August 3rd, 2013
2007-Ever West
In 2007 Danny Speer, Dee Specker, Bobby Henrie and Doug Henrie followed their 2003 offering “Circle D” with the album “Ever West”, calling themselves Circle D Nation. Ever West was recorded by Chad Crumm in his Trumansburg studio & mixed by Dee’s friend Bil Vorndick in Nashville. It was released on Ithaca Records, home label of the Burns Sisters. The band broke up shortly after finishing Ever West, but the songs live on as some of Danny’s best country songwriting. The album is a showcase for the vocal talents of Dee & especially the multi-instrument maven Bobby Henrie who plays fine fiddle banjo & mandolin solos in addition to the muscular guitar stylings which are his forte. On the song Chicken Coop Hill Bobby referenced our memories of The Highwoods Stringband practically by himself through the marvel of overdubbing. Bobby & Doug Henrie were 2 of the 5-brother Henrie Family Stringband out of Middlesex NY, who since the 70’s remain a central New York legend. Ever West was mastered by Will Russell at Electric Wilburland.
Woody
Woody ran away from home.
All fall down the cheese stands alone.
Kick the can steal the bacon
mama don’t you know your long lost son.
What goes on in the old neighborhood?
Ain’t been back here since I left for good.
Been to hell in a handcart
take me back to heaven if you would.
(chorus)
Downtown we found messing around an underground renown.
Baby and the way that we stayed made in the shade
it makes me want to say whop-bop-a-doodle.
Love me love me you don’t have to tell me that you love me,
better run away and join the army,
better find a better way to talk about your baby.
You were a liar you were a cheater
you know you were a liar you were a cheater
and everyone knows your time has come,
Woody you’d better keep on running.
Woody never quite comes down from his elevator.
Sing the song and play the clown & pay you later.
(I’ve) heard that before catskills were kittens,
swears it won’t be the same this time around (chorus)
Everwest
We’d like to think we could be rebels… spin this world a different way
step out of line for just a time and let the chips fall where they may.
The powers that be are not forgiving they just smile to show their teeth.
They’ll knock you down run you aground you’ll have to fight for your beliefs.
(chorus)
Keep your compass ever west
Truer than any, eyes on the prize.
The effort drives the engine we realize.
The colonies are full of castoff’s bound to seek a better life.
There are no homes for lazy bones work dawn to dusk just to survive.
Clipper ships and Conastogas took them to the promised land.
How hard they tried they satisfied the need to be a better man.
(chorus)
We’d like to emulate our heros who blazed the trail and found the way.
When in doubt they’d tough it out now we use that highway everyday.
And as the earth turns counterclockwise the sun and moon keep traveling west
we’ll find the heart the hardest part is always give it your best.
(chorus)
Who is the Queen of Your Dreams ?
Tonight we had a quarrel over nothing; a fight we should have never had at all.
A year ago it would have passed but now it lingers on
I wonder who is the queen of your dreams?
We swore we’d cherish one another the day we walked together down the aisle
but in your eyes i see a look that’s far away
I wonder who is the queen of your dreams?
I tried to be a perfect lover i don’t see why you need another
but when i touch you now i see you think of her
I wonder who is the queen of your dreams?
So all that i can do is watch you sleeping
and wish that i could hold you like she does.
I’m jealous of the pillow that you cradle in your arms
I wonder who is the queen of your dreams?
Oregon Trail
As we rolled out of St. Joseph we knew one natural fact
once on the trail there would be no turning back.
All winter long as we polished our gear we prayed for good luck
then one April day came the cry the grass is up.
(chorus)
We left it all behind on the Oregon trail.
It was a trying time but we did not know how to fail.
We forded the rivers and followed the streams 20 miles a day
dragging those wagons every step of the way.
Into those mountains so god awful high crossing the divide
making Ft. Boise the last day of July.
( chorus)
Six pair of oxen pulled all that we owned horses strung behind
all through that summer of 1849.
Bridger and Fremont pointed the way north by northwest
to the peace in these valleys of content.
(chorus)
Safe in our homes now we sit by the fire and glory in those days
what with the railroad the trail’s begun to fade.
We led the greatest adventure of our lives and it will remain
crossing the country on that wagon train
(chorus)
Chicken Coop Hill
Moved way up on Chicken Coop Hill, ain’t so many neighbors.
One room schoolhouse to rebuild with new frontier behavior…
Autumn dawn come soon too late to get this cabin snug- like.
Days are short and guns report and suddenly it’s twilight.
Inside a paradise made for hibernation,
laid by the raw supplies for rejuvenation.
Sho-nuff the time will come when i can laze out sideways,
coax old machines to run and hip-hooray the holidays.
Waking up on chicken coop hill Circle D my nation.
Made my own bed so i can lie down and take libation.
Long to turn the teapot on, take a dream vacation
if i can just get through all this winter preparation.
High time to read my mind shape that new creation,
fly by the long dark night to some new sensation.
Hold tight the winding wind snow blind in a whiteout,
scream and shout and thrash about say
who let the doggies out?
