This song is about feeling the friction of fiction in conflict with the reality of romance.–
“Those pictures paint a glamorous disguise on the things we idolize
...but who could I love more than you?”
When tragedy strikes, priorities change. This song just tumbled out the week of the Philando Castile and Dallas Police shootings in July. It's not on my record and by all recommendations I shouldn't be releasing it right now, but our country needs healing, and this song is part of my attempt to begin that process in my own heart. I wrote, played, and recorded all words and music in my home studio in Nashville during July-August 2016. Harmony by Carl Anderson. Mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering.
What in the world is going on in my country?
Why do we have to be on different sides?
We all want the same world for our children;
we all want to live happy lives.
Looking out at the world
through such a limited point of view
such as the one you'd see
on your television news,
you'd be scared of your neighbor
and they would be scared, too
–always ready to fight anybody
who looks different than you
We've been through this before,
the world at war:
from your own front lawn to the capitol floor
You can legislate change
but our hearts stay the same.
How many lives must we lose
before we belive
that it's our lives at stake?
We've waited so long
for the world to change,
rallied around politicians
who have made it their campaign,
but who we put in The White House
don't make a difference at my house
if my neighbors and I choose
an eye for an eye over peace
Recorded in 3 days in the apartment I used to share with Sean, I took the songs left from the ashes of my band Starline Drive, and all of the instruments I could play and cut this record. With no team and no band, I played all of the parts, and did all of the packaging and design. Carefully arranged acoustic music, laid-back with a groove and a mission. I call it Appalachian Soul. When I moved to Nashville in 2011, I brought this EP. I wrote all of the songs, I played all of the parts. Now, I am preparing to release my debut full-length record, "Blame The Miles Between," but I need your help to get it ready. I'm doing a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5,000 toward the release of this record. The link is below, and I hope you will check it out and consider joining me in sharing this record.
I guess I misunderstood your invitation.
I guess I saw what I wanted to see.
I guess I was a fool to see you that way.
I guess I dream too easily.
Thought I was seeing signs in the day to day:
the Almighty trailing breadcrumbs
just to lead my thoughts to you.
Well, I need no reminders
to keep you in my dreams –
It's my daily prayer
oh, to see you there.
I'm not gonna ask you to explain a thing to me
I don't wanna hear your reasoning.
Though I would love just to hold you in my arms,
all I want you to do
Is sing something beautiful
There are just some things that are unforgettable:
a kiss that can build a dream
like an unchained melody.
I'm in a ring of fire
and I just won't let it be:
like a rolling stone, may you never be alone.
Your lips speak poetry to the air you breathe
Your voice always carries a melody.
Though I would love to know
what your lips feel like on mine,
all I want them to do
Is sing something beautiful
Roll the windows down,
I want to hear the groan of the wind
blowing through the trees.
Can you hear the sound?
April songs of summer dreams
escaping with the green.
But, if we can catch the fading color
falling from the trees
turning the leaves to brown,
we'll keep it warm between our hands
and give it time to grow,
and those January nights
won't seem so dark.
And I won't worry
I won't worry
I won't worry 'bout the change,
'cause there's no hurry,
baby don't you worry,
we can take our time;
we can take it slow.
Winter nights when the wind howls
through bare and snowy branches
and the moon lights up the frost
on the window pane,
we can follow that color of fall in love,
sowing our dreams in the wintertime:
just put your hand to mine.
Palm to palm we shape the leaves
and the roots form beneath
of our fingers intertwined
where two branches will lead
to two pairs of prayerful leaves
and the whisper in the spring,
if you listen...
by the summer says...
I won't worry
I won't worry
I won't worry 'bout the change,
'cause there's no hurry,
baby don't you worry,
we can take our time;
we can take it slow.
It came to me without warning
as dreams will often do
left me blindly here a standing
now I haven’t got a clue
what to do
without you
you were leaning on the doorframe
I was sitting on the bed
and I turned around,
afraid you would walk away
and this is what you said
it wrecked my head
I can’t forget
We should have written letters by the hour
I never meant to do you harm
but I was so, I was so, I was so naive
I couldn’t believe the thought
that you might want me, too
now I finally see
the truth of what
you said to me
There’s no song that can soothe me
no words that I can find
that can bring me peace
in the midst of a broken heart
No one could really know
the way you’ve burdened me so
there’s no use in trying
to bring it up again
These are the last words I want you to hear
barely loud enough to make it to your ear
“…am in…with…"
I spent many dark nights
with an arrow by my side
trying to draw my bow
to pierce your heart
but the harder I tried
the more elusive I would find
you were always moving
farther out of range
These are the last words I want you to hear
barely loud enough to make it to your ear
“…am in…with…"
In this battle of love
I’ve been the shot, the push, the shove
you were always retreating
I swore I wouldn’t give up hope
until I gave it all I had
penned my heart behind your walls
til I surrendered
These are the last words I want you to hear
barely loud enough to make it to your ear
“…am in…with…"
The fear of rejection can keep you from living. The dangers of idealism can keep you from beginning. There is such a vast distance between each of us that can only be closed by overcoming the difficulties within and outside of ourselves. What could compel us to do what is difficult? Only love can do that. "Blame The Miles Between" is a journal of my struggle to love set to the sounds of soulful rock 'n roll. A struggle to overcome rejection and dangerous idealism. A journey to find a relationship where we choose to love each other day after day, year after year. To do what is difficult. It is the culmination of two years of production, five years of songwriting, over a decade of DIY music, and the fruit of life examined. Recorded in my home studio, mixed by Evan Redwine at The Wine Box, and mastered by Kim Rosen at Knack Mastering. "Blame The Miles Between" features performances by Matt Scibilia (Cory Chisel, Marc Scibilia), Adam Meisterhans (Rozwell Kid, J.P. Harris, The Demon Beat), Jesse Thompson, Abigail Dempsey, and Hannah Lusk (Forlorn Strangers), and artists Zach Vinson and Charlie Murphey (Commitment Bells). This release was funded by my generous backers on Kickstarter in March of 2016.
