2022 BIGDUMBHICK - A LITTLE BIT WEIRD
This is my 4th CD release. I have discovered that I occupy a unique position in the entertainment industry in that all three of my previous releases have recouped and are now on their 2nd or 3rd printing.
When asked to try and describe this new record, I tell people to imagine Imagine the Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street mixed with NWA's Straight Out of Compton and a dash of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon thrown in for flavor.
- This record sounds nothing like that.
This is mostly an acoustic record, I come from a Bluegrass/Acoustic music background after all. A few tracks feature a rhythm section, while a couple are just me and my guitar. There is some banjo on one track and an accordion on another. There is some pedal steel, and just enough electric guitar to add flavor and emphasis, but not enough to develop a bad cocaine habit.
I wrote all of the songs on this record. There are songs about fat old bears, cheap hotels, hardware stores, hitch-hikers, heathens, heartbreak, living, laughing, loving, cheating, leaving, dying, and a 1972 Ford Econoline with a three-speed manual transmission. This is a more grown up release that the others. There are the humorous songs which people have come to expect from me - "Every Bone in Her Body", and "Ain't Nobody In Here Listening to Me (aka The Brewery Song)" There are songs filled with metaphor and allegory "Unicycle", There are philosophical songs - "I Don't Know Where I'm Going" and there are a number of deeply personal songs - "I Ain't Afraid of Dying", "Help me Mama, I Can't Breather", "First Cup of Coffee", and 'Choices", songs which I sometimes struggle with performing live because of the strong emotions they bring up.
I've had a number of people who don't owe me money listen to this record and they have all told me that it is a good record and to their surprise, that they really enjoyed it. If nobody else releases a record in 2022, I believe that I might stand a good chance of making some top ten lists.
Upon repeated listening, I have discovered there are some timing issues throughout this record. If you are listening on YouTube and you turn the playback speed up to 1.25, it sounds a lot better.
1. Unicycle
Last night I dreamed of the circus
With the jugglers, acrobats, and the freaks
The lions, the tigers, and zebras
The monkeys, the elephants and me
I’m a bear riding a unicycle
Wobbling around the ring
I’m old and I’m fat,
I wear a dumb little hat
Just trying to do my thing
I was a Kodiak in Alaska
Mighty, and fearsome, and big
But it got too cold, and I got too old
So I came South and picked up this gig
I’m a bear riding a unicycle
I’m Wobbling around the ring
I’m old and I’m fat,
I wear a dumb little hat
Just trying to do my thing
See that flying trapeze
that looks like a whole lot of fun
I aint scared of heights, so I tried it one night
but a bear ain't got no thumbs
I’m a bear riding a unicycle
I’m Wobbling around the ring
I’m old and I’m fat,
I wear a dumb little hat
Just trying to do my thing
See the man over there with the top hat
Somehow he thinks he is my boss
he better take care, because I'm still a bear
I might snap and slap his head clean off
I’m a bear riding a unicycle
I’m Wobbling around the ring
I’m old and I’m fat,
I wear a dumb little hat
Just trying to do my thing
Hear the calliope playing
don't it make you want to stand up and dance
throw your paws in the air, shake your derriere
and a bear don't have to wear pants
I’m a bear riding a unicycle
I’m Wobbling around the ring
I’m old and I’m fat,
I wear a dumb little hat
Just trying to do my thing
I'm a bear riding a unicycle
wobbling around the ring
I'm here to get paid, and maybe get laid
I’m just trying to do my thing
I’m just trying to do my thing
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Byerly - Resophonic Guitar
Tom Troyer - "Calliope" Keyboards
Song Notes:
I wrote this song about my day job, actually every job I have ever had since the age of 11. It is a whimsical look at employment in ones Golden years.
The basic idea for this song came from an accident that took place 10 years or more ago. A friend of mine had lost his license due to a DUI and was riding a scooter, which we refer to as Liquor Bikes here in North Carolina. I rode my cousin’s dirt bike some when I was young and I didn’t die. I figured that should qualify me to ride this thing, so I asked him to let me take it for a spin. As I was riding away, He told some of the people there “Nothing good is going to come of this. He looks like one of those big-ass circus bears trying to ride a tiny, tiny little bicycle. He’s gonna kill hisself.“
I tried. I men, I did the best that I could. A few minutes later I was face down in the middle of the road. I had wrecked Nick’s liqour bike, broken my arm, and given myself a concussion. But I got song out of it. It might have taken 10 years, but I got a song.
