PAINKILLER

Verse 1:
When my demons come back to haunt me
I remember every hard fall
Every shoulda woulda and coulda
And I curse them one and all

Unbroke horses and bad decisions
The burnin’ sun and the frozen ground
And the northwest wind so unforgivin’
And the dark of night gets me down

Chorus:
And I take painkillers every mornin’
I take painkillers every night
I empty the bottle again and again
But I just can’t kill the pain

Verse 2:
A storm is comin’ I can feel it
In the marrow of my long bones
My sciatica turns to psychosis
And the hell of it all is the pills are gone

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
Check my blood Doc Check my heart
It’s been broken for so long
Give me somethin’ or give me nothin’
Just don’t tell me nothin’s wrong

Final Verse
Cause I got demons and they sure haunt me
When the sun sets and until dawn
My sciatica turns to psychosis
And the hell of it all my woman’s gone

Final Chorus

Verse 1
Shut the gate behind you boy and listen to the wind
Blowin’ cross the sagebrush through the wire
The sound of that old frackin’ station echoes once again
It’s the ways and means a cowboy is for hire
Out here on the Triangle summer finds its end
In the waves of cryin’ stormclouds rollin’ in
Listen to the thunder crack and see the lightnin’ bend
Check your cinch and blankets once again

Chorus:
And come of age come what may
Today we’ll ride and rope and wrangle
Today we’re playin’ hookie while we’re ridin’ for the brand
In the rain out on the Austin Triangle

Verse 2:
I know you’ve had your heart broke a time or two before
I know that you’ve got pain you try to hide
I see you give your damnedest and a measure even more
I know you wish you had more time to ride
Out here on the Triangle you can be yourself
As you let your horse and spirit intertwine
Leave your hurt and worries home a sittin’ on the shelf
Let the Bridger Valley clear your mind

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
In your eyes I see the boy I used to be
And I wonder have I given you enough
But the best of what I have to give is priceless yet it’s free
You may never be rich but you’ll be tough

Final Chorus

Verse 1
I like friendly fellas and confident ladies
Tough hearted horses, strong coffee and babies
Cow dogs that mind well and tough jobs getting done
A pardner with knack to make work fun

I like a good saddle and chicken fried steaks
A truck that never quits and a rope that never breaks
A well loaded pack string that stays head to tail
A good lead cow that always takes the right trail

Chorus:
And it don’t take much to please me
I find myself wanting for not
I’m happy, I’m healthy
I may not be wealthy
But Lord I love what I’ve got

I like silver bridles and hand-braided reins
Mane hair mecates and swivel rein chains
A good shoeing outfit and a teepee that don’t leak
Custom made boots and dry socks for my feet

I like the wild remnants that need to be roped
When plans come together the way that I hoped
A camp without rattlers and a creek without thorns
Neck rag you can wrap twice and cattle with horns

Repeat Chorus

Bridge
So deal me a straight suit with a fair chance to win
Tell me a joke that don’t offend
Give me some long shank spurs, a sharp pocketknife
And Lord let me keep this of life

Final Chorus

Verse 1
I see in your eyes that your heart is hurtin’
You’re a mountain of muscle and a trained combat veteran
You’re an infantry warrior you can kill or restrain
You’ll follow an order through hellfire and pain

Verse 2:
Your war never ended and it never will
There’s scars on your heart that never can heal
The world keeps on turnin’ the days turn to night
Your family needs you but you’re lost in the fight

Chorus:
And I’m not a soldier and I never will be
I’ve taken for granted what it costs to be free
So tell me your story then tell it again
No I’m not a soldier but I will be your friend

Verse 3:
Let me ride beside you through Kunar River Valley
And the mountainside battle where the Taliban rallied
Where the hot rush of war turns fear into fire
And the revenant’s reckoning is your only desire

Repeat Chorus:

Verse 4:
I’ll listen forever if that’s what it takes
I’ll call to the Heavens and for Heaven’s sake
Hold on and keep fightin’ for you always will be
An American Soldier and a hero to me
An American Soldier and a hero to me

Chorus:
God and my wife raisin’ good children
They look like me a little but they’re not like me at all
They’re patient and kind not restless and unsettled
For the things that they believe in they stand up straight and tall
While I resolve to try to rise again
Thankful to my wife and God for raisin’ good children

