David Childers HARD TIME COUNTY Empty Road Cold Steel Arms Should Have Left You Alone Glory, Glory, Glory Heart In My Soul Northern Highway Hard Time County Ghosts Of Cleveland El Rojo Breath Or Blood The Scandal Hotel Empty Road Once I loved this woman it was all wrong made me weep, made me moan made me want to be alone and I wound up running down an empty road I robbed a bank just to impress her turns out she was quite an actor she took my money I went running after like a fool you know and I wound up running down an empty road chorus- And I ran so fast and I ran so far painted the towns and closed the bars and I wound up running down an empty road Ran til I had nothing left but to forget her blew a valve and busted my fender burned my pour heart to a cinder but you don’t know it's so and I wound up running down an empty road chorus I'm the guy who will pass you by when you are just too tired to drive and the highway lines have burned both your eyes I'm standing high above it all seems like I've got no place left to fall I can hear the highway call I fell the wild wind blow and I kep on running down an empty road chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Mike Jones - lead guitar, backup vocals Penn Dameron - bass Robert Childers - drums Sandy Bell - b3 organ Duane Jarvis - rhythm guitar Tom Kuhn - mandolin Jeffe' Davis - percussion John Wicker, Gigi Dover - backup vocals (top) Cold Steel Arms Sonny liked to stand on the high ground watch that river come winding down from west virgina on down through ohio One day a child and the next a man from a football player to a factory hand then he saw how the highway ran from coast to coast chorus- He traveled far and wide and made the rounds He saw it all but the only place he could settle down Was in the cold steel arms of a factory town He left in a flash like a vision or a ghost determined that he could make the most of every chance that met him on the way Images flashed as the world flew by he left some good places for the sake of the ride the he made it to california chorus There was a girl in bakersville almost got his fool ass killed things went better in mexico Then he drifter across to new orleans wildest place he had ever seen stayed there three years then went back to the road chorus Went to sea, went to war got married but she didn't want to live in a car she wanted to settle down and build a home Turning gray and broken harted he wound up where it all had started standing on the banks of the ohio chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Mike Jones - lead guitar, backup vocals Kaz Beppu - bass Robert Childers - drums Sandy Bell - b3 organ Duane Jarvis - rhythm guitar Tom Kuhn - mandolin Jeffe' Davis - percussion John Wicker - backup vocals (top) Should Have Left You Alone Some times I wish I'd never seen your face some times I wish I'd never kissed your mouth then I'd never known what I had lost Some times I see your face in my dreams and I hear your voice and I wake up to the miles between us and there's no choice but to leave the past and move on down the line chorus- I should have left you alone I wouldn't give you whereabouts a single thought I should have left you alone The last time I saw love was in your eyes the last time I touched you still lingers in my mind streetlights on your skin through broken glass chorus Among the night's dark riders you fade into a dream And some miraculous morning where all our souls are clean Wherever you are I hope you’re doing well across the fields and rivers to the place where summer fell a full moon on the rise and a cold wind in the sky chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Mike Jones - lead guitar, backup vocals Kaz Beppu - bass Robert Childers - drums Chips Baker - accordion John Wicker - backup vocals (top) Glory, Glory, Glory On a cold, snow blown night in northwest virgina a young drifter passing through a small virgina town stumbled tired and hungry through the deep and bitter dark into an abandoned church to lay his body down He rose from the floor of the room where he had slept and walked through empty hallways toward a joyous guitar sound and there in the sanctuary once a church it was to many a hillbilly preacher throwing his sermon down chorus- Singing glory, glory, glory alpha and omega when I see the blood Leaning on the rock holdin to his nail-scarred hand God is radiant love The preacher's wife and children, two boys and two girls and the drifter were the only congregation to be found the drifter sat in the back pew shaking off his sleep and hunger as the hillbilly preacher thowed a sermon down chorus Music filled the dusty air, the cold room without light then with the Holy Ghost they all danced around What a happy morning full of God’s great love and Glory as the hillbilly preacher thowed a sermon down chorus Now it's been so many years since that drifter came around he never found a way to leave, he got married and settled down And he learned the gospel music from the preacher hand his wife way back in the mountains where he lived an honest life chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Duane Jarvis - lead guitar Penn Dameron - bass, banjo Marshall Ballew - dobro Tom Kuhn - mandolin Congregation - Gigi Dover, Bill Noonan, Jeffe' Davis, Mike Jones, John Wicker (top) Heart In My Soul There's a funeral this morning someone I used to know haven’t seen her in a long time but not so long ago We were thick as thieves a friendship vow we swore and I would have stayed forever but she loved another more chorus- And she left her heart in my soul the kind that never grows old she left her heart in my soul I remember her in sunlight how she smiled against the dark she was stronger back in those days and always was street smart But somewhere in the walks of life lovers we became and I could not stand to share her with the world and all its shame chorus I'm not too up on the details of just what brought her down I've heard a lot of different things all I know is her time ran out There's a funeral this morning the angles gather round to take one of their number back up to higher ground And I hope one day I'll see her somewhere beyond the vale where jealous love is left behind with the rain and the funeral bells chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Duane Jarvis - lead guitar Penn Dameron - bass Marshall Ballew - lap steel Gigi Dover - harmony vocal (top) Northern Highway The snow is falling little darling it's covering up the northern road We've come many a mile since daylight we've still got a long way to go I guess you better go and call up your mother tell her you have gone away traveling across the country with a stranger out along the northern highway See the blackbirds hiding in the trees they're waiting for the weather to change While restless ones like