We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Bible Belt Sessions, Vol. 1

by John Lucas

/
1.
Everybody’s slaying just to get ahead Yeah everybody’s slaving just to get ahead But you’ll never be free if you’re chaining those behind Or if you’re selling your soul on the dotted line I ain’t selling my songs to the record man Cause their radio stations won’t reach this land I ain’t moving to the city and changing my name You can keep your money you can keep your fame You can gain the whole world But it’ll cost your soul Oh everybody dies Clinging to fool’s gold Give me what’s real What doesn’t rust or fade Come hell or high water Come judgement day I’ve seen the rivers rise and overtake their banks Like cities that crumble under bombs and tanks Empires come and empires go Oh you can dam the river but you can’t stop the flow I ain’t fighting your wars in god knows where How much sorrow can the whole earth bear? How many flags we all gotta fold Before the empires are buried under blood and gold? You can gain the whole world But it’ll cost your soul Oh everybody dies Clinging to fool’s gold Give me what’s real What doesn’t rust or fade Come hell or high water Come judgement day Give me my job at the corner store And I will sell liquor ‘til we close the doors We can keep the lights on just fine And I can pay the rent on time Give me my garden and the morning dew And give me my wife with her worn out shoes Give me my son with his toothy grin And I would live this life again Oh I would live this life again Yeah I would live this life again You can gain the whole world But it’ll cost your soul Oh everybody dies Clinging to fool’s gold Give me what’s real What doesn’t rust or fade Come hell or high water Come judgement day
2.
Mister loosen that tie And don’t bother with your tent Oh I expect they’ll be a few stars tonight My soul don’t need no savin’ And I reckon everybody in this town’s Been saved a few times before We all drink a little whisky And we all play a few cards But the Holy Ghost runs free in these hills - We’ve got four chords and the gospel If you want to sing a few hymns while The children dance barefoot in the grass We’ve all seen our share of sorrows We’ve all learned to give and to borrow Our barn’s been full and our barns been bare They say a chord of three strands Ain’t easily broken Oh we’ve got four chords and the gospel, babe
3.
My dear, everything moves so fast It all moves so fast these days But come in real close and dance real slow And maybe time will change its pace Maybe we can sing time to sleep Just for tonight And we can tiptoe and slip outside Before he wakes the morning’s light - And like carolers on Christmas Eve We will call on those held dear And we will pass the spirits among us And we will toast the coming year It will surely come before we know it And the next upon its heels But within this life is splendor tangled Like Christmas lights unreeled My dear it’s still A wonderful life A wonderful life My dear it’s still A wonderful life My dear let’s toast the sorrows And the dreams left unfulfilled For this life is a blink and a whisper But look at all that we have built Look at all the friends we have to share with Look at all the hope that we have dared with Look at how far we’ve leapt And how far we’ve come My friends it’s still A wonderful life A wonderful life My friends it’s still A wonderful life
4.
Come banging through the kitchen, babe And rattle all the pots and pans Girl you’re my favorite distraction From the wars in every land Come crash into my windowpane Come startle me in my cage Oh sparrow of freedom, wake me from slumber And remind me to turn the page Oh our wild boy Come kicking out of the womb Remind us that pain may last for the night But our hearts will always have room Oh sweet song of joy Come rise again in our chests Pour your bottle of fine aged wine And pull up a chair for our guests Oh joy, come and dance with us tonight Oh sorrow move the table And break out the candles for light Oh peace bring your fiddle And the banjo with a few good strings And set our mouths to singing And set our feet to dancing With the Giver of all good things
5.
Faith ain’t having all the answers, babe Or even a glimpse around the next bend Faith is getting knocked down hard, babe And learning how to get out of bed again Faith sometimes builds a boat in the desert Faith sometimes walks on angry seas Faith sometimes holds your hand through the night Or washes your feet with bended knees - Faith is believing that love is stronger Than kings and princes who divide and conquer Faith is laying your body down And believing new life will come up from the ground I ain’t lost my faith, boy It’s stronger now than it’s ever been For I have learned how to dance in the dark And that’s where all new life begins Let new life begin in me Let new life begin in me
6.
Oh I’ve known too many men Who’ve been hung with the Bible Belt Oh a hammer can build a home or crack a skull With enough hands you can twist most things You can kill two thieves with the King of Kings But it ain’t murder babe if there’s a crowd - Oh you can ship a boy off to war Without telling him what he’s fighting for For everyone outside the wall’s an enemy Narrow the gate to the promised land, But bend your knee and raise your hand And you’ll be counted righteous among the weeds - Oh judgement day is coming soon For the witches, sinners, and infidels Oh the hangman’s tied the noose and called the dogs Truth sometimes is who shouts the loudest With the boldest tongue of the scriptures calloused While Jesus whispers, ‘they know not what they do’

credits

released August 7, 2020

All songs written by John Lucas Kovasckitz. Recorded in Boone, NC.
Everett Hardin - producer, engineer, mixing, mastering, wizarding, cello
JLK - vocals, whistles, acoustic guitars, piano, drums (sorta, not really)
Luke Skaggs - fiddle, banjo, electric / slide guitars
Erin Deuel - BGVs
Everly Hardin - production assistance, synths
Caroline Hardin - violin
Design / video / hype team - Kovasckitz Brothers (Judson and Rudy)

Special thanks to Jason and Kimberly English for opening up The Cozy Owl for recording.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

John Lucas Boone, North Carolina

John Lucas is a singer-songwriter from the mountains of NC.

contact / help

Contact John Lucas

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like John Lucas, you may also like: