Dancin' Moon Songcast

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 56 Dry Land | NEW 2020 ALBUM EPISODE!

Featured song from 2020's  Ozzie's Guitar 20 Years Later LP &
from 2000's Ozzie's Guitar LP 

Dry Land

When I was a boy
We used to go down to the river
Strip down and jump in fast
Jump out on the bank and shake and shiver
It's hard to understand
When to float with the current
When to stay on dry land

 

The current's fast
And it'll take you down in a hurry
No, you won't last
Boy, you'll make your mamma worry
If you don't understand
When to float with the current
When to stay on dry land

 

There's so much you've never seen
And so much to do
That river's gonna call your name
Yeah the river's got a one-way ticket for you

 

It's icy cold
When the snowmelt flows in the springtime
Feet grow numb
You can freeze to death in no time
If you don't understand
When to float with the current
When to stay on dry land

 

Well, the rains will come
They take the path of least resistance
Cut through the mountainside
Dig themselves a grave with their persistence
But you must understand
When to float with the current
When to stay on dry land

 

There's so much you've never seen
And so much to do
That river's gonna call your name
Yeah the river's got a one-way ticket...

There's so much you've never seen
And so much to do
That river's gonna call your name
Yeah the river's got a one-way ticket...

for me and you.

 

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 55 Time & So Cold | NEW 2020 ALBUM EPISODE!

Featured song from 2020's  Ozzie's Guitar 20 Years Later LP &
from 2000's Ozzie's Guitar LP 

Time

I went out walking in my hometown last night,
I hadn't done that in quite a long, long time.
There was a full moon--- she went behind the clouds
And lit the storm-front from behind.
And I was thinking about the time we said goodbye
The way most good friends do:
"See you later, when we both have the time..."
And then the time ran out on you.

I have a friend; he wrote a letter.
He had no one to send it to.
I wrote a song--- but I could sing it so much better
If I could sing my song for you.
And I was thinking about the time we said goodbye
The way most good friends do:
"See you later, when we both have the time..."
And then the time ran out on you.

At 3 am, you never see a soul
When the winter is on the ground.
The houses are hollow and the brick streets are so cold;
Some nights are lost never to be found.
And I was thinking about the time we said goodbye
The way most good friends do:
"See you later, when we both have the time..."
And then the time ran out on you,
And then the time ran out on you.

Kirk Miller, 1964 - 1992

 

Additional version (alternative title) from 2012's  Nebraska Catfish LP 

So Cold

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 54 Man on the Mountain | NEW 2020 ALBUM EPISODE!

Featured song from 2020's  Ozzie's Guitar 20 Years Later LP &
from 2000's Ozzie's Guitar LP 

Man on the Mountain

The man on the mountain
He doesn't come down but once a week
The man on the mountain
He'll buy his supplies and never speak
The man on the mountain
He's too lost to find, too blinded to seek

 

She died in the winter
When their baby boy was barely weaned
He couldn't even touch her—
She and the child were quarantined
And then when he lost them
He knew that he'd never see the spring

 

Way up there upon the mountain
The air is thin as it can be
But he wants to get as close to Heaven
As a man in Hell can ever be

 

You have to dig deep there
To find enough water just to drink
You have to climb higher
To find enough space just to think
But memory is painful
It only leads him to the brink

 

 

Way up there upon the mountain
The air is thin as it can be
But he wants to be as close to Heaven
As a man in Hell could ever be

 

Life on the mountain,
It's not so romantic as they say—
Whether you're banished
Or you choose to go away—
If your only companions
Are the ghosts of yesterday

 

Way up there upon the mountain
The air is thin as it can be
But he wants to be as close to Heaven
As a man in Hell could ever be

 

As a man in Hell could ever be

 

Lee and Rose Stockburger with their oldest son, Loy... my grandfather.

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 53 Ozzie's Guitar | NEW 2020 ALBUM Episode!

Featured song from 2020's  Ozzie's Guitar 20 Years Later LP &
from 2000's Ozzie's Guitar LP 

Ozzie's Guitar

Ozzie drove an El Camino
Cuffed the hems of his navy chinos
Man alive, could grandpa drive--
Odd jobs from here to Reno
Livin' light, heck if we know
How or why, but he was alive

 

And every time that Ozzie'd come around
His bags were dusty with the gravel roads
Of a thousand little towns
We saw the world, we traveled far
On the silver strings of Ozzie's guitar

 

It was a six-string La Valenciana
With my teeth brushed and my warm pajamas
I was "good to go" for granddad's show
Well we'd ride the rails, we'd waltz across Texas
His fingers danced till our hearts would break, his
Voice would soar then swoop down low

 

And every time that Ozzie'd come around
His bags were dusty with the gravel roads
Of a thousand little towns
We saw the world, we traveled far
On the silver strings of Ozzie's guitar

 

 

Well, some days, I miss the rhythm
Of a highway song, and I want to be with him
Oh, it ain't long till I find that guitar
It never held its tune so good
It's just some rusty keys and weathered wood
But there's an open road in every scar

 

And every time that Ozzie'd come around
His bags were dusty with the gravel roads
Of a thousand little towns
We saw the world, we traveled far
On the silver strings of Ozzie's guitar

 

We saw the world, we traveled far
On the silver strings of Ozzie's guitar

 

View the FB photo album of the restoration of Ozzie's Guitar

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 52 The Hunt, Canyon Rain and Climb | ALL INSTRUMENTAL EPISODE!

