My Love, She's in America, by The Stillwater Hobos (2024)

1.

Gather up your pots and your old tin cansThe mash and the corn, the barley and the branRun like the devil from the excise manKeep the smoke from rising, Barney. Keep your eyes well-peeled todayThe excise men, they’re on their waySearching for the mountain tay In the Hills of Connemara. The mountain breezes as they blowEcho down to plains belowThe big tall men are on the goIn the Hills of Connemara.Swing to the left now swing to the right—The excise men, they can dance all nightDrinking up the tay till the broad daylight In the Hills of Connemara.A gallon for the butcher and big Nick KleinA bottle for the poor old Father SteinTo keep him off that altar wine In the Hills of Connemara. Stand your ground, for it’s too lateThe excise men, they’re at the gateGlory be to Paddy for they’re drinking it straightIn the Hills of Connemara!

2.

I must away, love, I can no longer tarryThis morning’s tempest I have to crossI must be guided without a stumbleInto the arms I love the most.And when he came to his true love’s dwellingHe knelt down gently upon a stoneAnd through her window he whispered lowlyIs my true lover within at home?Wake up wake up love it is thine own true loverWake up wake up love and let me inFor I am tired love and oh so wearyAnd more than near drenched to the skin.She's raised her off her down soft pillowShe's raised her off and she's let him inAnd they were locked in each other's armsUntil that long night was past and gone. And when that long night was passed and over,And when the small clouds began to growHe's taken her hand and they’ve kissed and partedAnd he saddled and mounted and away did go.I must away love I can no longer tarryThis morning’s tempest I have to crossI must be guided without a stumbleInto the arms I love the most.

3.

Cigarettes in the morningWalking hallways of this strange empty homeCold whiskey in the eveningEvery day now she’s gone.Connemara’s on the bus route to BehanIt’s seven days since the last cow diedAnd when the barley’s gone and three lost womenLike the girls and boys in Rome used to cry.Just give me cornbread in the morning so earlyFor you took my rags in the fold of your handAnd before you fall just like a feather and linenMake sure you’ve taken off that black velvet band.They say that roving’s like a candle at midnightAnd some take it like the trot of a muleBut when the road is blind and your own tender ladyYou’d take a match to find a firelit fool.How come the way’s not like stairs in a castleWith crimson pictures there to guide you alongA gilded bottle with a few draughts inside itMakes the lights in the rafters look so strong.When your true love’s gone to run like an engineAfter nine young women with no faces their ownAnd in America she spins like a dancerWith barrel straps and some shoes made of stone.I’d guess the porches there are all clouded overAnd pipes and fiddles might could use some repairAnd all the horses have been broken in stablesAnd golden fleeces could be worse for the wear.But if you ever come to Clifden by sunsetJust before the Autumn rains touch the shoreTo stroll along Cleggan’s grey-hooded harborCutting hard like the blade of an oar.You take yourself to a hill past the pierlineTo find a cabin of whiskey and milkWhere St. Coleman used to ply to his masterLike colored linen and mulberry silk.Cigarettes in the morningWalking halways of this strange empty homeCold whiskey in the eveningEvery day now she’s gone.

4.

Last morning I did tread the creekThinking how my boots do leak‘Twas then that I was fain to speakTo all you Naiads dear.Well I’ll swim the french broad riverAnd become a little thinnerWhen I lay me down to dinnerAt Dixie’s house to dine.Well I’ll order in the brandyAnd wine and summer shandyA stronger braver man I’ll be For thee and me and mine.A year ago today I sprungFrom stone to rock aye every oneAmid the river wash and runWith my sweat-heart near.The river-rocks did hold their fireAnd with them my true love’s desireAnd Johnny if you’ll be my squireI’ll take you as my dear.But Janus meant to bind the leesWith a tether of ice about the kneesAnd when the river walk did freezeMy true love to me sang.Last year I drank you down so wildWhen you were cordial as a childA tasty draft of bitter-and-mildThe glass it loudly rang.Had I the co*cky red-breast songTo whistle Dixie all night longFor all the world that’s suffered wrongAnd all you naiads dear.

5.

You’re a bear in a sheepskin coatAnd O’Donnell caught you on the boatAnd three little piggies on Walkin streetHave gobbled up all your corn to eat.With a too-ra-loo-ra-loo-rae-ayWhack fol da diddle loora-da-o-may.Now Buckeye jim has lost his waySaving his corn for a rainy dayAnd North Country beagles did run awryWith a Billy O’Neil just a-wonderin’ why.I lost three dimes on a horse called Stewball,By a dozen lusty mares was calledAnd when they got him back to his stableOwner says I hope to God you’re able.Had a girl by the banks of the OhioSuckled by wind and rain and snowNo honest man on earth could keep herSo she ran off with a Scottish preacher.I had a girl called Roarin’ MaryAnd with her I am feign to dallyNo hope left on that blind man’s tableSo I’ll settle down with a co*ck-right fable.Oh Roarin’ Mary I beg your pardonOver by the hills near Craggie GardenThere never was a skite like Dick McSherryAnd never was a girl like Roarin’ Mary!With a too-ra-loo-ra-loo-rae-ayWhack fol da diddle loora-da-o-may.

