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Highways and Stars

by Brandon Mullis

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1.
Annabella takes a drag in a run-down motel room Every evening she works the bar at the Southern Cross Saloon Her mama always said to her, "Darlin' don't you give up yet There ain't a thing in life worth gettin' without even breakin' a sweat" But Mama can't see her now, and she don't know the trouble she's in She would need to receive a promotion to move up to livin' in sin Annabella reminds herself she’s got a bit more left in the tank Don't get busy dyin' when you got so much life left in the bank Benny turns the engine off, locks the Beamer up real tight Then he heads on up to his high-rise to turn in for the night His mama always said to him, “Hard work'll bring your reward” But he's burned out, and Mama never had to answer to the board And Mama can't see him now, where Benny dreams of runnin' away Findin' him a nice tall swing set and catchin' up on play Well you can put the hammer down chasin' numbers in the bank But keep it down too long and you'll find you got nothin' left in the tank Gerald drops the anchor down, and he turns to face the sun He takes a real deep breath and loads a flare into the gun There ain't nobody for miles around, so no one oughtta see him sink But then it goes off right in his hand and shoots the rocket into the drink I guess Mama can see him now, and she still watches over her boy Gerald raises his head up high and lets the main sail deploy He takes another deep breath and makes a promise to no one The only thing on fire's the sky as it burns above the setting sun
2.
Leave Salem 04:52
All the signs were pointing out of Salem And every road just washed me out of town I couldn't change the things I'd done in Salem A broken minstrel with moonstones in his crown Three weeks and four days out of Bristol And I ain't ask one single son of a bitch To let me look down his loaded pistol And find the grim fate down there in a twitch Through the challenger deep of the road by night The sword of Orion drips crimson with starlight The neon gods stand guard by the asphalt And leases on life fall fast into default I walk this line And leave Salem behind I'm sick and tired of all these same old memories I'd pour gas and set the pile ablaze But the road's got me lit up like Dad's old chimney Breathing fire and spitting dust for days I'd sell my soul but I ain't had no offers And it ain't worth the cost to get appraised And there ain't nothin' left in this old coffer Fortune ain't worth sufferin' anyways When I was young they told me I was an old soul Now I'm old and childish as they come But you gotta keep on kicking for that field goal And marching when it's hard to hear the drum You gotta know the feeling when the air turns And summer storms come rolling off the sea Salem sure is pretty when it all burns The time has come to let ol' Salem be
3.
Bordertown 03:29
There’s a place in a Texas border town Way up on a hill by the stars Where the firebrush grows And the spirits don't care who you are Where the ruins of old times linger In the moonlight of yesterday And we dance while the echo Of a long-gone jug band plays There's drifters and trail-worn outlaws From every which way the wind blows They all seem to know the way When it's their turn to go When it comes at last You wanna get there fast Only trouble's you don't know the way But by the time you learn Then all the daylight's burned And you're thinking you might as well stay The eyes of today can't see you And you go whenever you want Where the poets and soldiers and preachers And farmhands haunt Waylon's here lookin' for Jessi To go dancin' to old Bob Wills And Billy just rolled in On a fast train from the Georgia hills And the times, they ain't a-changin' So come and sit for a spell Where you know every stranger And there ain't no souls left to sell And when the sun goes down They're gonna rock this town Playin' cards, raisin' hell all night But then if you or me Head on up there we'll see Nothin' but ruins and dust in sight There's a place in a Texas border town Where the trail only takes you so far And the long lost souls Come to drift on the sea of the those stars So grab a bottle and lean a while Hunker down with the boys outside 'Cause when the sun chases off those shadows Once again we'll ride
4.
5.
Facade 04:29
Since I last saw your face I've never known another You are my father's son so therefore you're my brother I'm the appointed one to tell you that it's true But if you don't believe, I'll leave it up to you It's so amazing what one sees with his eyes closed Brighter horizons than the open eye can know Just turn the world upside down so it all can drain And I will meet you somewhere for to break these chains They've got you wondering if things are what they seem You've never understood what any of it means If you don't know by now then find somewhere to hide Have a nice trip, I'll see you on the other side Your disposition shows more strain the more you do I know it's true because I know you You'll stand around and watch it erode at your feet Don’t wait to move until you start to feel the heat It's too late to worry ‘cause you know nothing will change The nights grow frightening and the days grow strange Beware the ones who sneer when life turns out so hard And don't look too closely cause it's all a facade
6.