Featured song from 2011's Tasunke Witko LP 

The Hunt (instrumental)

 

Featured song from 2017's Two Weeks in April LP 

Canyon Rain (instrumental)

 

Featured song from 2011's No Standing LP 

Climb (instrumental)

 

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 51 Starting Out, Rocks Make a River Sing & August Stormcloud | ALL INSTRUMENTAL EPISODE!!

Featured song from 2015's The Road Behind LP 

Starting Out (instrumental)

Rocks Make a River Sing (instrumental)

August Stormcloud (instrumental)

Featured song from 2013's Edge of the Known LP 

Rocks Make a River Sing (instrumental)

Featured song from 2011's No Standing LP 

Starting Out (instrumental)

 

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 50 Wake Up Jacob, Saturday Morning & Five to Nine Diner | ALL INSTRUMENTAL EPISODE!!

 

Featured song from 2017's Reflections & Refugees LP 

Wake Up Jacob (instrumental)

 

Featured song from 2017's Two Weeks in April LP 

Saturday Morning (instrumental)

 

Featured song from 2015's The Road Behind LP 

Five to Nine Diner (instrumental)

 

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 49 Paw Paw was a Quiet Man

Featured song from 2017's Refuge LP 

Paw Paw was a Quiet Man

Paw Paw was a quiet man,
Everyone just knew—
He would never say a word
If it weren't true.

 

Evening milk and cornbread,
Just "knockin' old Joe"
He'd stretch out his long old legs
Wiggle his toes.

 

Paw Paw, take me fishin'
Let's see what might bite.
Paw Paw is this worm okay?
Do I have my hook tied tight?
Paw Paw, why ain't I catching anything?
He pulled back his big old grin
And said, "You ain't holdin' your mouth right."

 

Maw Maw talked a blue streak,
Paw Paw listened long.
He married her and loved her good...
Even when she was wrong.

 

His politics were his alone to know,
His only sermon was his life.
But if he chose to speak his mind,
It cut the babble like a knife.

 

Paw Paw, take me fishin'
Let's see what might bite.
Paw Paw is this worm okay?
Do I have my hook tied tight?
Paw Paw, why ain't I catching anything?
He pulled back his big old grin
And said, "You ain't holdin' your mouth right."

 

He's been gone for 27 years now,
I miss him just the same.
There's things in life so stubborn now,
Can't talk my way out of everything...

 

Paw Paw, take me fishin'
Let's see what might bite.
Paw Paw is this job okay?
When's the right time to fight?
Paw Paw, see my children?
Paw Paw, see my wife?
Paw Paw, why is life so hard?
He pulls back his big old grin
And says, "Maybe you ain't holdin' your mouth right."

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 48 Selma Sundays

Featured song from 2002's Grace EP 

Selma Sundays

Selma sang on Sundays,
Slid up to reach the highs.
She sang about Amazing Grace
And angels from the skies.

 

And in the car she sang to me
"A-chewin'" on her gum,
"I love you a bushel an' a peck..." she'd sing
But my Papaw--- he'd just hum.
(Hum)

 

I need another Selma Sunday afternoon
I need another Selma Sunday afternoon---
I need some sweet potato, buttermilk 'n cornbread in a spoon
I need another Selma Sunday afternoon.

 

The car slid through the spruce and pine
Right up to the long church drive,
We all knew when we'd get home
We was gonna eat 'til four or five.
And when the sun begins to slant
Them cicadas start to sing
And Selma sits in that old lawn chair
And it don't mean a thing...
No, it don't have to mean a thing
If you just want to sing.
(La la la de-dum)

 

We need another Selma Sunday afternoon
We need another Selma Sunday afternoon---
We need some sweet potato, buttermilk 'n cornbread in a spoon
We all need another Selma Sunday afternoon.
(La la la de-dum)

Dancin' Moon Songcast Ep. 47 Into New

Featured song from 2012's Nebraska Catfish LP 

Into New
(Based on closing lines of Wendell Berry's "A Purification")

Like the night sky into blue
Or a single cell becoming two
Like me leaning into you
Something old is escaping into new

I used to worry my mistakes
Guilt makes the bones and the body ache
Now I am leaning into you
Something old is escaping into new

Like the past into now
A spring renewed somehow
Like the wind or the dawn—
Always returning, always gone
Ancient wisdom, come to light
A fading love that finds its fight
See how I'm leaning into you?
Something old is escaping into new.

I always wanted desperately to win
Disguising loss with a grin
But now that I am loved by you
Something old is escaping into new.
Now that I am loved by you
Something old is escaping into new.

 

A Purification
by Wendell Berry

At start of spring I open a trench
in the ground. I put into it
the winter's accumulation of paper,
pages I do not want to read
again, useless words, fragments,
errors. And I put into it
the contents of the outhouse:
light of the sun, growth of the ground,
finished with one of their journeys.
To the sky, to the wind, then,
and to the faithful trees, I confess
my sins: that I have not been happy
enough, considering my good luck;
have listened to too much noise;
have been inattentive to wonders;
have lusted after praise.
And then upon the gathered refuse
of mind and body, I close the trench,
folding shut again the dark,
the deathless earth. Beneath that seal
the old escapes into the new.