stood above the cliffs of Dover I stood Stumbled broke an arm Verse 2 I awoke covered in white wash The same I had used in bad times If I start now I can fix this, if I start now Before the morning bell Builds another sun Chorus A Whoa – a- a – oh Build a Sun Bridge Elemental, metamorphic, hieroglyphic, pyroclastic sun! Sentimental, broken-hearted, iron-welded, scatterbrained black sun! Chorus B Whoa – a- a- oh Build a Sun Instrumental Verse 3 Made a camp down there in the ravine Using hatchets then a good saw I worked until I, I worked Until the canted light began to fire out
6.
Verse 1 There’s a West Texas River and a fire on its banks there’s a boy without a country disappeared into the smoke Will hell I run across a field with a hammer in my hand Verse 2 There’s a West Texas River and a country on its banks there’s a ghost chased a fire disappeared into the smoke The hell I got what I asked for a sickled shield and a black lung a tired colt and arrested and scarred Verse 3 There’s a West Texas River and a starling on its banks there’s a joy to a riotous song for a town that lost control for a time in my life when I lost it all
7.
Poor Sights 02:45
Verse 1 For such a good man you have a black eyed wonder cool in the blue dusk then carry me on we were poor sights some April in Texas our colt died along a river so I settled down Verse 2 Unfulfilled I bought me an outline of a ranch house here in the valley and she, she is a good wife and I, I am a good man Bridge And I walked the edge of a knife with you in a hotel room *pause* Verse 3 I’m a soft man but I’m reckless We had our last light fight, April in Texas Shotgun, shotgun morning Shotgun, shotgun
8.
Nebraska 05:35
Verse 1 Don’t worry Charlie, the lamp light steals the stars Don’t worry darling, the starlight, it’s still there Verse 2 The old girl from Nebraska, her crows feet, I love her hands Truck stop after midnight we’ll shiver down a spine
9.
Drying Out 04:15
Verse 1 Jerm, I think I’m drying out She’s in my morning dreams but I’m drying out Then the desert opens its ugly mouth and swallows me like a river Verse 2 There on the naked plains I was a ghost of love Rolling in the hay with a ghost of love but I threw away the rearview mirror before it swallowed me like a river Bridge And I know in the coming months I’ll be feeling good Feeling fine... Verse 3 Jerm, I think I’m drying out She’s in my morning dreams but I’m drying out No desert will open its ugly mouth and swallow me like a river
10.

about

We tried to capture the ways geography and time change love.

Recorded in Big Arm, Montana and the Roxy Theatre, Missoula, Montana, in June of 2014.

credits

released June 2, 2015

Travis Yost::recording engineer
Layne McKay::mixing engineer
Timothy Stollenwerk::mastering engineer
David Lusk::art
Casey Albert + Kickstarter backers::executive production

Music by Nate Vernon, Ben Prez, Sam Luikens, Lisena Brown, Tyler Knapp, Martin McCain, Bethany Joyce, Jesse Netzloff, and Carly Fetzer

Special thanks to Caitlin, Kier, Luke, and Connie

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about

Wartime Blues Missoula, montana

An orchestral folk outfit based in the mountains of Montana.

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brian@bantermm.com

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