Most songs are created this way. One little piece here, a little piece there, another piece from somewhere else, and I just have to figure out how to put them all together.
2. Checkout Time
Where’s my wallet, where’s my keys?
Where’s that bottle of relief
Grab my coat and my guitar
Run downstairs to the car
the clock it says 10:57
Check-Out Time’s at 11
I’m staying at the Motel 8
There’s an extra charge if you check out late
No Kids, No Pool, No Ice, No Pets
Just a little room filled with regrets
Here’s your key, Room 207
Check-out time’s at 11
I played a club just up the street
I had them people on their feet
The party moved down to my room
Daylight came way too soon
I got to bed at half past 7
Check-out time’s at 11
There’s an angel laying next to me
The sweetest thing I’ve ever seen
Here’s the cab to take you back to Heaven
Check-out time’s at 11
Where’s my boots, where’s my teeth?
Where’s that bottle of Alleve?
Grab my hat and my guitar
Run downstairs now to the car.
the time is now 10:57
Checkout-time’s at 11
the time is now 10:57
Checkout-time’s at 11
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Byerly - Electric Guitar
Song Notes:
Life on the road for a Traveling Musician.
My wife and I had driven to Richmond VA to look at a used car and to visit with my old friend Wes Freed. We had dinner together and on the way back home it started snowing, it was getting late, so my wife wanted us to stop somewhere and get a hotel room. I tend to stay in much nicer hotel rooms when she is traveling with me. I eat better too. The next morning, I’m stumbling around trying to gather up my stuff and she asks me:
“Jeff, What time is it?”
“It’s 10:30, baby.”
“When is Check-Out time?”
“Checkout time is at 11.”
“Okay”
just a few minutes later
“Honey, What time is it?”
“it’s 10:40, baby”
“What time is Checkout time?”
“Checkout time is at 11.”
Then again, just a few minutes later
“Honey, What time is it?”
“It’s 10:47”
“When is checkout time again?”
This song was finished by 11.
Song Notes:
This is an older song of mine, a song about moving on, a song that is filled with out of date cultural references such as: “Three-on-the-Tree”, “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee”, “High Ho Silver” and “always wear clean underwear in case you get into a wreck”,
I was trying to come up with an idea for a song and I started writing down every cliche, popular phrase, and cultural reference I could think of. The thing that I didn’t think about at the time is that I am old, and all of my cultural references are w-a-y out of date.
Young people are totally unfamiliar with these phrases, especially “Three on the Tree”. I was actually asked “What’s that about? Three in a tree? Is this song about birds, or fruit or something?”
No, it’s about a manual transmission. Most members of the audiences where I play will know what I am talking about because they too are OLD as shit. But most folks under the age of 50 have never driven a manual transmission much less a 3-speed column shift one ,which is known as a Three-on-the tree.
Trivia Time- The last year a 3-on-the-tree was available on a new production automobile in America was 1979, the year I graduated High School. Now get the hell off my lawn.
BTW I learned to drive a manual transmission in Friday afternoon Nashville traffic. When I bought a new Mercury Bobcat with a stick. Shift or die son, shift or die.
3. First Cup of Coffee
As I sit here drinking my first cup of coffee
just trying to jumpstart my day
So I can go do the things I dont want to
Just so I can bring home some pay
I love my wife and I love my children
I wish I knew just how to say
The words that would tell them how much I need them
Talking about those thing well it just ain't my way
When I was a kid we never talked about feelings
Feelings didn’t matter they just got in the way
You don't have to like it, you just have to do it
That's one of the things that the Old Folks would say
Now I'm pushing sixty but I feel like a kid
still trying to find my way
My old man is gone but I wish I could ask him
If he ever felt the same way back in his day
You don't have to like it, you just have to do it
That's one of the things that my old man would say
As I linger over this cold cup of Coffee
knowing I must leave pretty soon
So I can do those things that I dont want to
And be the Adult in the room,
I don't have to like it, you just have to do it
I wish the Old Man was with me here today
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Song Notes:
This song is about the sudden realization that you are no longer a kid, but a 60 year old grown ass man, with responsibilities. It’s also reflection on the hole left by the passing of your father no matter how long ago that was.
