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Johnsmith's sixth CD Gravity of Grace, co-produced with Tom Prasada-Rao, recorded in Dallas, TX, includes a cast of acoustic music’s finest players including Darrell Scott, Tim O'Brien, Tom Prasada-Rao, Jagoda, Radoslav Lorkorvic, Ray Bonneville, Jonathan Byrd, and Jimmy LaFave. John is a winner of songwriting awards at Kerrville, Telluride, Rocky Mountain Folks, and Falcon Ridge folk festivals. The songs on Gravity of Grace find John once again stretching his songwriting wings. Expressing the harder edges of life and love, these songs span a broad spectrum of genres from folk to blues, from gospel to Celtic. The CD includes the catchy opening track Right Into Love, the soulful title track Gravity of Grace, the touching tribute Father’s Day, the bluesy Ring That Bell and Jaybird, the bluegrassy Scotch Pine, and his hymn-like version of Dylan’s The Times They are A-Changin’. Cover photo by David Young - davidyoungphotography.net Free MP3s! Father's Day & Jay Bird (Right-click to download, click to listen) |
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Gravity Of Grace
A true, but short, biography...
We drove, from Colorado
All the way out, past Portland O town
In your V Dub, 68 bug
past the Tetons and the Snake it was just the two of us.
Campfires, and shooting stars
Under the Milky Way in a sleeping bag the world was ours
Through the Great Northwest we rolled
Right into Love
Me in my flannel shirt, and patched up old blue jeans
You wore a headband and flowered dress we were the thrift store king and queen
My red bushy beard, your chestnut braided hair
We were the quintessential, counter-culture, hippie pair
We had our favorite tape, with our favorite song
Karla Bonoff sang the ‘Water is Wide’ and we sang along.
Through the Great Northwest we rolled
Right into Love
Stood under waterfalls, heard the night bird’s call
Along the beaches, rivers, mountains we made our fall
Through Jackson Hole, and Yellowstone, right on through to Idaho
From Montana, to Yakima, along the banks of the Columbia
Just you and I, under the deep blue sky we rolled
Right into Love
Well, you and I, we drove 55
We didn’t own a watch, we didn’t own a clock, we just took our time.
We rolled along, and through the years our love grew strong.
We got hitched, raised some kids, and now life goes on.
But we still roll around, on the ridin’ lawn mower now
In our pretty little Mississippi river town
To the sweet Midwest we rolled
Right into love Right into love
We drove, from Colorado
We rolled, Right into Love
Right into Love
6-02-08 at Richard's in Texas
They say grace is not a given, it’s not something you can buy
And it’s not something that you can wait for like the fireworks on the 4th of July
No you never see it comin’, it just washes over you
Like summer rain, on the Texas plain, on a dusty afternoon
Chorus:
I have fallen from hard times, fallen from love
Fallen to my knees, now I’m ready to look up
Ready to surrender, ready to embrace
With open arms this time I’m fallin’
With the gravity of grace
I have stumbled down this highway, with a heavy load on my back
I’ve been carryin’ around some lonely, carrying round too much past
I was afraid to lay it down, like the mask upon the clown
Afraid to show my face, But the light of grace
Is shinin’ on me now.
Bridge: It’s October fallen leaves
On some gentle autumn breeze
Floating on some lazy river
Rolling on down to the sea.
And it’s like Ray Charles singin’ Georgia
from a radio up the street.
Drifting down, like a gift, on you and me.
Chorus: repeat broke down w/ tag
JS June 16 08
Well it’s Friday night, back in the ole hometown
Everybody’s here, snug as a bug, in the ole show house
We’ve got songs to sing, we’ve got tales to tell
Truth be told let it all unfold we’re gonna ring that bell
Chorus
We’re gonna ring that bell, from the steeple top
From Humuston road to Crystal Lake to the four way stop
All around this town, like a carousel
Let the ghosts come in, Let the fun begin,
Let’s ring that bell
I remember the night, walking home alone
Down the alleyway behind the town café 13 years old
I heard a bluesy groove, coming out of the dark
The dishwasher and the cook were jamming out back on Gibson guitars
Chorus: repeat
Well the first of my friends, to get his own set of wheels
Was Rowdy Weeks in his galaxy it was a really big deal
We all climbed in, for the maiden ride
A trip around town with the windows down and the radio high
Chorus: repeat
So here’s to you DeWitt, you old prairie town
Here’s to your sons and daughters
Mothers and fathers, and all your hometown proud
I’m gonna raise my cup, from the city well
To the years ahead, until we meet again, may we ring that bell.
