We Don’t Live There
Released June 9th, 2017
Stephanie Dodd (Fremont, NE): vocals, piano, accordion and glockenspiel
Justin Badger (Fremont, CA): vocals and guitars
Produced by Chris Tucker
Recorded & Mixed by Cameron Mannix at KMGLife Inc. in Boulder CO
Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow in Boulder CO
String & Choir arrangements by Chris Tucker
Photography & Album Artwork by Emilie Druss & Matt Lowber
Guest Musicians:
Maggie Gibson: cello
Zak Kopeikin: bass
Matt Kubis: banjo
Cameron Mannix: drums
Braden Olsen: fiddle (tracks 1, 2, 6 and 7)
Alexander Sovronsky: fiddle (track 8)
Chris Tucker: ordan
Members of Ars Nova Singers & Friends: Choral Vocals (tracks 3 & 7)
1 - We Don’t Live There
Stephanie Dodd: music & lyrics
We can see it in the skyline
We can go and have a visit
We don’t live there
We don’t live there
And our eyes are filled
With anxious, heaving visions of the light
We don’t live there
We don’t live there
It was never our birthright
To have things and no fight
It was always part of the plan
To go out West like a young man
We can see it in the skyline
We can go and have a visit
We don’t live there
We don’t live there
And our eyes are filled
With anxious, heaving visions of the light
We don’t live there
We don’t live there
And we crawl through the sprawl
And we cling to our dreams
And the past and the things
That we hope it might mean
And the stories we tell
Are of how much we loved
How it was.
How it never was.
2 - Back to the Mountain
Stephanie Dodd: music & lyrics
She never meant to move to Memphis
It’s just something that happened years ago now
She met a man with a guitar
In a little mountain bar
And she followed him South.
Now she grabs her keys from the kitchen
And straightens out her dress
Throws her suitcase in the back
And points her wheels West
She’s gonna drive
until she sees the Rockies on the the horizon.
And like a setting sun
she’ll burn up this old road across the sky
She’s gonna drive back to the mountain
She doesn’t mind the quiet
She’ll smoke a cigarette all alone
Maybe she needs a little time
To feel the weight of all the things she’s done
She can’t make sense of everything
As she turns up the mountain road
She’ll tell her mama she’s sorry
And come in from the cold
She’s gonna drive
Until she sees the Rockies on the horizon.
And like a setting sun
She’ll burn up this old road across the sky
She’s gonna drive back to the mountain
Snow falls on the range
The glare hurts her eyes
Why did it take so long
Until it was time
She’s gonna drive
Until she sees the Rockies on the horizon.
And like a setting sun
She’ll burn up this old road across the sky
She’s gonna drive back to the mountain
Come on home little girl.
3 - Tillman’s Wall
Justin Badger: music & lyrics
Your pretty chickens down below
The piper’s tune has told
Pray on your gods, old men
Pray on your hearts
Boys and girls sing patriot songs
Join the ranks to fight for their gods
Left, right, left we can’t right this wrong
What is left when the shooting is done?
Blind men left footsteps and they followed
Oh they followed
Dark roads lead to the dead and they followed
Oh they followed
Lay down your arms, young men
Lay down your hearts
Boys and girls sing patriot songs
Join the ranks to fight for their gods
Left, right, left we can’t right this wrong
What is left when the shooting is done?
Two boys to the north
Two boys to the south
Brothers bound by oath
But split by yonder canyon’s mouth
Three girls under fire
Three girls flank the fall
Children blind by dusk
See shadows all along the wall
Ten kids wearing green
Separated by enemy red
But when the bad men stopped their shots
Those children shot each other dead
4 - Olivia
Justin Badger: music & lyrics
She’s got nothing to lose
It’s been lost ten to one
But she welcomes the pain
She’s got a velvet, black veil
That she’s dubbed as her face
Seven years this refrain
Something is darkly enticing ‘bout
Her self-starved embrace
I’d drink up those salt water rivers
That carve maps down her face
Sweet, sad Olivia
Halloo, can you hear me?
Sweet, sad Olivia
Please don’t put this broken heart to waste
If wise men be fools while in love
This I swear,
That your jester I’ll be
I’m shadowing day in, day out
Could it mean that your passion’s named, Me?
Something is darkly enticing ‘bout
Her self-starved embrace
I’d drink up those salt water rivers
That carve maps down her face
Sweet, sad Olivia
Halloo, can you hear me?