I attended a songwriting workshop with Joe Newberry in Greensboro, NC a couple of years ago. One of the things we discussed was “Where do songs come from?”
I don’t know. I struggle with that. Once I can figure out WHAT to write about, the rest is easy.
He gave us an exercise where he had us write a page about something. Anything actually. It didn’t matter what it was about. Just write one page.
Then we went through each page and we pulled out phrases that stood out. Those phrases were written on sticky notes and attached to the dry erase board. “My First Cup Of Coffee”, “Jump start my day”, ”You Don’t Have to Like It”,”I Love my wife and my children”, “The adult in the room”. I looked at the board and could already see the song was there, I just needed to rearrange a few things.
4. 1968 Lebanon Tennessee
I'm seven years old, and we live in town,
on Pennsylvania Avenue
My Mom and Dad, my brothers and me,
I've even got my own bedroom
Summers finally here and we're done with school,
I just finished the 2nd grade
The weathers so nice that you don't need shoes,
I'm gonna play in the sun all day
Saturday Morning after cartoons,
we're headed to the Horn Springs pool
when I get in that water I ain't coming out,
I'm gonna stay until my lips turn blue
We’ll might stop at the Snow White Drive-in,
for a corndog and some Ice Cream
see who can eat theirs the fastest
and laugh when get brain freeze
we’re just tow-head kids in cut-off jeans
running wide open with skint up knees
I know what heaven means to me
1968 Lebanon Tennessee
I'm gonna spend a week with Grandma,
I'm gonna stay out on the farm
catch a bunch of fish with a cane pole,
play out in the barn
when starts to get dark I'm gonna run thru the field,
catch a jar full of lightning bugs
then eat some chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream
and get some of Grandmas hugs
Pap says it smells like rain
as he looks off into the sky
were all shelling peas on the front porch,
just watching the cars go by
later that night under a tin roof,
Listening too the rain
singing me to sleep like a lullaby
with help from the Nashville train
we’re just tow-head kids in cut-off jeans
running wide open with skint up knees
I know what heaven means to me
1968 Lebanon Tennessee
Now its 2021 and times flying past
and I’m starting to feel old
Pap and Grandma have both passed on
and the farm has long been sold
I live out of state with a house and a mortgage
and a stack of credit card bills
anxiety, depression, arthritis,
and too damned many pills
I’m at a funeral for an old friend,
soon its gonna be me
But the Heaven the Preacher keeps talking about
that just don't interest me
when my time is up and I get my reward,
I know where I wanna be
I wanna go back to seven years old
and Lebanon Tennessee
We're all laying on the floor,
my brothers Tom, Tim and me
We're watching the ole Lone Ranger
on a black and white tv
three little wildass heathens,
just as mean as we could be
Fighting the world and each other,
back in Lebanon Tennessee
we’re just tow-head kids in cut-off jeans
running wide open with skint up knees
I know what heaven means to me
1968 Lebanon Tennessee
I know what heaven means to me
1968 Lebanon Tennessee
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Song Notes:
A nostalgic look at the carefree innocence of childhood and a desire to return to those simpler days.
I grew up in Lebanon TN, a small farming town about 30 years east of Nashville. Like most people that I know, I have some lingering childhood drama issues. I was raised in a dysfunctional family by parents who were raised in a dysfunctional family, who were also raised by parents in a dysfunctional family, who were...you get it.
I sincerely love my brothers, but we aren’t really tight. One has passed on and the other one and I have hard time being in the same room together without one of us wanting to beat the other’s ass. But I still love the little shithead. After all, He’s my brother.
One day several friends and myself were sitting around talking about bicycles. I was reminded of this sweet metallic green 5 speed Schwinn Stingray that came with a T-Handle shifter, a banana seat, a sissy bar, and a wide slick back tire. I had gotten for my birthday. I was absolutely the coolest kid on Pennsylvania Ave. Hell, I was the coolest kid on planet earth. How could you not be with a bike like that?