Verse 1:
Time was I couldn’t find the highway
To bring her home a paycheck from a bar
For the alcohol still streamin’ through my blood
Singin’ and pickin’ on this old beat up guitar

Lyin’ to the man inside the mirror
Cheatin’ death and chasin’ selfish dreams
Longer that I live it just gets clearer and clearer
I’m the broken link that’s somewhere in between

Verse 2:
Some years I run the straight and narrow
Some years I barely stumble on
I’m a sinner from my hair down to my marrow
The slow man on the team fumblin’ the baton

Bridge:
Blessed so far beyond what I deserve
Slow and unrefined and weak of heart
And only God knows how much I love her
And only they know how I always fall apart

Final Chorus

Verse 1:
Still hear the sound of the motor windin’ up
Still feel the pull against the grade
Still smell the rubber of a brand new truck
Still see Shoshone Falls cascade
Turn up the radio and listen to the news
Paul Harvey’s on again at noon
Check on horses make sure nothin’ comin’ loose
We’ll be in Ontario soon

Chorus:
Ridin’ to Cambridge in the Rain
Sing summer wages and Navajo Rug again
You’ll never have another ride quite like that one back then
Ridin’ to Cambridge in the Rain

Verse 2:
Now every Spring you still long to be
Where grass and wildflowers kiss the evergreens
Still hear a high rollin’ river in your dreams
Prettiest country that you still have ever seen

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
This world is movin’ too damn fast
When it rains it hardly ever rains for long
Diesel trucks do 80 on the pass
And you never know the power of a song

Final Chorus

Verse 1:
There’s hay in my church clothes
And hay down in my boots
There’s hay upon my pillow
And I think it’s growin’ roots
There’s hay in my ears and nose
And hay in my beard
And it’s been there for so long
That I don’t even think it’s weird

Chorus:
Hay is for my horses
Hay makes critters fat
Fat’s my favorite color
And no matter where I’m at
You’ll find a trail of green legumes
Spread out in disarray
I live for the day it blooms
So I can proudly say Hay!

Verse 2:
A sunny day is just ok
But rain makes grass grow tall
And every last blade of grass
Is not too much at all
I’ve spent a handsome fortune
On seed and fertilizer
‘cept when comes to bailin’ son
Well then I plumb despise it

Repeat Chorus

Verse 3:
Hey I’ve got a great idea
Let’s plow our cities under
Let’s seed the land from sea to sea
With green and purple plunder
What will we do with the urbanites
Well I think it’s fair to say
We’ll surely need them here alright
To bail and haul our hay!

Verse 1:
Once there was a Holy Man
Who promised this family brand
Grass would always stretch the land
Deep and lush and green

But cometh now the wicked world
The wrath of God has been unfurled
There’s fire in the wind-whirl
Worst drought he’s ever seen

Chorus:
So save again this righteous man
Let the Spirit guide his Houlihan
Let this sacred land be green again
This is no country for faithless men

Verse 2:
Diggin’ deeper every stock-well stream
For a trickle of the crystal cream
Will he live out his golden dream
Or will he starve here with his cattle

Thistles bloom and reach out for the sky
The parched earth echoes out a painful sigh
He will see it through or die
A steel fork welded to his saddle

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
And prophets seers and revelators
They can see eternity
The dry land rancher’s fate depends on
Will there a tomorrow be

Verse 3:
It only takes a horseshoe spark
To turn the sky and rangeland dark
An arrow through his aching heart
Pray the Lord it falls on dust

This is no country for faithless men
Will the cattle prices rise again
Lord will it ever rain again
This is no country for faithless men
This is no country for faithless men

Coming Soon

Verse 1:
On a whirlwind run you’re a son of a gun
I never thought I’d regret the day I taught you to ride
You’re on your way to the top I’d like to tell you to stop
It wouldn’t do any good I know you’ve already tried

Your little boy’s at the end of the drive sayin’ Daddy can you take me this time
Hold him close wipe the tears from his eyes ain’t it just like a memory of mine

Chorus:
But in the back of my mind every time I watch you drive away
I keep it buried inside along with everything else I’ve been wantin’ to say
You’ve broken fifty good bones and I know you’re not a young as you feel
So what happens next time if you get too hurt to heal

Verse 2:
She’s a rodeo wife she’s in it for life
She’d never say she regrets the day she told you I do
You ride the best that you can they turn right into your hand
You still get lucky sometimes I know you live right too