Sweet, sad Olivia
Please don’t put this broken heart to waste
Don’t put it to waste
Sweet, sad Olivia
5 - Holding Place
Stephanie Dodd: music & lyrics
I think your love is a child
One moment you’re all scorn
Then you’re all smiles
You call me a beast
You call me a dove
But I’m miserable most to love you unloved
Am I a holding place for someone you want?
Am I just saving a space ‘til she comes around?
You don’t wanna go to dinner and sit all alone
Gotta hold tight, ‘til I’m on my own
You know I don’t have her grace
Love doesn’t hang upon me
It runs and I chase
Am I a holding place for someone you want?
Am I just saving a space ‘til she comes around?
You don’t wanna go to dinner and sit all alone
Gotta hold tight, ‘til I’m on my own
Am I? Am I? Am I?
We have to find some spell
To help us make a heaven
Out of this hell
Cause lightning won’t strike
Magic is shot
So you’re gonna tell me if you love me or not
I’m not a holding place for someone you want
And I’m not saving a space ‘til she comes around
You don’t wanna go to dinner and sit all alone
Gotta hold tight, ‘til I’m on my own
6 - Tell My Mother
Stephanie Dodd: music & lyrics
I can see green Loess hills and hollows
Fresh in my memory down the path that she follows
Little old woman so full of life and tragedy
Only things keeping her going are faith and family
I can see her waiting for me far away
Sunday night is here we’re all there
On the front steps of a broken down house
Kids go walking and find kittens hiding in the barn
Ghost lilies bloom white perfume
As the sun drops below the hills
You can tell my mother I’ll be there
You can tell my mother, tell my mama, I’ll be there.
Stillness settles as everyone starts to head for home
“Ya’ll come back and see grandma now,”
She calls out the kitchen door
2 am and she’s in the chair where she can see
Out the window there’s no sleep coming tonight
A prayer takes her into daylight
She hoes corn in the morning
And picks beans in her garden before it gets hot
Finds some rhubarb growing wild
And goes home to bake herself a pie
Sits on the porch counting cars as they head down the highway
All going another way
You can tell my mother I’ll be there
You can tell my mother, tell my mama, I’ll be there.
92 years of facing life and tomorrows
Winter of her life held no tears brought no sorrows
Just kept sitting in that chair and looking toward the hills
Watching sunlight pass by her window sill
Knew time was coming that things would change
She could see Jesus coming to take her far away
He was on the next hill, but coming to fetch her
That’s what she would say
And the day that she left us, we all stood around and we cried
But it won’t be long 'til we stand by her side
You can tell my mother, tell my mama, I’ll be there
7 - Joanne
Justin Badger: music & lyrics
Your mother’s red car has run up on the side of the road
Go wake her up, cause it’s time that she found her way home
Grown up too damn fast
There goes your father, flew off to the eye of the storm
Look to the sky, feel the breeze as he’s keeping you warm
This nightmare won’t last
Hold my hand
Don’t you cry tonight
Two little brothers grown up to be men of the world
Put that red car in reverse, be a carefree young girl
Kids play hide and seek
Come on out
Come on out tonight
Joanne
Come on out tonight
Oh Joanne, things don’t go as planned
Oh Joanne, build your own dreamland
8 - Who Fears the Devil?
Justin Badger: music & lyrics
Well there’s a war out yonder
Further than the stars
And some battles fought
On these deep dark trails of ours
That son of dust takes shapes
None the likes you’ve seen
Them jewels he casts they may fool some
I walk stones of fire guided by the Son
Oh do Lord, do you remember me?
When there’s a shiver in the pines
And wretched faces in the trees
Some lose their faith but I’ll keep mine
Who fears the devil when the devil fears me?
Ye righteous men
Fear not for what’s in store
We’ve got precious little time to waste, oh Lord
With each passing day
More fall victim to his sight
Though I may hear the whip of Satan crack
I’ve got Jesus-fire strapped upon my back
And there’ll ne’er be a day
I abandon this here fight
When there’s a shiver in the pines
And wretched faces in the trees
Some lose their faith but I’ll keep mine
Who fears the devil when the devil fears me?
Do Lord, oh do Lord, oh do you remember me?
Look away beyond the blue
When there’s a shiver in the pines
And wretched faces in the trees
Some lose their faith but I’ll keep mine
Who fears the devil when the devil fears me?