Lyrics & Liner Notes

We wish to share our appreciation to the band members for their talent, hard work and friendship; our families, and fans and friends who support our music. Special thanks to Tomas Enguidanos, Ro Garcia, Maria Pastor, who helped with the Spanish translation of “Finisterre”; John Cuniberti for his vision, stewardship (and tambourine); Peter Grant for pedal steel on “Man at the Mill.”

Thank you to Suzanne Sarto from CricketGrafix for the album art and webpage design. The cover and back photos were taken by Nell and Jim, and the band photo on the back cover was taken by Mike Melnyk and edited by Suzanne Sarto. The inside photos of our instruments were taken by each band member.

Produced by Nell Robinson & Jim Nunally * Co-Produced, Engineered and Mixed by John Cuniberti * Additional engineering by Jim Nunally * Recorded at MusicHill Recording, Crockett, CA * Red Clay Creek recorded at 25th Street, Oakland, CA * Man at the Mill recorded at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA * Publishers: Jim Nunally Music, BMI; Nell Robinson Music, BMI; Lisa Aschman, Nashville Geographic, ASCAP; David Grisman, BMI.

EPK ⇨

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A Dime In My Pocket

(James Nunally, BMI)

A dime in my pocket, holes in both of my shoes
An achin' in my heart dear cause I'm not over you
Now you're gone and I'm alone
And I'll never take you back again

I used to dream dear about you all the time
Now I can't sleep at all with you on my mind
Cause you're gone and I'm alone
And I'll never take you back again

Maybe I'll walk to Arkansas, maybe Tennessee.
Anywhere away from here would be just fine for me
Cause you're gone and I'm alone
And I'll never take you back again

Hear that pretty little bird, singing that lonesome tune
It must be thinking about me and you
Cause you're gone and I'm alone
And I'll never take you back again

[Chorus]

Now that you're gone and I'm alone
And I'll never take you back again

Finisterre

(Nell Robinson, James Nunally, BMI)

Has estado caminando sonámbulo
Corriendo las sombras de mis sueños
Llevándome a lugares que nunca pensaba ver
Por fin siento el camino debajo de mis pies

Has estado hablándome con cariño
De amor, sacrificio y destino
Cómo nuestras almas se levantan para unirse
El amor siempre fue una lucha, y ahora fluye

Vas caminando, paseando por mi sueño
A través de bosques y arroyos
Trepando cerros y cruzando campos de trigo
Estás caminando, paseando por mi sueño
A mi Finisterre

Te escucho llamar, estás llamándome
Tu voz como un rayo de sol calentándome
Subiendo desde profundos mares
Despierta el alma que encontraré

En el sueño estamos caminando
Y despertados por el camino
Abrazando la alegría y el sufrimiento
Juntos vivimos el misterio

Te veo caminando, paseando por mi sueño
A través de bosques y arroyos
Trepando cerros y cruzando campos de trigo
Estás caminando, paseando por mi sueño
A mi Finisterre - A nuestro Finisterre

English Translation

You’ve been walkin’, walkin’ in my sleep
Chasing the shadows from my dreams
Taking me to places I thought I'd never see
Finally I feel the road beneath my feet

You’ve been talkin’, talkin’ quietly
Of love and sacrifice and destiny
And how our souls rise up to meet
All my life love was hard, now it’s easy

You’re walkin’, walkin’ in my sleep
Through forests and o’er creeks
Climbing hills and crossing fields of wheat
You’re walking, walking in my sleep
To my Finisterre

I hear you callin’, callin’ out to me
Your voice like a sunbeam on the sea
Drifting up from the deep
Awakening the soul I’m bound to meet

We are walkin’, walkin’ in our sleep
Awakened on the path
Embracing the joy and the suffering
Together we live the mystery

You’re walkin’, walkin’ in my sleep
Through forests and o’er creeks
Climbing hills and crossing fields of wheat
You’re walking, walking in my sleep
To my Finisterre
To our Finisterre

Man At The Mill

(Traditional)

Down sat an owl with his head all white
Lonesome day and a lonesome night
Thought I heard a pretty girl say
Dance all night and sleep next day

Same old man livin' at the mill
The mill turns around of it's own free will
Hand in the hopper and the other in the sack
Ladies step forward and the gents fall back

Well I heard the raven as she flew
If I was a young one I'd get two
One for to get and the other to sew
I'd have a string for my bass fiddle bow

Same old man livin' at the mill
The mill turns around of it's own free will
Hand in the hopper and the other in the sack
Ladies step forward and the gents fall back

