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"BEATITUDE" Bill Mallonee & Vigilantes of Love (Summer 2013)

by Bill Mallonee

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Craigory Bacon
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Craigory Bacon A slightly less raucous companion to "The Power and The Glory" and "Amber Waves," live favorites such as "Rural Route" and "Coal Dust Soul" get the full studio treatment here.

Muriah lends her gorgeous vocals all over "Beatitude," and some nice pedal steels additions strengthen the musical tracks (over the earlier WPA demos).

Worth the price of admission just for the proper studio version of "Neon Passes Through," and the plenty-raucous "Bread & Circuses." Favorite track: SKIN GETS THIN (WHEN THE NEON PASSES THROUGH).
matt redmond
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matt redmond This album just doesn't get enough attention. It's beautiful and genius and sounds like every breaking heart and every dream ever dreamt undernearth a sheet of stars.
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1.
BETWEEN THE HEARTACHE (& THE STARS I COULDN'T CATCH) words and music: bill mallonee Let’s, see I guess it’s been...almost 2 years, my friend since she left my side to cross over...from my arms that River a thousand miles wide Baby, you were the jewel in that Carolina school but rendering was my humble trade had a little schooling...maybe I could have gone further but...there were wars to be made chorus: now all that’s carved in stone and all that’s writ in ink all you though that you could bank on well, it’s not what ya’ think started fallin’ off the radar started fallin’ off the map between the heartache and the stars I couldn’t catch between the heartache and the stars I couldn’t catch the fragrance you would wear that lingered in your hair your eyes were stars...and all that I could see we’d dance the world to bed with Glenn Miller in our heads honey, you always got the best of me I clean off those dust vents in this period of adjustment and I still do your “honey-do” list but the light in this room on those late afternoons ...just bring and ache...and loneliness
2.
COAL DUST SOUL Music/lyrics: bill mallonee You tell yourself it’s only temporary just a few years to shave off of your youth But sure as tomorrow, given all you’ll have to borrow that company store won’t ever turn you loose chorus 1 a miner’s world is a dark one miner’s world is full of ghosts a miner’s I’ll guarantee... she prays more than most I won’t have much to offer no, I won’t have much to show nothing but this coal dust soul nothing but this coal dust soul There’s always one more kid that’s gonna gamble but there’s no escaping the curse when all yer measured by down here are the veins you can clear and what you can scrape outta the earth chorus 2 a miner’s world is a dark one miner’s world is full of ghosts a miner’s wife, I reckon, she prays more than most and if I get to heaven I won’t have much in tow nothing but this coal dust soul nothing but this coal dust soul now to steal the earth’s possessions must surely come with a cost and I know all my friends down here by the sound of their cough I know ‘em by the smiles they smile beneath the grimy face I know ‘em by the things they can’t really say chorus 3 a miner’s world is a dark one miner’s world is full of ghosts a miner’s wife, I’m here to say she prays more than most and if I do get meet Jesus I won’t have much to show nothing but this coal dust soul nothing but this coal dust soul
3.
FAIL (Straight, No Chaser) words/music: bill mallonee trails that led to the mountain top too late to turn back, too late to stop friends? they left with logs in their eyes clapped invisible hands at my demise and that's how the righteous always apply the justice of God with a cold clear eye ain't no souls here without a taint in every sinner there lies the perfect saint chorus: lay down you sorrows...they'll still be there tomorrow for you to pick up again lay down your fears and doubts give of your heart from the inside out and all those sad mistakes? They'll still be there when you awake a million knocks at unopened doors a million questions there are no answers for always the last to know the score with these splinters in my knuckles sun going down and the city arises shakes off the dust of her compromises and down here kid, you know it never really ends ya' gotta learn to dream in colour again chorus: i swam out far; way past the shallows there was a thousand dreams hangin' on the gallows and the shadows they cast on the tender blades of Spring gave me just enough heart to sing again sing of the kisses, sing of the failures sing of the sadness; straight, no chaser sing of all that's poisoned you well sing of all you had to sell...
4.
BAKERSFIELD 05:21
BAKERSFIELD words & music: bill mallonee You crawled into that boxcar...thinkin' you were alone let your eyes get adjusted to the light...and those fifty other souls some runnin' from the law...some runnin' harder from the Lord most just lookin' for an honest job...to feed the kids back home Chorus: from the drought in Oklahoma...to the stockyards of Bakersfield it's mostly bread we begged for...with some sawdust in our meals the only gold i ever found...the only treasure i could find was looking in your eyes...your body next to mine how much of this is punishment? how much are our own choosin'? how much got set in motion....when the garden fell to ruins? would you be my brother and sister? we all could use a home the pride of man may stand real tall but no one goes at this alone There's so little we walk out with...and there's so much that gets lost seems to me it's pretty easy to see...where all cut from the same cloth you crawled into that boxcar...thinkin' yer alone let your eyes rest with a hallowed-ness on all those other souls
5.
RURAL ROUTE 05:38
RURAL ROUTE words/music: bill mallonee I’ve been bringin’ it now for 16 years or more I've been bringin’ it right to your front door I've been bringin’ it through the rain; the sleet and the snow past the old windmill, the cows and the corn chorus: I’ve been drivin’ these back roads with all of these doubts.....rural route you always wear that pretty dress and a smile and you like to comment on the weather and me? Well, me? I smile right back...and I reach in my pack and I hand you your letters I heard you had a son who went off to Iraq a medal and flag is all that you got back heard you had a husband once somewhere in the past you said, “that all got broke and nothing ever lasts.” I’ve seen a lotta of sunrises; and a lotta sunsets seen a lotta folks holding on and doing their level best and me? I bring ‘em the good news...and the bad before too long sometimes I just bring ‘em the shoulder to cry on