Chorus: repeat w/ tag
Johnsmith June 06
The First time, I heard my dad say
That he loved me, was on father’s day
I was a grown man, I was on the road
It was just the two of us talkin’ on a pay telephone
We talked of this, then we talked of that
Talked about fishin’, talked about the Cubs and Mets
Then I said I had to go, that’s when he said “I love you son”
I said I love you too, then we both hung up
And I walked away, and tears came down
Like rain falling gently upon fallow ground
I felt the fields of my heart turn green
From those few small word my father said to me
My father was, a simple man
Played cards on Sunday and grew a garden out back
He worked long days, on the foundry floor
And after suppertime peddled vacuum sweepers door to door
Yea folks back then, kept their feelings hid
Bottled up inside, safe under lid
So I’m glad he found the strength to say
The way he felt about me on that Father’s Day
Chorus repeat
Bridge: Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain
The Strange thing, about it is
I never knew I had a hole inside that big
But I guess I did, because there it was
Cryin’ right out loud, saying fill me up
Yea so now I try, to do my best
To tell my kids I love ‘em every chance I get
Funny how a few small words, can run so deep
Make a baby smile, make a grown man weep.
Chorus repeat
Nov 26 2007 @ Esalen
Well my name is Eliza Jane and I come from Tennessee
Way back up in the hills, among the whippoorwills
That’s where the good lord put me’
I get up in the mornin’, and I work ‘til the sun goes down
It’s all I’ve ever known, since the day I was born,
Is to walk this Holy Ground Holy Ground
Well, some days the storms are heavy, and some days the sun beats down
But rain or shine I find the strength inside to walk this holy ground
CHORUS: Holy Ground, Holy Ground
It’s one foot up, one foot down
And walk this Holy Ground
Well my mama she bought me a ticket, on a Greyhound bus last week
She said ‘Eliza Jane it’s time, you ought’a take a ride
All the way down to New Orleans
So I took a seat at the front of the bus, next to a lady from Chicago’s southside
She said ‘Thank God we’ve come a ways, since Rosa Parks days’
We watched the Holy Ground roll on by
I got off that bus down on Bourbon Street
W ent straight to Preservation Hall right then
Where the trumpets and trombones, clarinets and banjos
All the Saints were marchin’ in
CHORUS: Repeat
BRIDGE:
Then I walked on down to the levy, and I sang my prayer out loud
‘Help the homeless, the needy, rebuild this city, shine down on this Holy Ground’
Well I took the long way home, back thru the Memphis way
To walk on the street, where Dr King preached, just before his dying day
Yea ‘my name is Eliza Jane, and I’m headin’ home on this ole Greyhound
I’m gonna do all I can, to lend a helping hand
As I walk this holy ground
Repeat chorus 2X vamp out
Esalen CA Nov 4 2008
Now I’m living here down at the Westview home
I shuffle past the wheelchair row
Down the hall to the bingo room
Just after lunch every afternoon
But I used to be a stronger man
Ya see I worked on a farm as a hired hand
Hired Hand, I was a hired hand
I plowed the fields, I worked the land
Now what you see ain’t all I am
I was so much more, I was a hired hand
Well, we put up hay in the August sun
Stacked it high in the barn for the winter to come
Back in the days of the depression
Jobs were scarce and folks were on the run
My dad said do what you understand
Boy you won’t go hungry as a hired hand
Hired Hand, I was a hired hand
I milked the cows, I worked the land
Now what you see ain’t all I am
I was a proud and simple hired hand
I used to go to town on Friday nights
Catch a picture show after the church fish fry
Some folks said I was a lonely man
I said it comes with the job of a hired hand
Well the work grew scarce when the bankers came
Family farms started fading away
So I moved to town with my sister Rose
Took a job pumpin’ gas down at the Texaco
But I wore my overalls and my seed corn cap
It wasn’t easy giving up being a hired hand
Hired Hand, I was a hired hand
I mended fences, I worked the land
Now what you see ain’t all I am
I was a pretty damn good hired hand
5-9-08
You stand so tall, and you stand to proud
You stand alone, like no else around
You pay no heed, to the passage of time
You just hold your ground in the here and now
And you don’t ask why
You stand between the road, and the spring fed creek
You reach for the sun, while your roots drink deep
You watch the seasons come
And the seasons go
You ole Scotch pine, you’re a friend of mine
You’re a kindred soul
Chorus :
You’re a kindred soul, like a brother true
You don’t judge me, and I don’t judge you
You give me strength to stand, when the world turns cold
You ole Scotch pine, you’re a friend of mine
You’re a kindred soul
You don’t speak words, but you say so much
You say take each day as it comes
You say bow your head, when the north wind blows
Then lift it high in the new sunshine
You’re a kindred soul
Chorus : repeat
So when my time, comes to lay me down
Rest these bones, beneath your boughs.