Well my old man's in Kalamazoo
He don't wear no yes I do
First to the left and then to the right
This old mill grinds day and night

Same old man livin' at the mill
The mill turns around of it's own free will
Hand in the hopper and the other in the sack
Ladies step forward and the gents fall back

Meditation Blues

(James Nunally, BMI)

My mind is troubled by thoughts from the past
My mind is cycling on love that didn’t last

My mind is working when I try to relax
My mind is thinking till the wee hours have passed

My mind keeps reeling and waning and waxing
My mind keeps time from night time to day

My mind hears words keeps talking keeps seeing
My mind keeps is drifting all every which way

My mind keeps wandering keeps drifting keeps sifting
My mind keeps playing the scenes from my past

My mind keeps worrying keeps scurrying keeps trying with hurrying
My mind keeps shifting from forward to back

My mind keeps repeating repeating repeating repeating repeating
My whole life away

Old & In The Way/EMD

(David Grisman, BMI)

Old and in the way, that's what I heard them say
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday
Gold will turn to gray and youth will fade away
They'll never care about you, call you old and in the way

Once I hear tell, he was happy
He had his share of friends and good times
Now, those friends have all passed on
He don't have a place called home
Looking back to a better day, feeling old and in the way

Old and in the way, that's what I heard them say
They used to heed the words he said, but that was yesterday
Gold will turn to gray and youth will fade away
They'll never care about you, call you old and in the way

When just a boy, he left his home
Thought he'd have the world on a string
Now the years have come and gone
Through the streets he walks alone
Like the old dog gone astray, he's just old and in the way

Pants

(Nell Robinson, Greg Beattie, BMI)

Happy Birthday I sent you a gift
Just to not hear you whine
How’d you get by this long without one?
I’m sending you a spine

Oh it comes with my fond regards
Since you’ve tuned out my rants
Since someone else is wearing yours
I’ve included a pair of pants

Oh baby put some pants on
Take a stance on something please
Show your potential, don’t be deferential
If you want to have a chance with me

No I’m not mad, not at all
Fact is, I’m doing real good
The question is how are you?
Since someone stole your manhood

I’m only thinking, yes thinking of you
It’s only because I care
I’ve enclosed a little pear tree
So you can grow yourself a pair

Oh baby out some pants on
Take a stance on something please
Show your potential don’t be deferential
If you want to have a chance with me
If you want to dance a dance with me
Don’t go commando
Baby take a stance and a chance to romance me

Prayer

(Nell Robinson, BMI)

Love is life and the heart its home
No matter how far you have roamed
Holding the days of our small world
Every breath a prayer, heard and answered

Through creeks I’ve stumbled in despair
In rushing waters, my heart repaired
Filled to the brim by tears not wept
Deep in the woods that stole my breath

[Chorus]

Every line and scar hard-earned
Etched ever deeper for how I’ve yearned
Echoes of laughter, the dreamt caress
Recall the kin of whom I’m bereft

This day too shall course through us
Thrumming memories of the blood and dust
Those we have loved and those who have left
Take root within us from birth to death

My days grow short my world gone by
Life’s slowing drumbeat frees a sigh
This very moment is heaven-sent
For I’ve truly loved to my heart’s content

[Chorus]

Red Clay Creek

(Nell Robinson, BMI)

Where oh where have you gone darlin’ boy
The creeks rising fast above you
That red clay won’t hold all the secrets that I know
Why did he let you go?

Young bride your son looks a lot like the man
Who’s been biding his time with me
When I watch you bathe that child on the banks
It’s not your boy I see

Mine was blue-eyed just like him
But forsaken and unseen
That man took our secret and spirit him away
And he should have taken me

Where oh where have you gone darlin’ boy
The creeks rising fast above you
That red clay won’t hold all the secrets that I know
I saw him let you go?

If your boys with mine, they won’t be lonesome
Two brothers together, you’ll see.
On judgment day, they’ll be by my side
And I shall be set free

Where oh where have you gone darlin’ boy
The creeks rising fast above you
That red clay won’t hold all the secrets that I know
I had to let you go?