6.
FROM DAY ONE 04:51
FROM DAY ONE music/words: bill mallonee It was an empty page and the margins were free at least that’s how you...described it to me and your boots wandered the earth; across the hills and traces and you said that it all knew you...on a first name basis Chorus: And the sky held a sun...and it shown on your heart from day one and the sky was your friend... and the sky will take you back again You knew about the language used by springtime in Missouri when rays warm your face...and the earth she is a-buzzin’ ya’ learned to speak in tongues as your team pulled the rig and it made your hands strong...and it made your heart big Ya’ found a pretty wife and you called her your best friend and you leaned to lose your sadness in the contiurs of her skin You raised you up a family...but they moved on to other things and the sky they never loved it...quite the way you did And the one that held the sun... that shown on your heart from day one and the sky was your friend... and the sky will take you back again It was an empty page and the margins were free at least that’s how you...described it to me and your boots wandered the earth; across the hills and traces and you said that it all loved you...on a first name basis And the sky held the sun...that shown on your heart from day one and the sky was your friend... and the sky will take you back again and the sky will take you back again
7.
NEON PASSES THROUGH music/lyrics: bill mallonee At first it felt like alight in my eyes and a question i didn't know the answer to and me being of such a tender age i told 'em everything i knew i learned early one there were ghosts in the room and ghosts you will meet along the way never dismiss a spirit or kiss you're gonna need them one day CHORUS: and you shine cause you can still muster a spark blind your eyes and cauterize your heart here's a little something i'd like to give to you skin gets thin when the neon passes through all this time to kill and all these moments to embrace all these wastelands to fill with a smile on your face and me just wanting to be understood? i bled every drop i could make a world you can believe in..make a word you can kiss let it slid right through your fingers...or smash it with your fist at first it felt like a light in my eyes you learn to tell the truth and you learn to lie
8.
COWBOY SONG 05:54
COWBOY SONG words/music: bill mallonee Like a cowboy song........from a time bygone long on brighter days when the melody...gotta lil' buried and the good things...they just fade from the pure white dress...to the long black veil to the broken paths you took from the first breath pulled...to the last shovelful and the closing of the book CHORUS: Away to the River Away to the Sea Away to a better place of peace well, we'll just wait we'll just wait...and see In between the seams...of the requiems i saw you in the sun And God's last Word...sweetest poem i've heard in the warm fields where you now run Like a cowboy song...sung out loud & long forlorn in the night God's......grace....is an open space and we were all bathed in light
9.
BREAD & CIRCUSES words/music: bill mallonee Old man wipes a sweaty brow, with a work shirt he had on "one more shovelful," he said, "and that should get 'er done." "All these new arrivals; that never have their say..." A prayer for the soul's repose...and then he walked away chorus #1: Empires die at midnight...ah, don't look so undone you can't we did not have us; one hell of a good run for those bread and circuses...bring 'em on going...going...going...gone type setter hit the printin' press, and he rode that thing till dawn clothe us all with hollow words...leave us naked in the storm He said, "You know i started out this enterprise, selling door to door I poured it out like strong drink...Now they all come back for more." yeah open the store house, let's see what's left in there. My, my how the foundations, seemed to vanish in thin air who put these locks upon our hearts, who put them on our hands? who made us so afraid, to help the fellowman? what could change the tide, prevent such sad out come? i'm gonna get down on my knees and ask the Lord to show me how to love best to go down swinging, best to go down slow still, it was such a nice place...i'm gonna hate to see it go... chorus #2 Empires die at midnight...now there's some sad poetry my friend drowning in it's own greed...rigor mortis settin' in. Empires die at midnight...ah, don't look so sullen you can't we did not have us; one hell of a good run for those bread and circuses...bring 'em on going...going...going...gone
10.
WYOMING Words/Music: bill mallonee Some say the world is a path you’re meant to ramble an everything I believed in was in shambles and so I headed for the big sky & warm weather to find a place to get my head together The Tetons are a grand sight to behold summer on the trails of Yellowstone the back country has a language I was learning less about words and more about yearning I thought there was nothing that I needed and nothing I could not do but, I never had friend....till I met you all you lose...and all you try to win all you do just to feel at home in your own skin and faith becomes a coin that you toss heads or tails, well, it all comes with a cost and love? well, isn’t that the greatest of all gifts you could ever present anybody with? Love is all that makes you laugh & all that makes you cry and Love? well, it’s just like Wyoming sky

about

Seriously? A wonderful Americana collection. One of my favs. The multiplicity of contributing musicians makes thins a beautiful work of art and gives it an elegance!
produced by Bill Mallonee.
mixed by Matt Reiflier & Bill Mallonee
Mastered by Bruce Neher at Disc & Dat

credits

released June 7, 2013

Individual songs credits vary. See songs for exact credits
personnel:
Bill Mallonee: acoustic, electric, hi-string guitars, vocals, harp
Muriah Rose. acoustic & electric keyboards, vocals
Jake Bradley: bass, electric guitar
Bill Pratt: pedal steel, banjo
Kevin Heuer: drums, percussion
Bert Shoaff: bass, double bass

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Bill Mallonee

Bill Mallonee is an Americana artist w/ 80 plus albums over a 30 year career. Voted by Paste Music Magazine #65 in their "Top 100 Living Songwriters" poll. He was the
founding member of Vigilantes of Love. He has worked with Mark Heard, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, & Peter Buck from REM.
His most recent work, "Lead On, Kindly Light" is a 23song double Cd released Feb 2020.
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