This was originally supposed to be a song about that bicycle, instead it became a nostalgic look at my childhood.
Sometimes songs have different ideas about what they are than you do.
5. Every Bone in Her Body
My woman’s been running around on me
and she thinks that I dont know
But I seen her last night with my best friend
at the dirty picture show
I guess I ought to hate her,
but she's the mother of my kids
I love everyone in her body except for his
Every bone in her body except for his
My woman’s been running around on me,
at night with my best friend
I cant believe they’ve gone
and done done me like they did
I love every bone in her body except for his
My best friends married to her sister,
and little sister likes to screw
And the things that they've been doing,
well we've been doing to
But you know it broke my heart
When they done me like they did
I love every bone in her body except for his
I love every bone in her body except for his
My woman’s been running around on me
at night with my best friend
Yes I got a bone to pick with them,
I didnt mean it quite like this
I love every bone in her body except for his
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Song Notes:
The gist of the song is this. There is this guy who is best friends with his brother in law, the husband of his wife’s sister. His wife is having an affair with that best friend and they don’t know that he knows. It has broken his heart. Meanwhile, he is having an affair with the sister, his wife’s younger sister, the one who is the wife of that best friend and he doesn’t seem to have a problem with that, he can only see how they’ve done him wrong, not how he is doing them wrong as well.
I can’t believe that I have to explain this to you.
I once overheard someone say “I love every bone in her body” and this little voice in my head spoke up and added “except for his". Every time I heard that phrase, that voice would always append it with “except for his”. So I had to write it down.
It became a song.
6. Three on the Tree
Float Like a butterfly, sting like a bee,
The woman I love stands 5 foot 3
She works downtown at the hardware store
She about beat me half to death with a 2 x 4
One for the money, two for the show
three to get ready I got places to go
I gotta keep moving while I still can
I got three on the tree and I’m a traveling man
Crow black chicken crow for days
If the chicken ain’t looking then the rooster’s gonna play
but it’s early to bed and it’s early to rise
or the roosters gonna find hisself chicken fried
One for the money, two for the show
I’m off to see the wizard down the yellow brick road
Dodging them monkeys the beast that I can
I got three on the tree and I’m a traveling man
Jesus loves me this I know
He hangs out back behind the liquor store
Rolling them dice, seven come eleven
He said you got to let it ride if you want to get to heaven
One for the money, two for the show
Eat at your table, Sleep on your floor
Melt in your mouth, not in your hand
I got three on the tree and I’m a traveling man
Magically delicious some assembly required
no lifeguard on duty, keep away from a fire
keep your eyes on the road, handle with care
Look both ways, wear clean underwear
One for the money, two for the show
Hi Ho Silver where did Tonto go?
Rolling down the road with a brand new plan
He’s got three on the tree and he’s a traveling man
One for the money, two for the show
three to get ready I got places to go
I gotta keep moving while I still can
I got three on the tree and I’m a traveling man
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Byerly - Electric Guitar
This is an older song of mine, a song about moving on, that is filled with out of date cultural references: Three-on-the-Tree”, “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting like a Bee”, “High Ho Silver” and “always wear clean underwear in case you get into a wreck”,
I was trying to come up with an idea for a song and I started writing down every cliche, popular phrase, and cultural reference I could think of.
The thing that I didn’t think about at the time is that I am old and all of my cultural references are w-a-y out of date.
Young people are totally unfamiliar with these phrases, especially “Three on the Tree”.
What’s he talking about, three in a tree? Is this song about birds or fruit or something?
No, it’s about a manual transmission. Most members of the audiences I play will know what I am talkingabout beecause the too are OLD. But most folks under the age of 50 have never driven a manual transmission much less a 3-speed column shift one ,which is known as a Three-on-the tree.
Trivia Time- The last year a 3-on-the-tree was available on a new production automobile was 1979, the year I graduated High School.
I learned to drive a manual transmisson in Friday afternoon Nashville traffic. Shift or die son, shift or die.