Who stole the light from your eyes, my child?
Where comes this sadness in your quiet hour?
I see your lashes fall, I hear your sighs.
Tell me who has made you cry.
How can I speak of the churning inside?
What tongue can tell without telling lies?
My soul is restless, my hands are on fire
since she stole the stars from my eyes.
Yes, she stole the stars from my eyes.
Does she appear to scrape the sky, my child:
the heavens gathered up like fireflies.
She is no goddess. She has no power
over you.
She's just a passing cloud in the night.
I see the truth, but I feel the sorrow.
Speak no more
until the morrow comes.
We will come through.
You get tired when you travel alone,
so you find someone who can share your load
and you hope to God that you found a companion.
Well, the time you spend together will show
if it's gonna ease or increase your load;
if the laughter outweighs the sorrow.
Where are you headed?
Where do you think you're gonna go?
Can we get there together,
and how are we supposed to know?
Is it mystical or fate,
or a decision that you make?
What makes this love the one
for the rest of your life?
If you need someone to say
or a sign to show the way
you might be traveling alone for a long, long while.
Oh, so let me ride down your road
and shoulder up underneath of your load
I've been praying to God to let me be your companion.
'Cause the time I've spent with you has shown
that I can depend on you to hold me up.
You lift me up when I'm feeling low,
and our laughter fills me up inside.
You're my cherry wine.
Don't know where I'm headed,
but I think I know which way to go.
I've made up my mind, I want you by my side.
Is it mystical or fate,
or a decision that you make?
What makes this love the one
for the rest of your life?
If you need someone to say
or a sign to show the way
you might be traveling alone for a long, long while.
So, let me ride down your road
when you get tired of traveling alone.
I spent a while
trying to cut and file
myself into something you'd want to see,
but all that ever did was make me bleed:
and calloused underneath.
Don't you do me wrong.
Don't you string my heart a long.
Won't you do, do right,
right by me.
Well, I got wise
to all those lies
that always made me feel so incomplete.
I found out just what I need:
someone who can build on what I bring.
No, she don't do me wrong.
She don't string my heart along,
no, she do, do right
right by me.
Don't you do me wrong.
Don't you string my heart a long.
Won't you do, do right,
right by me.
I have never seen the face of a word on a page,
I've never held the hand of a glowing screen.
But, I have fallen in love over and over again
with words I've read from people I never see.
"The distance," said a friend of mine, "is really what you love,
and knowing it won't work out is what you need."
That I'm afraid to face the day to day
with someone who's not far enough away
to blame the miles between.
But, I've been blinded
I've been double-crossed.
I've been hardened
by the hurt.
How far away is the nearest broken heart
that might align with the way that mine's been fractured?
I'll start with my voice and spare the written word
before my life becomes a silent film
and I the only actor.
I've been blinded
I've been double-crossed.
I've been hardened
by the hurt.
Some live high and some just try
to make it out alive
I just tried to get it right
The time you waste playing it safe
becomes a memory,
and it’s as painful as can be.
Did you make the most?
Did you make the most of it, honey?
Or did you give it up for free.
Did you make the most?
Did you make the most of it, honey?
‘Cause once it’s gone it will never be
that way again.
I’ve been looking back on me
in such a curious way.
Why did I leave so many things undone?
Many’s the chance I did not take
afraid it might be some mistake.
Now, those chances no longer come.
Did you make the most?
Did you make the most of it, honey?
Or did you give it up for free.
Did you make the most?
Did you make the most of it, honey?
‘Cause once it’s gone it will never be
that way again.
You feel it now or you feel it then,
there’s no way to go back again
and do or undo what was or wasn’t done.
"You can stay safe by staying free,"
Lord knows I tried it and come to believe
wisdom only comes on the heels of suffering.
Shades of green
hues of violet
frame the banks
of a wooden streamlet
an architects' parade
of sun-dappled shade
beneath a coat of swinging arms
Summer grass
lines the pathway
wild wheat, flowing gently
stirred by a breeze
your hand glides with ease
through an ocean of flaxen grain
Kaleidoscope
at sunset
violets
form a carpet
even tulips blush
when our two lips touch
before a crested Monet sky
Side by side
in a hammock
my right arm
beneath your neck
you close your eyes
mine open wide
beneath a canopy of stars
You had me
but you didn't want me
you just wanted to keep me
from loving anybody else
The look on your face said everything
so I said nothing at all.
