Stories and Lyrics from 'The Moon and The Sea (EP Release Oct 4, 2016)'.

Track 4: Drifting Heart

In the summer of 2015, I traveled and toured extensively along the west coast of California., camping under giant redwoods. I felt like a drifter at times as I watched the coast roll by. Written in ebbs and swells and solidified by the ethereal sounds of an Indian sarod after a late night jam session in Seattle, 'Drifting Heart' was born.

Woken by the wind
Fallin' redwood trees
Hold morning sparrows
How I got here
Tangled by the meadow ferns
In fields of fallow

Mine is a drifting heart
Descending down upon the world
Like autumn drops her leaves
In colors that bleed and swirl

Just brush away the fog
That clambers on the forest floor
Where you are grieving
So I can see more clear
To where your feet are leading you
In the changing seasons

Mine is a drifting heart
Descending down upon the world
Like autumn drops her leaves
In colors that bleed and swirl

We gotta grow what we sow, before the cold
We gotta grow what we sow, before the cold
We gotta grow what we sow, before the cold
We gotta grow what we sow, before we're old

So go to the coastline
Your just a ghost
Drifting away
Drifting away
Drifting away
Drifting away

Track 5: Oregon Snow

I took an Amtrak train to Portland from Flagstaff over Thanksgiving in the fall of 2014. For me it was a time of letting go and new beginnings. Being the holidays, I met a lot of warm hearted folks and made a sort of 'train posse'. At the end of a long ride I found myself stepping out into the misty rain of the Pacific Northwest.

I rode a train from the desert to Portland
While songbirds all fly south away from gray skies
Black smoke swirls and curls out of chimneys
A woman named Olivia is sleeping by the window side

Here I go,
Letting you go,
With the falling Oregon snow

Three years a stranger to my own shadow
A lover letter fool and talking these mountain town blues
Gave up the money and excess of plenty
To close my eyes and dream of something new

Here I go,
Letting you go,
With the falling Oregon snow

I see a misty moon swimming in a frozen river
Shaking up to their knees
Lord the trees sway and they shiver
I feel the gentle breath of my old friend the wind
I see myself, I see myself, alive again

I throw a rock straight over the train tracks
While all the lovers kiss one another goodbye
White clouds floating over blue ocean
I dropped my last cigarette watched it burn and die

Here I go,
Letting you go,
Here I go, 
Letting you go,
With the falling Oregon snow




 

 

 

Track 1: Deep Dark Woods

This song was written in a small house in
the St. Johns neighborhood (north of Portland) 
in the summer of 2015 . It touches on the delicate
balance between a need for solitude and an
overwhelming desire for companionship
during uncertain times.

I came from the hills
Hiding out in the forest
Sleeping on roots
Grown for hundreds of years

I came for the fruit
Hanging sweet in your orchard
For the deep dark woods
Left me starving my dear

Oh I don't want to waste your time
Oh I don't want to waste  your time

I'll offer you rain
Sunshine and wild grain
For shelter and care
And comfort from cold haunting air

I'll labor and toil
Working high in your trees
I'll offer to help you harvest
All that you need

Oh I don't want to waste your time
Oh I don't want to waste  your time
Oh I don't want to waste your time
Oh I don't want to waste  your time

I'm leaving out the window

Track 2: Gloria May

This song came to birth in a small woodstove
cabin in Paonia, Colorado, in February 2015.
During a month long songwriting residency
and holed up amongst the Colorado Snow,
visions of the perfect unobtainable lover were born
in the guise of the wild sea.

She's kicking up dust as she plants her feet on the ground
Tenders the garden a queen chasing the clouds
She's playing her cards and throwing out hands of tricks
She laughs at the wind as it blows and it whips

Gloria May, wild as the sea
Riding on waves, riding on waves,
Oh how she's free

Gloria May, she called out to me
Singing a tune, under the moon,
Wild as the sea, Oh she's wild as the sea

She's sharpens her axe and splits part the heavens in two
Holding the stars in the palm of her hand for you
She pulls on your heart and brings out the best of your mood
And she's gone with the rising sun washed up in blue

Gloria May, wild as the sea
Riding on waves, riding on waves,
Oh how she's free

Gloria May, she called out to me
Singing a tune, under the moon,
Wild as the sea, Oh she's wild as the sea

There's a breeze blowing in the backdoor
And a note out on the table
Saying goodbye, saying goodbye,
Saying goodbye, saying goodbye

Gloria May, wild as the sea
Riding on waves, riding on waves,
Oh how she's free

Gloria May, she called out to me
Singing a tune, under the moon,
Wild as the sea, Oh she's wild as the sea

Track 3: Lady in the Moon

Before committing to leaving my job in 2014 and touring full-time, I straddled two worlds. I set up camp in the national forest outside Flagstaff, Arizona, while commuting to work everyday. I experienced beautiful mornings full of four foot high wildflowers, epic summer monsoonal rainstorms that nearly washed my camp away, and giant moon washed evenings. It was the moon that helped to stave off the loneliest of nights and inspired this song.

The quiet days fall on autumn leaves
and cold creeps up to my nose
A silence that grows in the whispering trees

Starlight longs for forest floor
But night's just taking its time
A black ocean of sky washed up on shore

I wait til its late, to see you shining through
I wait til its late, to see you shining blue

Yellow sunflower meadowgrass
I pulled straight up from the roots
To offer to you, Lady in the Moon

A breadbasket full of porter wine
I've drunk straight down to my bones
But I'm never alone with you out in view

I wait til its late, to see you shining through
I wait til its late, to see you shining blue
It's only me and you, It's only me and you
Lady in the Moon

Moon is on the rise, Moon is on the rise,
Moon is on the rise, on the rise