6.

I wish I was in CarrickfergusOnly for a night in BallygrandI would swim over the deepest oceanOnly for a night in BallygrandBut the sea is wide and I cannot swim overAnd neither have I the wings to flyI wish I had a handsome boatman To ferry me over my love and I.My childhood days bring back sad reflections Of happy days so long agoMy boyhood friends and my own relations Have all passed away now like melting snowSo I'll spend my days in endless rovingSoft is the grass and my bed is freeAh to be home now in CarrickfergusBy the the long road down to the salty sea.Now in Kilkenny it is reportedOn marble stones there as black as inkWith gold and silver I would support herBut I'll say no more now till I’ve had a drinkFor I'm drunk today and I'm seldom soberA handsome rover from town to townAh but I'm sick now and my days are numberedSo come all ye young men and lay me down.

7.

Well you heard the ballad of Jesse James how he robbed that Glendale trainBut that don't compare to the do-or-dare of the famous Barrow GangThey're crooks and killers the papers say and society drags ‘em downCalls ‘em low-life scum no better than mud and they run ‘em right out of town.And I said hey pretty honey of mine ride along with meWe'll shoot the night just to stay a-rightTill we climb up the hanging treeSo when you leave your house shut the garden gateTell your mother and your father not to stay up lateWe’re gonna fight for our freedom right down to the day we die.Well it was gas-filling stations convenience stores to those home-spun county banksWe took 'em all both great and small steering clear of the cell block tanksYou can feel the freedom of the open road blowing smoke rings out of your hairBut you'll never find a feeling that's more alive than throwing lead through the gravelly air.And I said hey pretty honey of mine what are you gonna do‘Cause there's a gas-can man with a rifle in his handGonna blow you to WaterlooShe said I told you twice and I'll say it againI’m not a cooped-up chicken or a huckleberry hen.Gonna fight for my freedom right down to the day we die.It was roundabout the spring of '34 we were skirting state border linesOklahoma, Mississippi, Creole Country, Kansas City, Dallas, and the Great DivideBut in the gun-light's gleam I could see in her eyes as she stood in the barn door-waySaying Clyde I know it's a coal-black road gonna send you to Judgment Day.And I said hey pretty honey of mine tell me and tell me trueIf you could take it all back would you walk the right trackAnd obey them boys in blueShe said I walk a road paved with regretBut the Law don't forgive and it’ll never forgetWe’re gonna fight for our freedom right down to the day we die.I know we're not that smart or desperate love the law it always winsWe've been shot before but we can't ignore that death is the wages of sinSome day we'll ride to the end of the trail and they'll bury us side by sideFor your ma there'll be grief, for the law relief, but it's death for Bonnie and Clyde.And I said hey pretty honey of mine life can lend you a bitter tasteWhen the whole world's view of the gutter and you has got you feeling like a human wasteWe’re not the people that they think seeAnd we've payed our debts to society.We're gonna fight for our freedom right down to the day we die.

8.

Sure the Girls in Old Ireland they come to meBloody shillelagh clubs for to set me freeI said my lady’s fair won’t you listen to meAnd I’ll bring you to your bonnie lassIn fifty-two the hunger took us by surpriseWater fell into my mother’s crying eyesWe wailed just like a dove in the morning criesAnd the crops were sick in harvest time.But my mother she was wise and she raised me wellShe told me all the things that there was to tellPrecious you sure listen cause you need me nowIn the years to come I won’t be thereYou take a hard shillelagh in your hands so strongAlways hold it gently when they do you wrongBut when you hear John Henry’s solemn hammer songGod give you strength like turpentine.And darling you’re a peach tree in the summer sunWith bonnie little branches always on the runAnd when cold winds shake your branches like a crooked gunI’ll be there my cherub sonLike a mockingbird who laughs because there’s someone thereTo wonder if they ever would discover whereWe’re hiding in the trees without a worried careStreetcars in the alleyway.Sure the Girls in Old Ireland they come to meLet their bloody kings and clubs be their melodiesA whiskey-fog still burning in my memoryScattered all along the grass.

9.