There was a time you swore you'd be mine,
now we don't even talk.
And you can't lie, can't look behind.
Now you've blown your cover.
You had me
but you didn't want me
you just wanted to keep me
from loving anybody else
So, I won't
keep living with the false hope
that I'll ever see your heart show.
Half-hearted lover.
So, I'll take anybody else
I'll take anybody else
I'll take anybody else.
Half-hearted lover
The time that I wait for the silence to break
I could be halfway to Harlem,
or taking a plane to learn the name
of a girl who lives in L.A.
And I won't lie, won't look behind.
There's nothing to keep under cover.
You had me
but you didn't want me
you just wanted to keep me
from loving anybody else
So, I won't
keep living with the false hope
that I'll ever see your heart show.
Half-hearted lover.
So, I'll take anybody else
I'll take anybody else
I'll take anybody else.
Half-hearted lover
Tell me of that secret place
you carry deep inside;
when your cares are pressing hard
and you need a little peace of mind
–tell me where you hide.
Is it a refuge made of stone
on a mountain high,
or a cabin in the woods
of your heart and mind
that no one else can enter or can find.
That secret place
is where I want to go.
Lead me there, or else leave me alone.
O! Serenity.
With a look of quiet ease
resting on your face,
you take your troubles one by one,
you take them down to the riverside
and there you mill them fine.
That secret place
is where I want to go.
Lead me there, or else leave me alone.
O! Serenity.
While others drift like autumn leaves,
aimless on the breeze,
easy as a falling stone
finds the bottom of the stream
you find whatever you seek.
Sunshine and rain.
Pleasure and pain.
How can it be?
How can it be?
You caught me at a good time:
just when my dreams were coming true.
So, excuse me if I seem a little dazed
and rightly confused.
'Cause there's pain under the pleasure
and pleasure under the pain
like sunshine and rain
on a sun-cloudy day
I can't get used to the two
and I'm trying to believe what's true.
See, most of my life
I've had to struggle
just to be seen by someone like you.
But, I called your name
and you answered right away.
See, now I don't know what I'm supposed to do.
My mind's telling me it can't be true.
I know what I'm feeling
might be deceiving
still I want to believe that it's you.
But there's pain under the pleasure
and pleasure under the pain
like sunshine and rain
on a sun-cloudy day
I can't get used to the two
and I'm trying to perceive what's true.
And there's pain under the pleasure
and pleasure under the pain
like sunshine and rain
on a sun-cloudy day
it's neither good, no no
nor bad.
It's just true.
Sunshine and rain.
Pleasure and pain.
How can it be?
I left work about six o'clock
drove to the café down the street.
Jumped in line and struggled with the crowd
just trying to get a seat.
Well, the waiter took my order down
and when I cracked a joke
he didn't even smile.
So, I ate by myself
and realized after a while.
It's a cold world without you, girl.
Places I go, people I know:
they all change from red to blue.
It's a cold world without you.
So, I paid the check and put on my coat
stepped outside and it dropped fifteen degrees.
The car was cold when I got in
so, I shivered down and turned up the heat.
But, by the time that I got home, you know
that needle barely moved above "C"
So, with fingers locked and frozen
I was fumbling in the dark for my house key
when it came to me.
It's a cold world without you, girl.
Places I go, people I know:
they all change from red to blue.
It's a cold world without you.
It's your face at the end of the day;
It's your warm hand in mine
that keeps me from turning old
and turning cold
as the months and years blow by.
It's a cold world without you, girl.
Places I go, people I know:
they all change from red to blue.
It's a cold world without you.
It's a cold world without you.
It's a cold world without you.
"Aren't you gonna play a song?" I was 8 years old and standing in the middle of a third grade classroom, dressed in white with my dad's guitar slung around my neck and no idea how to play it. That year I had become obsessed with the entry for Rock and Roll in the encyclopedia program on our family computer. There were a few 20 second song samples and I made lists to figure out in what order I liked to hear them best. There were songs from Soundgarden and David Bowie, Elvis Costello and Little Richard. But my favorite, and the reason I was standing in that classroom with a fake mustache cut in two and pasted to my cheeks was Elvis Presley. I knew no greater feeling and no more transcendent freedom than when I heard the magic in the opening bars of 'Heartbreak Hotel’. So, when we had a wax museum day at school where any kid who wanted to could dress up as their hero, I knew exactly who I wanted to be.
After the release of my 2016 record 'Blame the Miles Between’, and its story of overcoming rejection and the risks of idealism, I needed a change of pace. I wanted to push past the confines of folk rock and explore the whole spectrum of American music. “You’re The One” captures the sense of freedom and release on that first warm spring day when you roll the windows down, put your hand out, and let it ride the wind. A day when you feel you’re one step closer to becoming exactly who you want to be.