I know a woman down in Texas Her story's long and spirit's wild She captures life in gorgeous pictures And beats down the hard times with her smile She sees hard times and gives 'em double And gives her kids the best she can She laughs her way through all her troubles And in another life I was her man I know a hippie up in Asheville She rides the Blue Ridge like a steer She bathes in Appalachian moonlight And marches to drummers we can't hear We spent two summers on the Grand Strand Our stories frozen there in time Standing at the whole world's edge, hand in hand And in another life I called her mine I know a girl down at the theater Her smile keeps shining through her strife She casts her spell on all the company And makes those stories come to life She is not lost but yet still wanders And never hesitates to dance Among the daffodils and sun showers And in another life we got our chance I know a lady of the desert Her heroes play in smoky dives Her little boy's a pint-size rock star And they're keeping punk rock's past alive She makes sure dreams are never squandered She paints the world how she prefers We kissed our last some decades yonder But in another life she called me hers Sometimes the best tales still ain't written There's still more pages left to turn So if you're longing for adventure Go out in search and you may learn Don't be so salty at some ending You can dream new dreams and write new twists So if you're still upright and breathing Go find that other life you missed
7.
Not the Same 03:24
I'm not the same man that I used to be Pretty house of cards I built came down on me So I picked them up and I shuffled them again Turns out the Joker is my oldest friend I don't have the same friends that I used to have They tend to fade like an old photograph But if you truly love someone you set them free Then words cannot express how much she once loved me And I asked the sun If it's tired of rising But he beamed at me And said, "The seasons are my vow And when it's done I just hope I gave my best to you I don't know if I can be replaced So I'll shine this light for now" These ain't the same roads that I used to roam If I get lost, I just change where I call home And I sing new songs and I dream new dreams Time tends to change your taste in everything I don't know the same things that I used to know But even life forgets the ways we used to go So I carry this guitar while my new friend lights the day And a backpack full of memories of those who've fallen on the way And I asked the road If it's tired of winding And it told me no And said "Adventure is my task And when it's done I just hope I took you somewhere new And the people all were kind to you Now what more could someone ask?" I'm not the same man that I used to be Pretty house of cards I built came down on me So I picked them up and I may build it once again I might find out the Joker is my only friend I just may find the Joker is my only friend
8.
Let's go down to the water tonight We'll go stand in the currents of the past We'll think back to when we were all a family And stood here last When this place was the edge of the world And the world spun around you and I And the ones who gathered here around us Could never die We swam here with three generations Built castles with this very sand And if we close our eyes we can feel them Take our hand And time is a fire And we're all standing right in its kindling And it'll burn unending as memories dry Let's go kneel at the feet of the ocean Offer prayers to the gods of the deep And we'll dig up a trunk full of memories That we both keep We'll skip shells on the tide pools at sunset Breathe deep of those ancient tides Drink a toast in the Carolina moonlight To years behind I'll take you dancing to Shannon Tanner Finding memories we long left behind We'll crank up every song by the Drifters That we can find And time is a landslide On the face of the hills we've conquered But we just move onward, and we abide There's a time when the ones who've loved you Move along to a place out of sight And they leave this resounding silence That we can't fight But we walk now in their old footprints And their path starts to merge with ours For the ashes of all those memories Have turned to stars And we'll stand while the dust of the ages Rains down from the heavens above We'll become something more in an instant On the winds of love And time is a canyon Cut deep by a river so violent All those years in the silence Where progress hides
9.
Sometimes I feel like I done seen my share of bars That highway's callin' and I long to count those stars I ain't seen the sunshine so I do not cuss the rain My feet don't fit no railroad and this world has changed my name My soul needs saving and my fortune needs a swell And it's been a year now since I faced those hounds of Hell So with a broken compass and map that's burned to chars I headed south to find some new stars The worst part of lonely's when there's no one left to blame I ain't worth shootin' or the slab to carve my name My coat's in tatters and the jewel's gone from my crown I ain't worth shootin' or the dirt to lay me down There's a man there in that tavern, he's making money sitting still But his woman sits at home and counts the days that pass in pills 'Cause you can keep on gunning for that pot of gold Or you can keep on coming home to those you hold This world keeps turning on those lives about to start This drought won't break and there's a housefire in my heart So I'll let this whiskey burn the rest down to the frame And I'll drink a toast to all the dreams inside those flames The nights grow longer and the days all seem the same I ain't worth shootin' or the slab to carve my name Only job left in this rodeo's to play the clown I ain't worth shootin' or the dirt to lay me down My ramblin' knows no bounds but this road knows no shame I ain't worth shootin' or the slab to carve my name If somethin' falls in this hollow heart's it make a sound? I ain't worth shootin' or the dirt to lay me down
10.
Just Because 04:09
