Lost my heart in a game of cards,
fashioned a replacement from bottle shards,
stamped down my boots to get 'em on,
hitched a ride in the first red dawn

I got blisters on my fingers from counting out
the bills to bribe my witnesses,
got a headache from the whisky and the weather,
tornado tuggin' down my red dress.

Oh saviour, won't you send me a sign?
Can't tell anymore what all is mine.
Forgotten how to fathom fortune's design,
can't taste the difference between blood and wine.

Said that old dirty highway's too straight for me,
I'd rather take the long way around.
Got my clothes from the back of a pickup,
got my soul from the lost and found,

And I'll come round tappin' on your doorframe,
singin songs for a bit of pocket change,
and if you don't like what you're hearing,
detune me till I'm outta range

I been lookin' all my life for a good man,
sweet as maple sugar and rye,
but everyone I ever got close to,
tipped his hat, sparked his heels and said goodbye.

And I left you standing on a dark street
the night you thought you'd set me free,
well it's all that I can do not to tell you
I'd pay for your pale hands on me.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

Jack Salt walking down the barbwire road,
said, darlin' I can help you carry that load,
Lover won't you come home to me,
meet me under the chokecherry tree

Take you to my house, pitch cedar and pine,
porch all covered with heartattack vine,
And I'll make you up a supper, fried eels in a pan,
little oleander in your silver billy can

Said, lover won't you come home to me,
meet me under the chokecherry tree
And I'll make you up a pallet at the foot of my bed,
lest you need to rest your beautiful head

And in the grey morning no stars will shine
and the dawn will cleave your body from mine
And I'll wrap you up in linen, put the talents on your eyes,
sit and wait for the pale sun to rise

Say I'll wait for you Jack, till you forgive me,
meet me under the chokecherry tree,
I'll wait for you Jack till my soul is free,
meet me under the chokecherry tree.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

Ten years waitin' in a dustbowl town
For my gambler's luck to come around
Said to my demons, come follow me down,
Ten Gallon Mile put my bones in the ground

Saw you out walkin' in the yellow sunshine
Jack of Hearts stridin' your invisible line
Desert rose bloomed in this heart of mine
Cold steel thorns all silver and fine

Took you in 'cause brother, it'd been a while,
Fallin' for you would be my heart's sore trial
Said, this Capulet collapses for your rhinestone smile
Kickin' your heels down the Ten Gallon Mile

Lonesome hearts are hungry for a human love
I was hangin' on your every breath
Thought your soul fit mine like a hand in a glove
But we were severed, my love, in death

Cut you from the cross with my pearl-handled knife
Laid your hands across your chest
The sheriff's court done taken your life
The buzzards'll do the rest.

When that dark day of Judgement's finally here
I won't fly up with the angels to the cold blue air
Just come to the crossroads and I'll be there:
The girl with the ribbons in her long red hair

Ten years waitin' in a dustbowl town
For my gambler's luck to come around,
Said to my demons, come follow me down
Ten Gallon Mile put my bones in the ground.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

Two little birds on the telegraph wire
heading down south 'fore the winter comes down,
think I can fly on their pretty wings of fire
'Cross the border while the sun goes down

Got a full jug of whisky and a new pair of shoes,
got my daddy's leather jacket and my mama's smile,
got a lifetime of singing the wintergreen blues,
won't be comin back for a long long while

Don't you worry 'bout me now,
you ain't really to blame,
thought you'd burnt me into bitter ash
but I'm a phoenix rising in a yellow flame

Black road winding like a ribbon of coal
from the mountains in the pines right down to the sea
between the desert and the lonesome pole
nothing but a canopy of stars over me

Gonna take my tin cup to the town saloon
set it up beside me on the red leather bar,
make a bit of money howlin up to the moon,
leave before dawn in the first freight car

I can live driving horses on the rolling plains
or hustling up for money in the city streets,
in the California sunshine or the delta rains,
world lies paved in gold at my feet

When you see my picture hung up on the wall,
lights all around like a halo of pearl,
you'll know just as sure as summer turns to fall
it's time I came to claim the whole damn world
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Guitar & Mandolin: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

Lord, ain’t you the best thing
that I ever saw,
come down and dance a reel with me,
I’ll teach you what your feet are for.

Lord, ain’t you the best thing
that I ever saw,
come hold my hand and kiss my mouth,
I’ll teach you what your tongue is for.

Lord, ain’t you the best thing
that I ever saw,
come lay with me my darlin,
I’ll teach you what your bed is for.

Well, Lord ain’t I the best thing
that you ever had?
Come live with me and be my love,
I won’t ever make you sad.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Guitar & Bass: Jason Moffat,
Drums: Antony Giannini

Drank all the beer in your parlour,
ate all the honey in your jar,
took a hundred dollar bill from your coffee can,
drove away in your brand new car.

Don’t you send the state cars for me,
you don’t even know my name.
All I ever wanted was to be free,
no trouble, no blues, no blame.

Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row

Think a gold band gonna hold me,
think a veil gonna tie me down?
I’m married to the darkening highway,
left a trail of dust in every town.

