well my ears perked up the other day golden grandfather voice on the AM waves he said I hope you like this next song we’re gonna play we wrote it back in 1939 and it’s just stuck around well it’s still sticking around like the ice that grinds my windshield wipers down it’ll fill up the hole in the soul  that you stood in the cold to clear away just to lose it to the freezin’ rain keep singing that refrain Sister Zella Mae banjos and angels banjos and angels it’s a long race back to the stables sing over me one more time banjos and angels my daddy always told me check the lights fogs blinker brakes heads tails and halogen brights having even one go out invites unnecessary trouble the best drivers on the road are subtle just look at ‘em go they would never drive with an arm out of an open window scraping the rain away carefree as they gamble with their life expectancy but that would never be me so keep singing it sweet Sister Zella Mae banjos and angels banjos and angels it’s a long race back to the stables sing over me one more time banjos and angels the signal fades with the glow of the sky on this stark dark Ozark night and old St. Louis just can’t quite extend his reach Mr. Slim you’ve stuck around till now you sure steered clear of the ground somehow and with all this snow around  you just might outlive me well I was talkin to a fella from this corner of the globe he was driving with an Irish girl down the road going to Oklahoma to show her his hometown a long way from County Down he said I’m sorry this is all so dull it ain’t nothing like Europe all magical but Miss Fiona sat straight up in her seat when she heard that voice and a three quarter beat ‘cause on 1170 she heard singin' it sweet sister Zella Mae banjos and angels banjos and angels it’s a long race back to the stables sing over me one more time banjos and angels banjos and angels banjos and angels it’s a long race back to the stables sing over me one more time sing over me one more time sing over me one more time, banjos and angels

I’m not afraid of IH-35 it’s the whole reason I learned how to drive and you say I’m lucky to still be alive but I’m not afraid of IH-35 no I’m not afraid of IH-35 well it’s six lanes of chaos barriers and cones frontage roads clogged with folks fleeing work zones truckers and travelers juggling their phones  with hardly an eye on the road I enter that ramp to kick off my trip speed up to eighty and tighten my grip ‘cause I seen cars float and I’ve seen ‘em flip and the wreckage still haunts me in dreams - but I’m not afraid of IH-35 it’s the whole reason I learned how to drive and you say I’m lucky to still be alive but I’m not afraid of IH-35 no I’m not afraid of IH-35 now the upgrades have taken a devilish long while we’d surge through the lane shifts and merge single file now all this fresh concrete I can’t help but smile ‘cause they built a good thing after all but I know in my heart the ancient complaints it’s big and it’s bad and that won’t never change it’s a hideous blight on the wide open range and deserves every curse in the book - still I’m not afraid of IH-35 it’s the whole reason I learned how to drive and if I run late oh just trust I'll arrive 'cause I’m not afraid of IH-35, no I’m not afraid of IH-35 where the cold Guadalupe flows by the bridge piers I sleep every night with that road in my ears and think on the hundreds of trips through the years and pray there’ll be reason for more oh I’ve coasted the prairies for solace and calm sped o’er the bayous to spark a new song wound through the Blue Ridge and wept for the dawn but I’d rather cross Texas for you ‘cause the miles ain’t nothin the hours are few I’ll dodge the big trucks and the tornadoes too I'll cherish the roadway that brings me to you to stand in the light of your eyes yes, to stand in the light of your eyes 'cause I’m not afraid of IH-35 it’s the whole reason I learned how to drive and you bet I'm lucky to still be alive 'cause I’m not afraid of IH-35 no I’m not afraid of IH-35 I'm not afraid of IH-35

I should have written my name in the concrete nobody was there to arrest me and if I’d broken rules  well who cares who disapproves I need to leave a mark before I go I should have written my name in the concrete one last stand against the elements around me to say that I was here that I gave a couple years and no amount of shame can snuff it out but then they’ll knock upon my door but I don’t live here no more they’ll chase me ’cross the Mississippi River they’ll say the handwriting was mine and I’ll have to pay some fine for thinkin’ I was someone to remember I should have written my name in the concrete it’s just four little letters it’s nothing flashy and I won’t be accused of showing off signing big like John Hancock and my Social’s probably public anyhow I should have written my name in the concrete instead of telling myself I was too busy too old and too mature as if that would deter me from the reckless things I do when I’m alone but then they’ll knock upon my door but I don’t live here no more they’ll chase me ’cross the Mississippi River they’ll say the handwriting was mine and I’ll have to pay some fine for thinkin’ I was someone to remember