7. A Little Bit Weird
I know a guy, he’s a little bit weird,
Got him a goldfish that lives in his beard,
Along with a hamster that quotes Shakespeare,
He's not a bad guy, He’s just kinda weird
I got a friend he’s a little bit strange,
He lives with a monkey who’s criminally insane
They ride on a buffalo singing Home on the Range,
He's not a bad guy, He's just kind of strange
He isn’t dangerous, he just likes to pretend,
He could be Elvis or the King of Siam,
Fighting off monsters saving Princess Diane,
He might be different, but he’s still my friend
He's not a bad guy , but he’s kind of odd,
picking up roadkill, that is his job
He’s got a flat puppy, he calls him Bob,
He's not a bad guy, He's just kind of odd
He's not a bad guy, he’s just a little bizarre,
He likes to take a shower out in his car
He keeps all his troubles sealed up in a jar,
He's not a bad guy, he’s just a little bizarre
He isn’t dangerous, he just likes to pretend,
He could be Elvis or the King of Siam,
Flying in a Spaceship with Princess Diane,
He might be different, but he’s still my friend
Yes he’s a little bit different, but he’s still my friend,
And we get together, whenever we can
We'll laugh and we’ll cut up and eat space worms again,
Just Me, Him, and Elvis, and the King of Siam
Just Me, Him, and Elvis, and Princess Diane
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Jack Gorham - Accordian
Song Notes:
This is the first children's song I ever wrote that didn’t contain any profanity.
It’s a song that celebrates being different.
There are two different stories behind this song
Story number one:
I played a songwriter in the round at this tiny coffee shop. There was supposed to be three of us playing but one guy still hadn’t arrived when the gig started. When he did get there, he started dragging in all of this PA equipment. a truckload of gear. A mic stand, a big fancy microphone, a couple of speakers, etc. Now this coffee shop was about the size of your average kids bedroom. You would have to go outside to change keys. We told him he didn’t need a PA, in fact there wasn't room for a PA. He told us he wasn’t planning on plugging it in, but he felt naked without it and needed it in order to be able to play.
Okay. That’s weird, but you do what you got to do.
Then during the gig, he would play his song and then just as soon as he finished his song, while the next guy was starting to play his, he would get up, walk in front of everybody, go outside and smoke a cigarette until it was his turn again..
On the way home my wife and I were talking about the gig. “What did you think about the show?"
"I thought it went well"
"What about THAT guy?”
“I thought he had some good songs. He seemed like an alright guy. Kind of strange though. Really strange actually. I don’t think he’s dangerous or anything, he’s just a little bit weird.”
Story number two.
I had a friend named Mac who had spent time in Leavenworth as a guest of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Apparently he got caught breaking into pharmacies. I asked him why pharmacies? “Because that’s where they keep the drugs at, dumbass” It seems that as a young man, he had a little drug problem, and being the enterprising sort of guy he was, he had decided to cut out the middleman. Apparently the Feds weren’t real happy about this and they locked him up for awhile. Mac did his time, got out, and eventually got clean, and stayed clean. He turned his life around, and worked to help others get clean and turn their lives around as well.
Before he retired, he worked for a small town in Western North Carolina. He claimed that he had found the perfect job. “I ride around all day in an air-conditioned pick-up truck, drinking coffee, listening to the radio. Every once in a while I have to stop the truck, get out, and shovel a flat dog off the road, and then I get back in my truck, drive around, drink some more coffee, and listen to the radio some more. I'm getting paid for this AND I'm getting government benefits for doing it. You just can’t beat a job like that”
8. I Don’t Know Where I’m Going
I was headed down the highway, when I passed by this old man
He was walking down the shoulder with a guitar his hand
I circled back around and I told him hop on in
If you'll tell me where your headed to, I'll help you if I can
He said I don't know where I'm going, but I'll tell you where I've been
and one thing that Ive found out is you can't go back again
so I'm headed down this highway, gonna find out where it ends
Maybe sing some sad old songs and make some brand new friends
We stopped off at a roadhouse down near the interstate
I bought us both some dinner, we sat and talked there while we ate
He told me of his life and his years upon the road
the people that he met and the stories that they told
He said I once knew a woman with hair of flaming red
she picked me up and fed me, then she took me to her bed
she told me of her husband who’d been now three years dead
I held her as she cried, about the things she wished she'd said
He said you I don't own nothing but my clothes and this guitar
But a man who ain't got nothing is freer than a man who has it all
I always seem to come up with enough to get me by
there's more to life than chasing that dollar til you doe
I want to thank you for the kindness that you've shown to this old man
I'd like to ask you for a favor, won't you help me if you can
keep on spreading kindness as you travel down this road
stick your hand out to a stranger, try to help him with his load
perhaps we'll meet again in that sweet by and by
there at the pearly gates where this road ends up in the sky
and the good lord there will smile about the way we spent our days
spreading love and kindness to those we met along our way
We said our goodbyes and I headed back the way I came
and suddenly I realized my life would never be the same
I don't know where I'm going but I'll tell you where Ive been
and I'll sing some sad old songs and make some brand new friends
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Byerly - Pedal Steel Guitar
Song Notes
Woody Guthrie meets Jack Kerouac.
