From Barnstormin':
Kentucky
River
(J.Reams/T.Aridas, BMI)
Chorus:
Kentucky River keeps on flowing
Pours from the mountains into my heart
Though
I’ve left my home far behind me
The river and I never can part
I
was born in east Kentucky
A river flows near my hometown
Its
waters wash clean the souls of sinners
Its
grassy banks are holy ground
As
just a child, I took my daydreams
To
those clear waters and that green shore
I
dreamt I was leaving my lonesome valley
Now
I dream of going home once more
As
the shroud of dark night approaches
I
hear the wind call my name
And
I dreamt I was there by that lonesome river
My
life will never be the same.
Coal
Dust In My Soul
(J.Reams,
BMI)
Many
a miner in their cages descend
Down
into pitch black, a new day begins
Headlamp,
lunchbox, water for the day
Wives
and children at home kneel and pray
Chorus:
Coal
dust in my soul, aching in my back
Only
life I know, old coal-town shacks
Cigarette in the morning, cold coffee at noon
Bourbon
at quittin’ time, I’m digging my tomb
A
number two shovel has seen its last day
A
few pieces of scrip, another day’s pay
Down
at the bottom the shadows of doom
The
lamps blaze a trail through the darkness and gloom
Red
clay coal camp, train whistle smoke
Diggin’ the
black rock, coal for the coke
Pray
to God that my son won’t come down
Takes
the first dirt road out of this coal town
Buffalo
Creek Flood
(T.Aridas/J.Reams,
BMI)
The
Buffalo Creek flood disaster occurred on February 26, 1972,
in Logan County, West Virginia. On that day, 125 people died — men, women and children — and 4,000 people were left homeless.
No family in the town was left untouched by this terrible event
— an event that was man-made and could have been prevented.
Up
on a hillside where a small stream ran
The
coalmine owners they built them a dam
To
clean off the coal and filter the sludge,
As
God is a witness, so God be the judge.
Chorus:
The
coal black water roared down from the hills,
Made Buffalo Creek a dark river that kills.
No act of God, no ordinary flood,
The
water that did this was the Devil’s own mud.
The
coal and the slag and the sludge and debris
Took away sixteen towns
when it broke through Dam Three.
The thick black water came rushing through town
With the bodies of children, bones broken and drowned.
Up
in New York the lawyers did claim
That
God or the government or us was to blame.
What's
left of our town is stained with black marks.
What's
left of our lives is broke bones and broke hearts.
The
Cincinnati Southern
(J.Reams/T.Aridas,
BMI)
The
Cincinnati Southern, Queen City’s finest line
Trains
pull into Danville, delivering on time
Highball
freight train rolling past old boom-town shacks
On
its way to Tennessee, a full load on its back
The
train roared south from Union brought tools to mining towns
Took
the black coal back up north in shipments factory-bound
Through
dark of night and blinding snow it toiled through many years
That
sturdy iron workhorse was a rugged mountaineer
Chorus:
That
last train out of town blew a long and lonesome cry
It
carried away a memory, the steam train’s fading sigh
Those
mighty locomotives that once roared down the tracks
Snorting
clouds of bellowing steam, now have silent stacks
That
big hard-working freight train went roaring towards the bridge
Its
coal was loaded heavy as it rounded the last ridge
The
hill was steep, the brakes were old, the track in disrepair
The
runaway train was gaining speed, the brakeman said a prayer
The
crash was heard five miles away by miners in the town
The
thunder of destruction as the train came roaring down
The
townsfolk heard a mournful cry, a whistle in farewell
It
was the steaming freight train as it rang its own death-bell
At
a depot in Kentucky, a farewell at the door
A
porter put her bags inside, a conductor yelled “All aboard”
The train pulled out, the bell rang twice, the day had just begun
How many trains would leave before the setting of the sun
The
water tanks are empty now, the fireboxes gone
The
south-bound train has vanished and no longer sings its song
To
stand beside the iron rails as the engine rumbles by
We
watch it vanish down the tracks and sadly wave good-bye
Dogwood
Tree
(J.Reams/T.Aridas)
A
dogwood tree grew on a hill
Its
petals white and pure
From
its thick trunk a cross was formed
The
cross our Lord endured
Chorus:
He
was nailed on that dogwood cross
As
the sky turned black as coal
He
gave his life for all our sins
He
died to save our souls
The blossoms in the springtime
Reveal the crown of thorns
The berries are a crimson red
But
bitter when they’re born
A mighty tree was cursed the day
The stone sealed up the tomb
But glorious jubilation
When the dogwood is in bloom
From James
Reams, Walter Hensley & The Barons
of Bluegrass:
Crossing
Jordan
(J.Reams/T.Aridas,
BMI)
My