I want to hear the wind, through your branches whine
A kindred soul lies here below a good friend of mine
Chorus: repeat
Written in 2008
Jaybird jaybird way up high,
sittin on top of that old jack pine
tell me jaybird, jaybird, what do you hear
what does that old jack pine whisper in your ear
Does he say? jaybird jaybird here's your song
go sing it on the myrtlewood all day long
go tell the crows and the chickadee-dee-dees,
tell ‘em the saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east
Jaybird jaybird sing out loud
from the east to the west from the north to the south
tell all the world there's no time to spare
we can't drink the water, can't breathe the air
jaybird jaybird here's your song, go sing it on the myrtlewood all day long
go tell the crows and the chickadees
tell ‘em the saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east
Jaybird jaybird let everybody know
all God's children got a long way to go
Okechobee's hummin like a big bass drum
when the old dam breaks it's all gonna come
jaybird jaybird here's your song, go sing it on the myrtlewood all day long
go tell the crows and the chickadees,
tell ‘em the saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east
Jaybird jaybird you blue-eyed son,
keep on singin til the day is done
spread your blue wings far and wide
over the valley across the great divide .......
Jaybird jaybird here’s your song, go sing it on the myrtlewood all day long,
go tell the crows and the chickadees.
tell ‘em the Saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east.
Jaybird jaybird here’s your song, go sing it on the myrtlewood all day long,
go tell the crows and the chickadee dee dees.
tell ‘em the Saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east.
Tell them the Saw grass is bloomin and the wind's in the east.
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.
It's been ten long years since the boy went singing
To his true love's door
Crying oh my true love let me in
Ten long years or more
Down she comes with her falling hair
She comes to let him in
Comes to show him a secret light
Burning
You're the only one for me
You're the only one for me
And you'll always be
The only one for me
Now the boy walks in stony silence
His hollow footsteps ring
Along the streets where he once went spinning
Loving everything
Now the footprints of crows and sparrows
Gather round his eyes
Now the weight of the world has cut him
Down to size
You're the only one for me
You're the only one for me
And you'll always be
The only one for me
You're the only one for me
You're the only one for me
And you'll always be
The only one for me
It's been ten long years since the boy went singing
To his true love's door
Crying oh my true love let me in
Ten long years or more
3-29-09 To your cousins Seneca and Sommerdai
Early this morning about sunrise
Your mama pushed you hard right into this life
Your little heart was beating like a hummingbird
‘til you took your first deep breath of this world
We all cried for joy. To the heavens above
We cried tears of thanks to the Goddess of love
Chorus:
Heh Heh Juni Rae, let me introduce you to the human race
We’re not all good, we’re not all bad. Most are doing the best they can
Your mama, daddy, Jojo, and me
We’re gonna hold your hand, we’re your family
Welcome to the human race, Juni Rae
Well this human race, we’re a fickle bunch
We dream way too little and we think too much
So don’t try too hard to figure us out
I recommend you give us all the benefit of doubt
But you can always count on me, I’ll give it to you straight
There’s gonna be hills, there’s gonna be valleys, all along the way
Chorus : repeat
This world is big, and this world is grand.
This world is a pearl in the palm of your hand
Your daddy’s Asian and your mama’s white
You got the best of both worlds, in your beautiful eyes
I’m sure you’re gonna break a little heart or two
And the odds are yours will get broken too
But the tides will turn, the winds will shift,
the truth will rise, love is all there is
Chorus: repeat
Aug 1 08 Ireland
We’ve come thru the valleys
We’ve come thru the fields
We’ve crossed over rivers
To find ourselves here
We sang songs of sorrow
We sang songs of love
Let’s sing one more together
To send ourselves off
Chorus : Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
May the light of the moon smile down on your road
Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
Until I next see you, safe home will you go
We’ve laid down our worries
Our troubles our fears
Like shells on the strand
Washed by laughter and tears
The tide has returned now
To carry lift us away
Back to our houses
And families we pray
Chorus : Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
May the light of the moon smile down on your road
Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
Until I next see you, safe home will you go
The fiddles are quiet
The whistles all still
Only echoes remain
Form the jigs and the reels
The dance floor is empty
Our farewells all said
Now it’s time to be goin’
And ‘til we all meet again
Chorus : Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
May the light of the moon smile down on your road
Safe Home, Safe Home, Safe Home will you go
Until I next see you, safe home will you go
Chorus repeat
I said Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
Come on and call him up and tell him what you want
I said, that line aint never busy
Tell him what you want
I said, that line aint never busy
Tell him what you want
I said, that line aint never busy
Tell him what you want
Come on and call him up
And tell him what you want
I said now, if you’re sick and wanna get well
Tell him what you want
I said, if you’re sick and you wanna get well
Tell him what you want
I said now, if you’re sick and you wanna get well
Tell him what you want
Call him up and tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
Come on and call him up and tell him what you want
If you want some peace in this world
Tell him what you want
I said if you want some peace in this world
Tell him what you want
I said now if you want a little peace in this world
Tell him what you want
Come on and call him up and tell him what you want
I said now Buddha is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said that Mosses is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now Mohammed is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
Call him up and tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
I said now, Jesus is on that mainline
Tell him what you want
Come on and call him up and tell him what you want
Come on and call him up and tell him what you want