Darling mother would you guide my handMy love she’s in America with a terry bandHer dark-flowing hair rolls all down her breastIt’s as soft as the night that she went and leftSandy was the river that she walkedIt was out the door and it was off the dock,The thunder ahead and the steamboat’s dreamsOf lily-white smoke and fine rafting things.She boarded that ship and she sent it wellFast and lonesome as a kind farewellI asked her grace for twelve little townsWith a market in all and open fields aroundShe took the East, and she took the WestElizabeth’s the girl that I love the bestMy house was robbed when I shut the doorAnd boarded it up with a rusted oar.Bring me a rose, St. Therese, St. ThereseWould you bring me a rose St. ThereseAll the little flowers are covered and blessedWould you bring me a rose St. Therese.I saw her at the market just yesterdayI said hello but she looked the other wayShe wore a coat of black and two old shoesAnd my eyes were light with the devil’s duesI gave her a whistle and three hundred criesAnd there I found a rose as white as lyeYou can wash with water every dayBut that dirt will stain your hide in the same old way.Now two little devils danced on a barrel of limeYou know they’re devils, mama, but you took a bad timeIt was a slipped-up jig with iron feetThat fled like a coward when lovers meetBut there in the garden I can see you fineYour hand full of roses smell better than wineTo scatter your flowers for the one you loveAs tender as the lightning in the sky above.Bring me a rose St. Therese, St. ThereseWould you bring me a rose St. ThereseAll the little flowers are covered and blessedWould you bring me that rose St. Therese.

10.

If you ever feel lonesome, and you’re down in San AntoneBeg steal or borrow two nickels or a dime and call me on the 
phoneAnd I'll meet you at Alamo Mission where we can say our prayersAnd the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mother will heal us as we kneel there.In the moonlight in the midnightIn the moonlight midnight
moonlight.If you ever feel sorrow for things you might have doneWith no hope for tomorrow and the setting of the sunAnd the ocean is howling of things that might have beenAnd that last good morning sunrise will be the brightest you've ever
 seen.In the moonlight in the midnightIn the moonlight midnight
moonlight.

11.

This is a love songTo whom that I don’t knowI took me to a woman’s houseWhere wine and water flowI love a girl like a watershedBut she sure don’t love meShe’s got a sullen crawfish headAll full of old whiskey.But who is she with rosy cheeksAnd hair like trickling fireSoft and clear as mountain creeksAnd music in your earAnd has she got a silver bellBeneath that noon-time dressThat’s got me in her sunny wellAnd near her sighing breast.This is a love longTo whom that I don’t knowWhen you’re laughing at my doorYou melt that lasting snowThis is a love songTo whom that I don’t knowBut I’ll take your hand in a watercanAnd a-drinking we will go.This is a love songTo whom that I don’t knowI took me to a woman’s houseWhere wine and water flow.

12.

He was stranded in a tiny town on fair Prince Edward IslandWaiting for a ship to come and find himA one horse place, a friendly face, some coffee, and a tiny traceOf fiddling in the distance far behind him.And a dime across the counter then, a shy hello, a brand new friendA walk along the street in the wintry weatherA yellow light, an open door, and a welcome friend there's room for moreAnd then they're standing there inside together.He said I've heard that tune before somewhere but I can't remember whenWas it on some other friendly shore, did I hear it in the windWas it written on the sky above, I think I heard it from someone I loveBut I never heard it sound so sweet since then.And now his feet begin to tap and a little boy says I'll take your capAnd he spun off in the magic of her smileAnd leaped the heart within him went when off across the floor he sentHis clumsy body graceful as a child.He said there's magic in the fiddlers and there's magic in this townThere's magic in the dancers' feet and the way they put them downPeople smiling everywhere, boots and fiddles, locks of hair,And laughter oh blue suits and Easter gowns.The sailor's gone, the room is bare, the old piano's sitting thereSomeone's hat's left hanging on the rackThe empty chairs, the wooden floor that feels the touch of shoes no moreA-waiting for the dancers to come back.And the fiddle's in the closet of some daughter of the townThe strings are broke, the bow is gone, and the cover’s buttoned downBut sometimes on December nights when the air is cold and the wind is rightThere's a melody that passes through the town.

"God bless you for making this bloody marvelous album. This is my favorite album of all time. Thank you so much." --Brian Hawersaat

"I have only listened to 'My Love, She's in America' but I have listened to it several times over without tiring of it. Lyrics, Music, Voice--'light dissolved in star showers, thrown.' It is a haunting drinker's song." --Dr. Susan Hanssen

released March 2, 2014

Austin Walker: Banjos, Harmonica, Guitar, Vocals.
Will Teller: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals.
Taylor Posey: Mandolin, Mandola.
Thomas Nelson: Guitar, Banjo, Harmonica, Vocals.
Danny Jones: Bodhrán and Percussion, Vocals.
Michael Malpiedi: Bass (Upright), Organ, Percussian.
Bob Long: Percussion.
Christian Walker: Cello

Mixed and Engineered by Clay Blair
Recorded at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC
Mixed at Boulevard Recording, Hollywood, CA
Mastered by Hans Dekline at Sound Bites Dog
Assistant Engineer - Evan Bradford
Photographs - Josh Rhinehart