Just because you may be silent Doesn't mean I have to know Everything you're thinking Lying in the afterglow Just because the nights are fleeting Doesn't mean I'm not with you Off in some corner Of the memories I run to But then we catch our moment And the world belongs to us 'Cause love can be most thrilling When it's dumb and dangerous And I wonder where we'll be When the rain comes down on you & me And I would drown in your eyes and your arms and your kiss But how can I drown in your heart? Tell me where to start I don't know where you found the nerve But I'm glad you called my bluff And just because we talk so often Doesn't mean we say enough And just because some nights are red-hot Doesn't mean that most aren't blue I feel the weight of silence And I know you feel it, too And just because I want you right here Doesn't mean you don't have to go We may be good at deadlines But we still may someday float And just because my lips still taste you Doesn't mean they always will So I live in the spaces In between and until And just because we burn like fire Doesn't mean we can't go out But sparks fly when we touch Without a doubt
11.
Where have you run to so slow so late in November? Is the end of the bottle so warm when you get there alone? And when was the last time I saw you, ‘cause I can't remember This bank full of memories is starting to feel overdrawn Lord, take me back to those days in that cramped old apartment Where we both left some piece of our wilder and true selves behind But you can't fill those holes with the things you can pour from a bottle And go looking for something the most dogged of men never find From Star-spangled nights and those hangover mornings you slept off To random hell-raising and those middle-age problems we swept off There's dust on the old days and everything looks kinda cloudy You used to polish 'em with me, but it's hard now without you Christmas don't come 'round in summer, no it waits 'til December Nightfall don't happen at noon, it waits for its time We don't cut down the saplings still growing like just so much timber But I'll damn sure sing songs to those outlaws cut down in their prime Sometimes I wake up swearing I just heard you call But I pick it up to your voice shouting nothing at all If sunsets are supposed to be so goddamn pretty, then why can't I look? The dawn coming soon will be gray from the color you took Sometimes I wake up swearing I just heard you call But I pick it up to your voice shouting nothing at all Someday I'll see you and tell you how growin' old feels With a mouthful of stories and a lifetime of dirt on my heels
12.
Dixie 01:41
(instrumental)
13.
Look away, my brothers, from an age-old credence And see now the truth in their scars And rest ye assured that the fault, dear Brutus Lies deep in our stars and our bars Look away, ye sinners, from resentment's temper You mistook your estate for a throne And you’ve beaten so many old plowshares to swords That you're wasting away to your bones Oh I wish I was in the land we've promised Where storm-ravaged waters at long last turn calmest May old times there be someday forgotten Amen When the ghosts of old Shiloh can stay dead and buried And we don't remind people of the scars that they carry When the kindness of strangers becomes customary Then the South shall rise again No one in the Bible fought hard to preserve The way everything always had been Except Caesar, and Herod, and the ones who our preachers Agree were all misguided men Each struggle has heroes who never stop climbing To bask in the glow of the stars While the old ones try hard to keep casting their shadow So now ask yourself which one you are Well I wish I was in the days yet coming But they're marching so close I can hear the drumming Carrying us on to what we're becoming And then When we show those forsaken that they damn-well matter The ashes of old crosses take wind and then scatter When the sigil that bound them is rent into tatters Then the South will rise again See I wish someday for the land of cotton The souls of our fathers reprieved But the rain won't stop coming and the fields have gone rotten And the sins of our fathers we grieve There's a time for the gun and a time for the rose And a wise one knows when they fall But we're jumping, Jim Crow, and our purpose now shows In the echo of destiny's call Oh I wish I was in the future I see We'll rise like we've promised, but this time we'll be A bright shining beacon in a turbulent sea For all time We'll sit down together at that old lunch counter And we'll build us a future fit to rattle the founders While the voices of freedom ring louder and louder Then the South may finally rise We'll greet every stranger with grace and a smile A bed when they're weary and a drink when they're dry A hand up from hard times and love when they cry This is the way we shall rise We’ll meet down in Selma, and this time we’ll stand On the John Lewis Bridge, my hand in your hand No second-class people, just women and men Then the South shall rise again

credits

released March 11, 2022

All songs written by Brandon Mullis except "Dixie," written by Daniel Decatur Emmett (1859).
Vocals, guitar, bass, banjo, and mandolin performed by Brandon Mullis
Recorded at Oronoke Studios in Waterbury, CT (summer & fall 2021) and Country Club Hills Studio in North Augusta, SC (February 2018)
Produced, recorded, mixed, and engineered by Brandon Mullis
Mastered by Rodney Mills at Rodney Mills Masterhouse in Duluth, GA

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Brandon Mullis Augusta, Georgia

I'm a primarily acoustic singer/songwriter who's been writing lyrical folk/Americana music for more than 20 years. I play all over the eastern USA, and my influences range from Neil Young to Alice in Chains to Jason Isbell to David Allan Coe. I love good melodies and heartfelt stories, and I try to pass along the best ones I can.

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