family has gathered
Their
eyes show their grief
The smiles on their faces
Deny what's beneath
Their
sorrow's their burden
My troubles are done
Their struggle continues
My battle is won
Chorus:
Jordan I'm crossing
Jordan's waves tossing
Jordan,
Oh Jordan, I’m coming home tonight
I'm
meeting my Savior
At
Heaven's bright shore
My life's been a hard one
But I'll toil no more
To
God's loving presence
I'll
journey tonight
The darkness will part to
Reveal holy light
Though
death overtakes me
I've
nothing to fear
The angels' sweet singing
Are the voices I hear
I'll
soon leave this vessel
Of
skin and old bones
The ship of Salvation
Will
carry me home
From Troubled Times:
Troubled
Times
(J.Reams,
BMI)
Dawn
till dusk out with the plow
Always
pulled us through somehow
Dad
would sit at the table and say grace:
"Lord,
let us hold on to the old homeplace"
Chorus:
Hand-hewn
beams held up the barn
Mom and Dad's dreams held on to the farm
Till it slipped like
dust through their hard-working hands
Sometimes
the devil has other plans
((subst. “banker” for “devil” last
chorus))
Winter's
chill went to the bone
Mom
had made our house a home
Caressed
us all with heart and hand
But troubled times had filled the land
Early spring brought hope and despair
Flocks of blackbirds filled the air
A muddy road led to our home
The man from the bank foreclosed on the loan
Eye
Of The Storm
(J.Reams/T.Aridas,
BMI)
In the final days of summer, at the last light of the day
As the withering heat was waning, and the sky was turning gray
Though
I saw the dark clouds gathering, I hoped to wait it out
But a hard rain started falling and the wind drowned out my shouts
Chorus:
Now
each way that I turn is blocked by misery
I’m
in the eye of the storm and it’s
knocked me to my knees
I
didn’t
heed the warnings, I was fool enough to stay
Now the road home is a dead end and the bridge is washed away
All
my life I’ve been a gambler, even when the stakes were
high
I
was counting on good fortune, I was counting on blue skies
But
luck collides with fate like storm clouds along the crest
Bad luck, like clouds, were gathering, and our home was repossessed
I
lost my home and family. My story is not new
I’ll
never see my love again, the sky will not be blue
The
wind has blown me far away from all that I hold dear
And
the storm clouds in my troubled soul I know will never clear
Hills
Of My County
(T.Aridas/J.Reams,
BMI)
Coal
mining has evolved from the earlier method of digging deep
inside mountains to the modern-day process of blowing them
apart and throwing the remains into the creeks and valleys.
Doesn’t
sound like progress to me.
They
tunneled deep into the hills of my county
The
mules and the ponies went blind underground
The
men and the boys got sick from the coal dust
A
deadly affliction for pennies a pound
If
God had not put coal in these mountains
If
there had been nothing but rock, dirt and trees
My
Daddy’d
be walking these hills in the springtime
Not
living a hard death of black lung disease
Now
dynamite blasts off the top of these mountains
And
big machines carve out the coal from the seams
They
flatten the hills and fill up the valleys
And
turn into black pools God’s pure mountain streams
If
God had not put coal in these mountains
If
He had blessed them with nothing to mine
The
hilltops would offer their green domes to Heaven
Crowned
with pink rosebay and blackberry vines
The
strip mines that take off the tops of these mountains
Leave
scars that won’t heal and make God turn his eyes
They
level the hilltops that once reached toward Heaven
A
mighty green skyline now humble in size
As
God looks down at coal mining counties
At
what has been done to this blessed land
I
wonder if He ever wishes He never
Put
coal in these mountains and gave them to man
From Wild Card:
Where
No Heart Goes Hungry
(T.Aridas/J.Reams,
BMI)
As
a young man I journeyed from my home in the mountains
To
reap from the city what my dreams had there sown
Behind me I put the hard rock of tradition
Thinking the city sprang up from rich loam
Chorus:
Back
home to the loving embrace of my family
I’ll
flee from this turbulent world to find calm
Where
no one’s a stranger and no heart goes hungry
Where wounds too deep to heal receive balm
Adventure I sought and adventure I found
In the arms of a woman and the grip of the gin
When
my pockets soon emptied I robbed the next mail
train
No gain from the deed beyond my mounting sins
In prison farm work I found some redemption
I
done served twelve years, I’ve just eight years more
I’ll
walk out of here twenty years older
Than the young fool who yearned for adventure before
Women and liquor and riches on mail trains
Are the fruit of the seeds of a restless young mind
No field or mine or mill can compare
With the hardships of life serving prison farm time