I usually come up with the lyrics and THEN I have to figure out a melody to put with them. Melodies aren't my strong suite, but I had hit upon this simple chord progression. Bm - G / Bm - G / A - G / A - G that just would not leave me alone. Every time I picked up a guitar, my hands would start playing that chord pattern.
”I don’t know where I’m going, But I’ll tell you where I’ve been “
I was talking with my wife about my first car, I was handed down the family station wagon. A 1974 Ford LTD Country Squire Station Wagon with a 460 engine. It had that wood paneling on the side that the chicks really dig, an in-dash 8-track tape player, with bigass Jenson 6x9 triaxial speakers, and those flip up seats inn the very, very back for kids to ride in and flip off all the drivers behind you without the parents seeing. Riding back there, you had no idea where you were going, but you could tell where you had been.
Which kind of describes my life. I've never been much for making long term plans, I've just kind of always gone with the flow and let things happen.
”I don’t know where I’m going, But I’ll tell you where I’ve been “
“And one thing that I’ve found is you can’t go back again”
There’s a Zen thing that says you can't stick your finger into the same river twice. By the time you pull your finger out of the water and then stick it back in, that water that you originally stuck your finger into, has already flowed on past. This is now an entirely different river that your finger enters into the second time.
Whoaaaa.
Returning home on leave while I was in the Navy really brought this home for me. The old Home Town just wasn't the same old Home Town anymore. New people I didn’t know had moved in, The old friends I used to know had all moved away. The people I had known who were still there, now all had shared life experiences that I was not a part of, and I had a bunch of new life experiences that they didn’t.
“I don’t know where I’m going, But I’ll tell you where I’ve been / and one thing that I’ve found is you can’t go back again”
That was supposed to be the chorus of the song. The song was originally supposed to be about change, but sometimes songs don’t want to be what you want them to be, sometimes they have different ideas and go off in a completely different direction.
I guess songs have wanderlust too.
09. Ain't Nobody Listening to Me
There ain't nobody in here listening to me
I like to write my name in the snow when I pee
But my peckers too short so I piss on my feet
And there ain't nobody here listening to me
Aint nobody listening and I don't really care
And I like to wear my wife's underwear
Then I'll put on a wig and pretend that I'm Cher
Naw There ain't nobody listening and I don't really care
I can sing what ever words that I please
Like your sister makes her money when shes down on her knees
washing dirty dogs and getting rid of fleas
and there ain't nobody in hear listening to me
The words they don't matter, they just want that beat
you can't have no puddin if you don't beat your meat
and I've got psoriasis and athletes feet
and there ain't nobody in here listening to me
I write these words and I make them rhyme
I play with the tempo and work out the time
then I wash my ass in hot turpentine
strike a match brother and see me fly
Aint nobody in hear listening to me
they're all too busy talking and watching TV
Just as long they keep drinking and they tip when they leave
I don't really care if they're listening to me
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Byerly - Pedal Steel Guitar
Song Notes:
aka The Brewery Song
I play a lot of restaurants and breweries. These are the kind of soul sucking gigs that are most musicians bread and butter, mine included, and I'm grateful to get to play them. I call them soul-sucking because there is no exchange of energy between you and the audience, You are doing all the giving, usually because no one is actively listening to you. There is no need to tell any stories. Just shut up and play monkey-boy, Your job is to be there to provide pleasant background noise and ambiance.