Once saw a bird on a millblade,
high above the black tree fern,
but he flew away as soon as the wind blew,
and them arms began to turn

Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row

Now baby don’t you fret so plaintive,
don’t you know that leavin ain’t no crime?
I might not have given you my heart, but
I gave you a grand ole time

And if you stand out on your front porch,
look out of your window now and then,
you might see me on the horizon
if I’m passin through here again…
 
Well, baby, I shoulda told you
a long long time ago,
wherever I come from I always finish up
on Extrication Row
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

Down in the withering pines
down in the withering pines
I took a life that was not mine,
down in the withering pines

Lain in a pool of blood
lain in a pool of blood
just like a sinner after the flood,
lain in a pool of blood

Meltwater wash my hands
meltwater wash my hands,
Lord, strike me down here where I stand,
meltwater wash my hands

Crows in the deepening sky
crows in the deepening sky
circling above me with their black eyes
crows in the deepening sky

Jesus, what's left to save?
Jesus, what's left to save?
Bury me in an unmarked grave,
Jesus what's left to save?
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates

I'm gonna sit right down and write me a little letter,
a letter to a lover I will meet someday.
I'm gonna sit right down and write me a little letter,
figure out all the sweet things I'm gonna say.

Oh I know that someday I will meet my sweetheart,
he'll call my name and I will turn around,
and I'll fall straight into the arms of that sweetheart,
then I can will lay my burden down.

Well, tell the Fates that I will find my true love,
somewhere round the bend of the river or the road,
and tell them surely bad luck's all behind me,
and fortune good upon me shall be bestowed.

Well I've often had a life of sore misfortune,
I picked every bad apple in the cart,
but now I have true faith in my revival,
that someone good and true will win my heart.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums: Stephen Coates, Violin: Sheila Schat

My lover has gone far away,
cross the blue horizon.
Left my heart’s flag here to sway,
a wound to gather poison.
Said he’d send me somethin' back,
down the jagged range,
but I’m the Queen they dealt his Jack,
some things never change.

Bought a pitch and staked his claim,
stretched the wire round
Pray there’s more than dirt and shame
in that stony ground.
The water rushes thin and clear
back here on the plains,
pray he’ll find the colour
to repay me for my pains.

Lover, won’t you come on home
cross this dusty land?
Don’t care if all you’ve got to show
is nothin in your hand.
I miss your tender weary eyes,
your hungry travellin heart,
give all the gold in China
that we may never part.

Ain’t no colour in the mountains,
ain’t no colour in the sea,
ain’t no colour in the riverbed,
no colour for you and me.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Banjo & Guitar: Jason Moffat,
Bass: Pedro Vidal, Drums & Percussion: Stephen Coates

I burnt your letters,
I burnt your clothes,
I'd burn your bones
if they were still in my hands to hold

And I'm going boldly
with all the lies you told me
in a bag I'm gonna leave
by the side of the road.

Black dog you blame me
for your lifetime's pain,
but I am not your keeper,
and my love was not a choke chain

Don't want no comfort,
don't want no cheer,
don't want no devil
whisperin in my ear.

I'll keep my heart in my fist,
keep my axe in my hand,
if you come near me
I'll cut you down where you stand.

Black dog you blame me
for your lifetime's pain,
but I am not your keeper,
and my love was not a choke chain

Black dog you blame me
for your lifetime's pain,
but I am not your keeper,
and my love was not a choke chain
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill

Cinder path comes up to my door
grey as the town where I was born
baby I know what goodbye is for,
don’t want you comin round here no more.

Got a shack out back in the blasted pines,
little copper still make me my moonshine
when that runs dry I’ll just go on outside, get
high on the smell of the sulphur mine.

This timber house is my joy and pride,
came to me when my daddy died,
well you cheated, darlin, and you lied,
you’ll never have me for your bride…

My road swings round the Douglas firs,
I see your car comin round the curve,
well baby you got some goddamn nerve,
I am just another thing that you do not
deserve.
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Guitar: Jason Moffat, Bass: Pedro Vidal,
Drums & Percussion: Stephen Coates

Johnny Davey put on your blue suede shirt,
come to the Dairy Queen,
you're looking so fine tonight it hurts,
finest thing I ever seen

Got a job down south when winter is done,
down where it ain't too cold,
tonight we're gonna go see the rising sun,
tomorrow we will be old

If we climbed the highest mountain
and looked hard and far,
do you think we'd see the stars shining,
lonely as they are
in the windows of our homes,
the sky's dark blood against the land's bone?

Johnny I knew you man and child
back when the corn was high,
when the dog rose bloomed all lovely and wild
and the sun rode in the sky.

All the little songbirds in the trees
out on the county line,
they're singing a lament for you and me,
farewell to this northern pine

Johnny, remember the harvest dance
at the September fair?
I knew that it would be our last chance
and I wore ribbons in my hair.

You said, let's go down to the river,
winter is coming soon
and you lay me down in the heather
under the lantern moon
-
Vocals: Chantal Hill, Guitar: Jason Moffat, Cello: Sheila Schat