Your son and mine are quietly sleepin’
In the waters of Red Clay Creek
Don’t worry now, they’re cryin no more
Mine and yours, they’re a family

The Way You Do

(Lisa Aschman, ASCAP, James Nunally, Nell Robinson, BMI)

I love the way you do
I love the way you do
I love the way you do you

When the mockingbird sings, on the first day of spring
You’re whistling a melody, adding a harmony
Rings in my ears, sounding so good to me
I feel like singing too

I love the way you do
I love the way you do
I love the way you do you

You come around when the ceiling falls down
And the flakes of plaster falling faster and faster
When life looks to me like a total disaster
You don’t see it like that

I love the way you do
I love the way you do
I love the way you do you

Don’t ever change, or always do
The way clear running water imitates you

I love the way you do
I love the way you do
I love the way you do you

Shady Grove/ Matty Groves

(Nell & Jim Band, BMI)

A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year.
Lord Donald's wife came into church, the gospel for to hear.
And when the meeting it was done, she cast her eyes about,
And there she saw little Matty Groves, walking in the crowd.

"Come home with me, little Matty Groves, come home with me tonight.
Come home with me, little Matty Groves, and sleep with me till light."
"Oh, I can't come home, I won't come home and sleep with you tonight,
By the rings on your fingers I can tell you are Lord Donald's wife."

"What if I am Lord Donald's wife? Lord Donald's not at home.
He is out in the far cornfields, bringing the yearlings home."

And a servant who was standing by and hearing what was said,
He swore Lord Donald he would know before the sun would set.
And in his hurry to carry the news, he bent his breast and ran,
And when he came to the broad mill stream, he took off his shoes and swam.

Little Matty Groves, he lay down and took a little sleep.
When he awoke, Lord Donald he was standing at his feet.

Saying "How do you like my feather bed? And how do you like my sheets?
How do you like my lady gay who lies in your arms asleep?"
"Oh, well I like your feather bed, and well I like your sheets.
But better I like your lady gay who lies in my arms asleep."

"Well, get up, get up," Lord Donald cried, "get up as quick as you can!
It'll never be said in fair England that I slew a naked man."
"Oh, I can't get up, I won't get up, I can't get up for my life.
For you have two long beaten swords and I not a pocket-knife."

"Well it's true I have two beaten swords, and they cost me deep in the purse.
But you will have the better of them and I will have the worse. And you will strike the very first blow, and strike it like a man. I will strike the very next blow, and I'll kill you if I can."

So Matty struck the very first blow, and he hurt Lord Donald sore.
Lord Donald struck the very next blow, and Matty struck no more.
And then Lord Donald he took his wife and he sat her on his knee,
Saying, "Who do you like the best of us, Matty Groves or me?"

And then up spoke his own dear wife, never heard to speak so free.
"I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips than you and your finery."

Lord Donald he jumped up and loudly he did bawl,
He struck his wife right through the heart and pinned her against the wall.

"A grave, a grave!'' Lord Donald cried, "to put these lovers in.
But bury my lady at the top for she was of noble kin."

Speed Limit

(James Nunally, Nell Robinson, BMI)

Life feels like Speed Limit signs
Tryin’ hard to heed them
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Ain’t no U-Turns my friends

Slow to 10 we’re Children at Play
Then at 15 it’s the Hazardous Way
20 to 25 Rev it up, let it go
30 to 35 Merge, and Take it Slow

Life feels like Speed Limit signs
Tryin’ hard to heed them
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Ain’t no U-Turns my friends

40 to 45 Construction Ahead
50 to 55 Pass on the Left
60 to 65 Can be a Steep Grade
70-75 We’re going the Right Way

Life feels like Speed Limit signs
Tryin’ hard to heed them
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Ain’t no U-Turns my friends

80 to 85 you gotta Pass with Care
But roll down your window, breathe in the air
The scenes of Life are flying by
Just a blur in the window at 95

Life feels like Speed Limit signs
Tryin’ hard to heed them
You can’t see what’s round the bend
Ain’t no U-Turns my friends

You can’t see what’s round the bend
Ain’t no U-Turns my friends

Steel

(James Nunally, BMI)

These callused old hands have worked the shipyard steel
They have played the saddest songs that you could ever feel
They’ve dried teardrops on a cold and lonely night
Knowing when to let go and when to hold on tight
These callused old hands have built my life

I’ve hung from oilrigs when I was 21
I played dingy bars for a pocket full of fun
Chipped slag from a new made weld making a rhythmic sound
To take my mind from the shipyard back to the fiddling ground
To play another round

I walked the heights on cold hard pipe hundreds of feet from ground
Welded in a 3 foot pipe 75 feet down
Worked on the hot black steel in 100 degree heat
Shielding myself from molten sparks with leather from head to feet
It can nearly make you weep

From bridges to oil rigs, pipelines to rails
I worked the molten steel and listened for the wail
Of the whistle at quittin’ time to go and rest my head
Thankful I made it through another day working full speed ahead
Dreaming of a guitar in my hands