Get all 8 Dan Johnson releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Married to the Road, Trucks and Trains, Bad Luck and Blues, your own true man, Magic Guitar, Suck it Up, Cupcake, Mercury 85, Bound for Abiquiu, and Sleep on the Way.
1. |
Dorothy
04:39
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Dorothy
there’s a party going on all my friends are there
they look so beautiful out in the air
they all have shiny eyes
they look like move stars
I’m laying here in my bed
thinking about Dorothy
should I sit here by the window drinking black coffee
waiting for the sunset to disappear softly
should I put my clothes on and go down to the party
maybe I’ll go down the road
and see Dorothy
I know she’s waiting there in her broken wicker chair
empty martini glasses scattered everywhere
cigarette smoke just the color of her hair
she’s looking in the distance for a man who isn’t there
there ain’t no one lives in the country like a city girl
leave the dishes where they are leave the windows open wide
come on up to bed you can lay right by my side
listen to the moon and the wind in the tree
listen real close you might hear Dorothy
maybe I’ll get some chickens maybe I’ll get a goat
maybe I’ll forget all of the songs I ever wrote
maybe I’ll stop taking myself so damn seriously
maybe I’ll go down the road and see Dorothy
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2. |
Mud Season
06:46
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Mud Season
clouds are flying like the geese coming home from the south
the winter wind is warm and i can taste this land in my mouth
the farmer on the riverbend his fields have been flooded for the week
the geese are flying by and the sunset is painting purple streaks
the roads turned to mud there ain’t no way this car is getting through
I could go the other way but I still haven’t even heard from you
in weather like this i can never tell if I am dressed the right way
by the time that I see you I hope I think of something to say
the rivers running full she’s green she’s fast and she’s deep
and the sand along the banks is firm but it slides under my feet
I walked the trail with my children before the noonday sun
and we pray among the trees the right words will come
come home to me let me feel the sun again
the mud call us home she knows who we are and where we’ve been
there’s no running across these fields we’d die before you made the other side
and the furrows of the farmer and the plow he drives would bury us alive
we come from this mud and we wonder at what we’ve become
and someday we’ll return but until then we will walk in the sun
now I’m standing at your door waiting for my words to appear
your eyes are distant but the skies above us are clear
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3. |
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Trucks and Trains, Bad Luck and Blues
my daddy was a driver and my momma dear
she was born in Louisiana don’t know how she got up here
trucks and trains bad luck and blues
a suitcase and a ticket to a life that we choose
my parents brought me along
driving home with an old country song
trucks and trains bad luck and blues
life is hell with the devil we choose
working every day at the grocery store
been working every day since I got back from the war
the people they come with their own shopping bags
dressed in fine clothes but they might as well be rags
the first time I seen little Saro
she was sitting on the banks of the sea
forty four strapped around her
a banjo on her knee
she did things her own way
like singing at the sink at the end of the day
we were tired we were ragged I think that we were pure
thought we knew it all didn’t care for being sure
our roots grow down in the earth
it’s hard to know what the past is worth
my parents brought me along
driving home with an a.m. country song
the past is calling us home
but sometimes its better to leave that place alone
trucks and trains bad luck and blues
you can walk away from any thing that you choose
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4. |
This Old World
05:19
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This Old World
daddy’d pick me up in summer
pull up to the house in a big shiny car
drive me back down to Virginia
along the way we’d sleep under the stars
my baby John was born in Richmond
his sister Sara down in San Antone
I took both back down to Memphis
better than raising them alone
this old world
out here all alone
find my peace in the afternoon
sit here in this old barroom
the evening sun will go down soon
on this old world
I was born down in Memphis
my daddy was Navy up in Newport News
momma come home to be with family
she got them postpartum blues
spend my nights down at the barroom
just tending bar and feeling blue
my babies all grew up so quickly
and moved along as babies do
when I wake up in the morning
let my dog out of the door
sit and watch the cars passing
start to cry but I don’t know what for
when I get done with this last cigarette
I’ll call my son to hear his voice
he won’t call and I accept it
that’s the way he made his choice
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5. |
The Island
03:37
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The Island
You’ve got a child that’s chosen you
she’s come from so many lifetimes away
just to say
the burdens of life will make us free
and the sun and the moon will guide us home
you’re not alone
in a vibrating moment of pure light
your spirit is a crystal singing bright
the stars make patterns in the night
to make a place where life begins again
like a doorway in a house that is forgotten
we must learn to open ourselves up to the future
the unknown future
there’s no key but the door is always open
and the sun is shining on the windows
the golden sunshine
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Dan Johnson Burlington, Vermont
low key folk music - (how many?) records, a few (dozen?) years worth of weird gigs, no pressure y'all... did shows with some great folks and I just love country bluegrass and any kinda folk song mostly...
Dan Johnson recommends:
No Time To Be Tender
by Ian Fitzgerald
amazing lyricism and low key tasteful accompaniment
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Two collaborations between Irish singer-songwriter J. Cowhie aka Goodtime John and Will Oldham are mildly psychedelic in atmosphere.
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The latest from UK artist MF Tomlinson sets sharp lyrics amidst a backdrop of acoustic guitar, lush keys, and soft percussion.
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My Christmas Plea
by Matt Dorrien
Portland singer/songwriter delivers a gorgeous Christmas EP, fashioned in the lush style of classics by Bing Crosby and Johnny Mathis.
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Wealth of Sorrow
by Cahalen Morrison
Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless.
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