Your little boy’s at the end of the drive when you finally make it home again
Hold him close wipe the hair from his eyes I remember how long it’s been

Repeat Chorus:

Bridge:
Like a war plan hope for the best but plan for the absolute worst
If you dreams get shattered son by a wheelchair or a hearse

Final Chorus

Verse 1:
They’d been drinkin’ all night they’d been drinkin’ all day when they tied up tight
And just drove away
No one could believe she would ever survive
And she still wears the scars from her hooves to her heart and she still shies from cars when she hears them start
But she’s still alive

Verse 2:
He was sure he would die when he first heard the blast of a roadside bomb it all happened so fast no one could believe he would ever survive
And now he still wears the scars from his head to his heart and he still fights a war every night in the dark
But he’s still alive

Chorus:
And they’re two of a kind and they’re out of their minds and they’re learnin to trust every time they hook up And they’re fallin’ apart now they’re healin’ their hearts and they’re happy to find each other
Two of a kind

Verse 3:
It’d been seven months since he left his house he justified more than once takin’ himself out he didn’t know how he would ever survive
But when he looked in her eyes and saw the long scars there was somethin’ inside that made him reach through the dark
And they’re both still alive

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
Call it Equine therapy they take care of each others needs
Call it true comradery they’re settin’ each other free

Final Chorus

Verse 1:
I put my Dad against a wall
In a fit of rage
He came up swingin’
A whole lot younger than his age
And I learned humility the hard way

I snubbed him to a post
Cinched my saddle on
When they turned us loose
I could not stay on
I learned humility the hard way

Chorus:
God will have a humble son
The easy way the hard way either one
Whether in the life or when your journey’s done
God will have a humble son

Verse 2:
Couldn’t take her bitchin’
At me any longer
I blocked her in the kitchen
Knew I was stronger
And I learned regret the hard way

Our first born watched me
And in a fit of rage
He came up swingin’
A whole lot bigger than his age
I learned humility the hard way

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
I hold this bible in my hand
Hopin’ one day I will learn
When to kneel and when to stand
When another cheek to turn

Final Verse:
I work ‘em slow now
And from the ground
Firm fundamentals
Steady and sound
I teach partnership the right way

But I’m short of friends now
Mostly alone
I spend some long hard nights
All on my own
I’ve learned humility the hard way

Final Chorus

Chorus:
Give me two shots of Pendleton whiskey,
Load up my good saddlehorse
Trailer us up Franklin canyon
Point his old head to the north
Then slap him hard on the backside
Son don’t you dare say goodbye
One last ride is a fine way to die

Verse 1:
I’ve been a bronc rider; been a streetfighter
I’ve been a business man
I’ve been a lover played for the cover
Played every card in my hand
A man’s got a right to his cowboy pride
To cling to his own dignity
Son you should know at the end of the road
Here’s what I want done with me

Verse 2:
I’ve seen my Grandaddy cry like a baby
Beggin’ my Daddy and me
To take him back home before he goes crazy
In a rest home on some city street
And some of my heroes who made double zeroes
Took their last breath in a bed
Son I’m a countin on you that a mountain
Is where I will fall over dead

Repeat Chorus

Bridge:
It might be the dead of the winter
I pray it’s the middle of fall
Call it my last wild bender
Then call nobody at all

Verse 3:
I don’t want nobody to
I don’t want nobody to look down on me
Layin in some wooden box
I’ll lay down easy where no one will see me
On sweetgrass or gray granite rocks
The wind o’er my bones rain on my face
One the last empty gaze at my sky
One last ride is a fine way to die

Angel fly away all your cares are gone
Go and find your wings now we will carry on
I’ll see you when I close my eyes and think of you each day
Angel fly away

Angel fly away
Chariots from Heaven have come for you today
Its your turn to be set free from all your worldly pain
Angel fly away

Many times I heard you say just how much you loved me
But the man you think I am is just the one someday I’ll be
Now I hope I love you too was what I had to say
As you flyin’ away

Angel fly away
Though there’s a precious angel here wantin’ you to stay
But it’s your time to see the Lord he’s sent for you today
Angel fly away

Angel its been sweet livin’ next to you
Now I think of all things that I didn’t do
But you walked in the light and I live in the gray
Angel fly away

Angel fly away
Friends like you just don’t come along every day
And I pray that I love you was what you heard me say
As you flew away
Angel fly away