I wrote this song as a bellwether just to see if anyone was actually actively listening.
If I play it and I get no reaction by the end of the 2nd verse, then I know that no one is actively paying attention and my job has just changed to trying to entertain myself for the next few hours, I can play whatever the hell I want. When I start doing that, invariably the audience picks up on the fact that I’m enjoying myself and they start paying attention.
Audiences are weird.
10. Help Me Mama, I Can’t Breathe
The cities, they are a burning
People marching through the streets
You hear em shouting - "Black Lives Matter"
"Help me Mama" - "I can't breathe"
The final straw was in Minnesota
Over a 20 dollar bill
He had no knife, he had no gun
There was no reason for them to kill
"Help me", "I can't breathe"
16 times, is what he cried
He asked for water, he called for Mama
He begged "Please don't let me die"
One on his back, one on his legs
One took a knee upon his head
They didn't care, he didn't matter
Another Black man would soon be dead
8 minutes, 46 seconds
The time it took for him to die
Another person executed
Being Black his only crime
It's in the papers, it's on TV
It seems to happen every day
Thoughts and Prayers just ain't working
Weve got to find another way
New York City, Philadelphia
Minneapolis, Louisville
400 years is long enough
It's time to settle up this bill
Now the cities they are a burning
People marching through the streets
You hear them shouting- "Black Lives Matter"
"Help Me Mama", "I cant Breathe"
You hear them shouting - "Black Lives Matter"
"Help me Mama", "I cant breathe"
"Help me Mama", "I cant breathe"
"Help me Mama", "I can't breathe"
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Tom Troyer - Electric Guitar
Song Notes:
The death of George Floyd sickened me. I don't care if he was ex-felon. I don't care that he was a junkie. I don’t care what he might have been guilty of prior to this incident. He was still a human being. He was someone's son, someone's brother, someone's friend. Somebody, somewhere loved him and somebody mourned his death.
The people who are supposed to protect us from murderers are not supposed be our murderers.
There are a lot of really good people out there wearing a badge. There are a lot of scumbags out there wearing badges as well. To the good cops, Thank You for all that you do. Please work to clean up your community and get rid of the bad cops..
In case you didn’t already know this, I’m a white male. How many white people have ever stopped to take a look at the history of being Black in America? Those people were treated the same, or treated worse, than livestock. Once slavery was abolished, the abuse and hatred didn't stop. It became a part of White Culture to look down upon Black People. Sundown Laws, Miscegenation laws, Lynchings,
If the roles were reversed, how would you feel? How would you handle being Black in 1920’s America? 2020’s America doesn’t like we’ve progressed very far in 100 years. How would you feel about always being looked upon with suspicion simply because of your skin color. How would you feel about being followed around by security just for entering a store. How would it feel to be deathly afraid of Law Enforcement because being black automatically makes you a suspect and makes you much more likely to get shot by those who are sworn to serve and protect.
White people as a whole should be ashamed of themselves. You may not have actively participated in any of this bullshit, but we damn sure benefited from it. The black people I know and have spoken with are not asking for anything more than a level playing field. They want the same things as any other American. Safety, Opportunity, Freedom.
Until ALL of us are Free, none of us are free.
11. I Ain’t Afraid of Dying
I ain't afraid of dying,-
I'm just scared of being dead.
With no arms to hold you
And ease your worried head.
And when I'm gone and in the ground,
Who'll take care of you?
And if you should be the first to go,
I don't know what I`ll do
You have been beside me,
for oh so many years.
We've shared so much together,-
the laughter and the tears.
When it's finally time for us
to lay these burdens down
What are we gonna do,-
Without the other one around?
I ain't afraid of dying,-
I'm just scared of being dead.
With no arms to hold you
And ease your worried head.
And when I'm gone and in the ground,
Who'll take care of you?
And if you should be the first to go,
I don't know what I`ll do
Once we were so young,-
but now we're old and gray
And right here by your side,
That's where I want to stay
I have always loved you,
and I always will.
and when I'm dead and gone,
My love will still be here
I ain't afraid of dying,-
I'm just scared of being dead.