you and I drive deep into the storm looking for some place you have never been I guess you better go and call up your daddy tell him that you will be okay tell him some prayers have been answered out along the northern highway You were standing by a street light down in georgia I was passing by with no place left to go I've been lonely for so long I just can't stand it you were looking for a place to call your home I guess you better go and call up your brother say that we might stop by along the way to wherever it is you think we're going out along the northern highway Headlights reach out slowly and our speed is slowing to a crawl We'll stop for another cup of coffee and we'll see where the chips are going to fall I guess you better go and call up your sister say whatever it is you have to say tell her you are looking for daylight out along the northern highway Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Duane Jarvis - lead guitar Penn Dameron - bass John Wicker - drums, sprits Jeffe' Davis - percussion, sprits Gigi Dover - backup vocals (top) Hard Time County We walk in the heat to the place where the rivers meet on the last piece of dirt in Hard Time County Crops here don't grow so well So we always work in the mill and we always did our best in Hard Time County Shut down the mill yesterday don't know how we are going to pay all the debts we have made in Hard Time County When you build your life on work you don't deserve to be treated like dirt but that's the way it is in Hard Time County chorus- We weren’t born to loose to the likes of Hard Time County We weren’t born to be beaten just because the times get hard The banks have debts to meet and we've got mouths to feed and you just can't walk away from Hard Time County We could swim the river wide but it's more of the same on the other side seems like everywhere you go there's a Hard Time County chorus I will bend but I won't break and nobodies going to take the love that we have made in Hard Time County There's a road leaving out of here but it's not for us, my dear because together we can change Hard Time County chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Duane Jarvis - lead guitar Mike Jones - lead guitar, backup vocals Penn Dameron - bass, banjo Robert Childers - Drums Tom Kuhn - mandolin John Wicker - backup vocals Jim Zerbe - tremolo master (top) In Our Time It's not the devil my darling who's out there knocking in the hall It's not the squirrels in the ceiling it's not the snakes in the wall Might be a bill collector We've been through that before I'm going to stop for a moment before I open the door we've stood through hurricanes together we've crossed vast deserts in our time as long as you are standing by me everything will work out fine chorus- In Our Time long days and nights shining bright and black I smile whenever I recall and I'm thankful I think of all the lonely highways the people that are there no more Of how we moved in perfect freedom and how we meet the vows we swore we've stood through hurricanes together we've crossed vast deserts in our time as long as you are standing by me everything will work out fine chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Mike Jones - lead & rhythm guitar, backup vocals Kaz Beppu - bass Robert Childers - Drums John Wicker - backup vocals (top) Ghosts of Cleveland I'm heading south with the ghosts of cleveland fading in my rearview mirror the genteel breeze from lake eerie whispers close as I go home again Down around the tomb of garfield how pleasant were the hours that did roll from cleveland heights down to carnegie my friends and I alive, alive did stroll chorus- I'm heading south with the ghosts of cleveland dreaming of their bygone days my southern heart will long remember the good souls who helped me on my way If I should die in that old city please promise me you'll send my ashes home but leave a piece of me in cleveland to linger with the friends I have known chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Penn Dameron - bass Sandy Bell - piano Chips Baker - accordion (top) El Rojo chorus- El Grandito have you seen El Rojo he went driving down the highway not so long ago El Grandito if you see El Rojo tell him please to come home The old state trooper nailed El Rojo caught him driving down the highway on the wrong side of the road And the breathalyzer blowed 27 they throwed El Rojo in the hole chorus The District Court Judge didn't like El Rojo he had a terrible driving record and a sorry attitude So he took his license and fined him a thousand dollars and gave him a job on the highway clean-up crew chorus HE blamed his lawyer and he blamed his wife he blamed anyone who had ever come in contact with his life But the only person that he never blamed was the guy that he saw in the mirror every day chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Duane Jarvis - Lead guitar Penn Dameron - bass Joh Wicker - drums, percussion Dale "Woody" Jones - rhythm guitar Tom Kuhn - mandolin Marshal Ballew - dobro Chips Baker - accordion Jeffe' Davis - percussion (top) Breath Or Blood Don't say a word the dawn is breaking and hope is fading with the rising of the sun We've done it all now we want it al to be done with how'd we ever think that this was love chorus- Hey do you love me yes I need you Do you need me more than breath or blood Can you close your eyes and dream it never happened as you hear my heart so loudly pounding there Yes I'm bitter how 'bout you babe just forget about me when I'm gone chorus I dreamed last night that we were talking the way we used to long ago, long ago You told some joke and I started laughing where did we take those separate roads chorus The night comes on and I get lonely I think I'll go out for a ride and look around Drive down the street that we once lived on somebody's moved it all around chorus (top) The Scandal Hotel Well the snow fell down on the small mountain town and the dancers went round and round In the scandal hotel where the musicians blazed and they all went round and around chorus- And they all went round and around as the snow fell down in the small mountain town that we found and the Scandal Hotel This crazy Chinese girl, she wanted some food and she didn't speak good English and her manors were crude She was so sorry for the trouble that she caused when she danced in the lobby with no clothes on at all chorus And as my memory fades and the years take their toll This one will be written on the pages of my soul And the two lovers kissed, their presence was missed on the dance floor with all of their buddies And as the big New Year's ball started to fall the whole crowd broke out a'buzzin chorus Musicians: David Childers - rhythm guitar Sandy Bell - piano Penn Dameron - bass Jeffe' Davis - drums Chips Baker - accordion Gigi Dover - backup vocals