I’ve given up taking pictures while driving and struggling to stay in the lanes I’d rather be lost in the beauty of frost than try to preserve it in a few blurry frames cornbread and coffee peace in the valley Ohio howdy goodbye Kentucky I’ll be sleeping well in the Rust Belt tonight miles by the thousands have slipped by my side every year it has its own face and I think of you loving me when my heart was ugly and never quite knew just which dream to chase cornbread and coffee peace in the valley Ohio howdy goodbye Kentucky I’ll be sleeping well in the Rust Belt tonight and don’t the wind cut through the thickest of coats and lash those knuckles to shreds oh I’d stay in the car but that won’t get me far when the tank ain’t got nothing left cornbread and coffee peace in the valley Ohio howdy goodbye Kentucky I’ll be sleeping well in the Rust Belt tonight

oh the martin’s in the myrtle and the blossom’s on the bluff and the coyote’s in the valley with the weeping dove and the painted rock’s a’rollin’ and the springs are flowing blue and no harm is gonna come to you oh I told you in a whisper and the mountain made a sigh and the river ran closer and the crows asked why well the law can give an answer and a legend tell the truth but no harm is gonna come to you can you feel that early sunrise spreading over the lake from the curtain of pine trees to the tugboat’s wake well if we get a move on we can make it to the moon and no harm is gonna come to you i been spendin’ my weekends hunkered down on the job you been flying through the hours tryin’ to make them stop just a month or between us till we’re in the same room and no harm is gonna come to you.  oh I’d make you mine forever but you ain’t mine to keep the way from here is tricky babe the climb is steep but I swore on a Bible stolen from a musty church pew that no harm is gonna come to you and you worried I was leaving and it hurt you when I did you’ve every right to doubt me not to trust me one bit but we done a lotta growing and this story ain’t through and no harm is gonna come to you

and her sun kissed face of dimples showed no sign of teasing she said “get on back to Nashville I think it’s where your heart belongs” and her lip began to tremble as she searched for better reasons and I felt as her fingers slipped out of my palms blazin' hot tears blazin’ hot tears after all of these years I can still feel the blazin’ hot tears so I set out on my boots walked a mile up San Pedro until a little taqueria reminded me I’d better eat and I sat down in a booth and looked at all the other tables everybody had companions everybody else but me  blazin' hot tears blazin’ hot tears after all of these years I can still feel the blazin’ hot tears and the waiter brought some chips straight out of the fryer he said “here’s our home made salsa we make it out of fresh pequin” and I thanked him for the tip but I didn’t know no better I loaded up a greedy dose and sent it sailing through my teeth blazin' hot tears blazin’ hot tears after all of these years I can still feel the blazin’ hot tears

O God be with me O be my Guide as I plunge through the darkness of this night too late in leavin’ too worn to drive too long to wait  until I see those city lights my thoughts are tangled my chest it pounds you’d think my supper  had been straight up coffeegrounds O lend Your kindness spark my hope give me something to long for  as I barrel down this road O God be with me O Lord be near grant Your protection from the whims of foolish deer they pant for water  their souls to fill seems more to me they’re on some mission to get killed at every shadow I tap the brake and there ain't no telling  how long this trip could take the Lord is loving  to all He has made — so would You show them mercy keep ‘em far out of my way O God be with me my Shepherd-Friend, hear now the music  as I cross the Coastal Bend my favorite records  spin from their queue You framed the sound waves and I offer them back to You sure as the engine and the tires hum, speak now the promises  about what You’ve begun O ward away  my loneliness let me know Your comfort that You will give me rest O God be with me, O be my sight this fog is thicker  than I’ve seen in all my life the Gulf is hanging  in the clammy air in the passing glow  of a distant gas well’s flare well do I press on or do I wait I gotta work tomorrow and I can’t be out so late Light of the world O clear the way and lead me home before the dawn breaks forth in day

how did we get here in Tennessee noonday sun early summer breeze your arm around your brother looking down yellow roses piled on a mound and you’re not asking why life had to end this way just why it has to end at all when did we learn to be brave we never had a need to bond over pain it was all Cincinnati fire kites rough-and-tumble games backyard camper on a Friday night when the heat was 98 and we’re not asking why life has to hurt this way just why it has to hurt at all we never saw ourselves as bracing for the pain just building love to break the fall all the times we swapped our secrets in the dark barely whispering our words racing on the field at Milburn Park kicking up the patchy turf digging tunnels in the sand just to see how long they’d stand is this what we did it for is this what we did it for seems likes it all comes down to this like turning leaves and smoky wisps we build upon a bygone day if I share the past  then too the pain and we’re not asking why life has to hurt this way just why it has to hurt at all we never saw ourselves as bracing for the pain just building love to break the fall just building love to break the fall