With no arms to hold you
And ease your worried head.
And when I'm gone and in the ground,
Who'll take care of you?
And if you should be the first to go,
I don't know what I`ll do
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Song Notes:
This is my COVID song.
I'm old. I'm fat. If I catch this shit, I AM IN TROUBLE.
I'm not afraid of dying. I'm not in a hurry, but when I'm dead, I'm not going to know that I am dead. It's not dying that frightens me, it's the being dead part.
The money stops when I die. Who is gonna buy the groceries? Who is going to pay the mortgage? What about the light bill? The Amazon bills? How is she going to function when I am gone? Who is going to do the things I did for her? Who’s gonna get on her last nerve? Who’s gonna be there for her when she gets the worries?
That's what keeps me up at night.
12. What We Ain't Got, You Don't Need
Bib Overalls and Chicken Feed,
Homegrown tomatoes and Fescue Seed
Shotgun Shells and Jars to can
Roofing nails and washtub pans
It’s a Country Store in a Country town
We know everybody for miles around
Fiddles play on a Friday night (Stop)
Some come to dance and some come to fight
We got everything as you can see
What we ain’t got, brother you don’t need
A few bushels of corn and some copper line
A Coleman lantern guide you through the night
Gallon jugs sold by the case
Don’t ask no questions didn’t see your face
It’s a Country Store in a Country town
We know everybody for miles around
Fiddles play on a Friday night (Stop)
Some come to dance and some come to fight
We got everything as you can see
What we ain’t got, brother you don’t need
Jackknives, Chainsaws, and Yard Sale signs
Wheelbarrows, Shovels, and Baling Twine
Planting Advice and Fishing Lies
A cold RC and a big moon pie
It’s a Country Store in a Country town
We know everybody for miles around
Fiddles play on a Friday night (Stop)
Some come to dance and some come to fight
We got everything as you can see
What we ain’t got, brother you don’t need
We got everything as you can see
What we ain’t got, brother you don’t need
Jeff Wall - Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin (but not any of the good parts)
Evan Campfield - Bass
Aaron Cummings - Drums
Mark Dillon - Banjo, Mandolin (just the good parts)
Caleb Baer - Fiddle
Christian Mack - Fiddle
Song Notes:
This is simply a love song to Tru-Value and Ace Hardware
13. Choices
It wasn't really love, it was just someone to screw
and now she's two weeks late and we don't know what to do
She tells me that abortion, well that’s a mortal sin
There ain't no easy answers for the troubles that we're in
Aint no point in getting married, it ain't gonna last
My future's starting to look just like my Daddy's past
She holds all the cards, I don't get no say
I need to be a man, but instead I run away
Being young and scared that ain't no excuse
That won't justify the things that we choose
And every choice we make comes with a price
Some you pay right now, others take the rest of our life
This relationship is over, it never has a chance
the only thing I cared about was getting in her pants
she tells me that I'm just, a self centered prick
we both know that she's right, and that fact it makes me sick
I crawled in a bottle feeling sorry for myself
she moved on with her life and she found someone else
I heard that they got married and made themselves a home
and that man he raised my child like it was his own
Being young and scared that ain't no excuse
That won't justify the things that we choose
And every choice we make comes with a price
Some you pay right now, others take the rest of our life
That was forty years ago, I still carry the shame
So much time has now gone by I can't remember her name
Many times I've tried to find her, but its been too long
I'd like to make amends for the things I've done wrong
If I could just go back, what would I do?
I don't have an answer if you wanna know the truth
but I wouldn't turn my back and I wouldn't run
or feel forty years of shame for the things I've done
Being young and scared that ain't no excuse
That won't justify the things that we choose
And every choice we make comes with a price
Some you pay right now, others take the rest of our life
Jeff Wall - Vocals & Acoustic Guitar
Song Notes:
This is an amends letter set to music. It’s true, every bit of it and I’m not proud of it, but I can’t change it.
I've never been able to find the people involved in order to make amends, but those amends need to be made, so If I have to make them publicly I will. What I did wasn't right and I'm sorry.
‘Every choice we make, it comes with a price, some you pay right now, others take the rest of our life”