Living up on Chicken Coop Hill socked in for the winter
got no great American novel to deliver.
Got to see the chores are done before i play git-fiddle
one or two more things to do then pancakes on the griddle.
Hi-ho a hundred crows talk about the day’s find
sitting in the last leaf oaks in a silhouetted skyline.
Find time to read my mind shape that tricky rhyme- bind.
Scream and shout and thrash about say
who let the doggies out?
Letter Of The Law
Daddy was as honest as the day is long
had he any money he would bring it home to Mom
Raised up in the country almost no law there,
just for everyone to pitch in and do their share.
(chorus)
The letter of the law should never be decreed to you.
But little minds will find the time to weep and frown and drag you down.
Daddy said the family saved him from himself,
get those kids around and teach em’ to be a help.
Raised us in the country mind to tip your cap
yes ma’am i wish they all could be more like that.
The letter of the law should never be decreed-
to honest thieves like you & me,
something we can believe.
Those little minds will sneak up from behind
when you’re slipping through some country stop sign.
Daddy did a stretch somewhere he could not abide
sadly he admitted he had tried to live a lie.
The day he faced blind justice on that witness stand
Daddy paid the price to be his own man.
New Winter Sky
Down in the holler with Jesse lord knows how many lifetimes ago…
he told me i’d never be no one but his,
till it thundered he’s never let go.
I called for the old snapping turtle to rise
I called for the wind to blow dust in his eyes…
as Jesse fell down the embankment to die
my fate clouded over like a new winter sky.
(chorus)
Those clouds will come rolling oceans of motion a-roil and alive.
& I must be going back to the east with the clouds in the sky.
On a Queen City levee one night a Pinkerton agent had followed my flight,
so he had to be number two in boot hill,
gatekeeper may i claim innocence still?
I told him i didn’t believe in his plan i told him he’d never put a ring on my hand.
I’ll tell you the same thing if you ever try i must be going like new winter sky
(chorus)
1000 Ways
No matter what you call this feeling it’s sublime.
I wake up every morning with you on my mind.
Now all the world is just a backdrop for your face,
I turn around and see your picture every place.
(chorus)
A thousand moments add up to a day give
me a reason now to find a thousand ways…
a thousand ways a thousand ways…
The spinning of my wheels wasn’t just from the snow.
I couldn’t stop myself when you first said hello.
But now i’m humming like a perfect gyroscope
the twinkle in your eye has given me hope.
(chorus)
I can’t remember when my step has been so light.
I keep on checking to make sure I’m not in flight.
The very moment that my feet don’t touch the ground
coincides with any time that you’re around.
(chorus)
A thousand ways to sing the praises of our lucky stars above,
a thousand ways to string the phrases of the abcdefg’s of love…
Floodplain
You can see this is a floodplain if you climb any tree.
This place has been underwater at least once a century.
And the last time it happened back in ’33
just rooftops and steeples was all you could see.
There was no making ready for that high water mark
they kept building that levee when they should have built an ark.
(chorus)
Water rushing down the hills to a swollen river tide.
Crops & commerce gone like magic along with pomp and pride…
may they rest in peace on the other side.
As for life on the floodplain it flows along for the ride
because hope springs eternal and luck is bona fide.
So we’ll go where the jobs are and build it back complete.
It’s the past we ignore that we’re doomed to repeat
(chorus)
That Doesn’t Do Justice To Angels
To say they’re beautiful is less than the truth
beyond the calling of an artist.
To hope they’ll find you is the dream of a youth-
a trail of breadcrumbs in the forest.
A mother’s prayer asking for their concern is whispered by the cradle
and when you walked away from your crash and burn you tried to give them a label,
(chorus)
but that doesn’t do justice to angels that doesn’t do justice to angels…
Whoever saved me from the worst of myself,
I’m so glad to go on living.
Fell off the deep end and i needed some help but i haven’t yet stayed missing.
(chorus)
The sun plays tricks the way it highlights your hair reminds me of a halo.
You’ve always done a lot more than your share and i keep trying to say so.
(chorus)
I can’t explain the transformation i’ve known this sense i may not be completely alone…
(chorus)
Cucamonga
Along the road to cucamongo we looked for love and on beyond-a
(on a slow boat to China).
From coast to coast we frittered away the better part of most everyday
while absence made the heart grow fonder, chow chow chow…
(chorus)
Temper temper temper in the limbo line
we can talk turkey any old time.
Right about now is a dandelion desiree summertime sign on
for shuffleboard shuffleboard checkered flag,
suffered from suffered from jetlag,
lovers on board lovers on board lovers on summertime time summertime sign.
Be grateful to the cruise director who set it up.
Sayanora Cucamonga vector-
I can’t get enough of that stuff.
A cat from cucamonga and a Canandaigua gal
went for broke in Oklazona some slippery slope no doubt.
They got away with nothing at all, but that’s ok, they conquered it all
when love came down to claim it’s own-a
(chorus)