Well I spent three hours Monday night trying to fall asleep I named all the Texas counties instead of counting sheep Aransas to Zavala didn’t get me any zees until I tried ranking them by population density I’m a straight-A student of the Texas map I know every county seat from Graham to Anahuac I learned ‘bout Davy Crockett on my mama’s lap and I even memorized the Texas Almanac well you think my state pride is just a little absurd when you hear me rattle off the random stuff I’ve learned you ask me why well I’m telling you no lie every bluebonnet lady needs a Lone Star Nerd y’see I never played a game beneath the Friday Night Lights spent most of high school laughing at the athletic guys ‘cause the encyclopedia was my friend that's how I always knew a well-read brain’s the surest way to make them ladies swoon (chorus) well I’ll tell you one more time she said "darlin’ you’re a sweet thing I mean that from my heart and I’m honored you’re in love with me but it’s time for us to part ‘cause I’d like to hear ‘I love you’ every time you hold my hand and not the cubic feet per second flowing from the Rio Grande… I said…but darlin’…what more could you possibly ask for I’m a straight-A student of the Texas map I know every county seat from Crane to Anahuac I learned ‘bout Davy Crockett on my mama’s lap and I even memorized the Texas Almanac well you think my state pride is just a little absurd when you hear me rattle off the random stuff I’ve learned you ask me why well I'm telling you no lie every bluebonnet lady needs a Lone Star Nerd you ask me why well I'll tell ya one more time every bluebonnet lady needs a Lone Star Nerd

Mama kissed us bye, said I love ya and we walked the blocks for Dubya on that blustery autumn night beneath the mercury blue street lights neighbor’s front door opened slow hey man ya still got time to vote but he don’t care about the clock 'cause we heard them fightin' before we knocked in these cookie-cutter homes cheap wood and moldy limestone some folks stay locked up all alone out here in Leander blame it on the railroad tracks built this town and steals our tax we complain but can’t quite turn our backs on Leander oh no, oh no no no no no no we complain but can’t quite turn our backs on Leander back when they brought me home from Seton with Mama’s belly still healin’ this was Austin’s last frontier cotton, county roads and deer now it’s sixty thousand strong or see what the census brings along they say those West Coast refugees flood in, think everything is free all those subdivision dreams of shaded oaken canopies begin as blinding sunny sapling streets in Leander but give it time, the paint will fade just as the live oaks yield their shade a thousand new foundations every day laid in Leander oh oh, oh no no no no no no a thousand new foundations every day laid in Leander and I was smaller than the Craftsman when money led me to action shoved it 'cross a neighbor’s lawn heat-struck before the job was done burly man with a Spanish name gave me pizza and lemonade took a raincheck for another day and when I came back I trimmed every blade in these quarter acre yards lined with fleets of worn-out cars some folks sink their money and their hearts into Leander the godly people keep theirs nice the heathen let the weeds grow high but now i’ve learned it ain’t so cut and dry in Leander oh no, oh no no no no no no grow up and find it ain’t so cut and dry in Leander sometimes I wish I’d gone to see more football games instead of dreamin’ bout the stage build stronger ties to town and place I thought I can’t love what I never will and I won’t move back least not for thrills but then the music died and the world stood still I’m number sixty thousand one back from Tennessee I’ve run the most reluctant native son of old Leander and in these quarter acre lawns the green blades rise like Easter dawn come July they will be dead and gone but I pray we’ll be strong ‘cause me and Mama walk the block to keep our minds off the clock missing the world before it stopped treasuring the time we’ve got in these cookie-cutter homes cheap wood and moldy limestone we’re locked up but we don’t feel so all alone in Leander oh no, oh no no no no no no we don’t feel so all alone in Leander