LOVING HENRY

            I spent the first warm day of spring out on the porch in Belchertown.  I left my shirt off all day and got sunburned so badly I nearly hallucinated from the pain and low temperature.  For days I was in agony.  During my brief spells of lucidity I read "Good Texas Folk Songs."  The original last line of the ballad as dictated in this book is, "The girl you love in Arkansas still thinks you're coming home."  I was awed by how mean and ruthless that one word felt, changing the complete expression of the line.  We don't sing that word, but it's what I'm thinking about every time I perform this song.

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HUNT THE HORSES

            Let's face it – if you're that down and out and need to eat or die, a horse is probably pretty easy to kill. 

 

NASHVILLE TO JESUS

            We were staying with Jenny at her new place in Nashville, which was haunted just like her last place.  In the mornings when we'd go for coffee she'd stay on the patio practicing cigarettes.  As an actress it's an important skill to have in your pocket.  She posed like all the great early Hollywood bombshells.  She was perfect and her countenance stopped time and erased the year. 

The church near her haunted mansion.

The same woman in the checkout line three times in a row.

 

WHITE BUCKET

            It's a lie that I finished "Suttree."  I borrowed that book for a year and only made a pitiful dent.  Jim Armenti came to me and asked how I liked it.  "Did you get to the part where the kid's fucking the watermelon?"

            Written on the 26^th floor.

 

BLOODY MURDER

            I met Carolyn Mark an hour before I first played with her.  She sang 'North Country Fair' and 'Not a Doll' that night and it changed every thing for me.

            Coked-out hippie ski hicks in unfriendly hung-over towns.

            Killing doe's in ice storms with the rental car.

            The shotgun report and the crazy man in the school bus that night and me with my hand on my knife.

 

SAIL AWAY

            There's no wrong way to eat a Reece's Pieces.

 

MY BABY LEFT ME

            I heard Ora's voice singing to me in a Texas hotel.  She trilled and fluttered and it made me feel so beautiful.  Later in the kitchen at four in the morning I tried to play what I could remember of her song.   This is a beast of homage.  She is a swan.

 

WILD BILL JONES

            A tribute to the amazing Clyde Troxell of the Cumberland Plateau.

 

LAST CHANCE

            This is a variant of a long line of twisted second cousins in a deep, dark banjo family.   If played properly in the presence of a dying person, it's said that this tune coaxes death to come softly and swiftly. 

 

MORE THAN I KNEW 

            What sticks out in my mind most now is the feel and color of the hard wood floors in that east Vancouver flat.  The way the sun made the dust appear frozen.  The way her feet sounded in socks coming towards me.

 

WAYFARING

            One of the first songs we ever played together.

 

WARM CLOTHING LINE

            Back when WDVX was still in the trailer I sang this song on the air.  The DJ asked me, "Now how long did it take you to write that?" 

            Knoxville's been a nicer town ever since I left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm Clothing Line was recorded in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada at Riverdale Recorders by Scott Franchuck and was produced by Luther Wright.    Additional recording in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by Marc L'Espérance.  All tracks were mixed and mastered by Scott Franchuck.

The Shiftless Rounders are Phillips Saylor Wisor and Ben Sidelinger.  Phill sang, played the guitars, the banjos, some bass and some whurley.  Ben also sang, played the slide guitar, some bass, piano and even some fiddle.

Additional Musicians - The Shiftless Rounders were joined by some wonderful players.  Duke Paetz played some drums, as did Marc L'Espérance.  Sherry-Lee Wisor played a little bass.  Cam Nuefeild played the violin.  Thank you all for your time and abilities!

The art work for "Warm Clothing Line" and all the rest of the Rounders albums was made by Katie Belknap.  Ms. Belknap is an inspiring artist and person and has long been an friend of the Shiftless Rounders.  We again extend our deepest thanks to her.

Tracks 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 12 were written by Phillips Saylor Wisor.  Tracks 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 11 are traditional and were arranged by Phillips Saylor Wisor and/or Ben Sidelinger. 

All songs are protected by the applicable copywrite protection laws. 

the address to the blue house concert series

2085 w 6th ave

come around 730 for good seats - this one will probably sell out!

to all those folks who feel that our personal business should be common knowledge - DON'T ASK US WHERE WE'RE FROM AND WE WON'T ASK YOU WHAT YOU DO.

that goes out to all you drug dealers out there.....

peace

it's said that there's a fine line between cop and criminal.  it's the same mentaility - think like a crook to catch a crook.

the same can be said of the musician and the preacher.  think like a man of The Word to be like a man of The Word. 

during the mid-late 1800's a Rounder was the colloquail name given to roaming Methodist preachers (they all wore particuliar round hats).  these men would preach from town to town - taking up collection, selling bibles and tunebooks and many times working for simple room and board.  but as the need and niche for such iterant preachers faded, many of those men had to turn to other trades for income.  gambling was a common second profession.  turning to music, on the other hand, was also a viable alternative.  both the gambler and the musician were equally chastised as being too much of the secular world.  but what's a guy to do when churches spring up in a rounder's absense and the art of individual biblical interpretation was conquered by mass congregations promoting homogenized belief systems?

point being - come on out to a Shiftless Rounders show and get yourself a good dose of the holy and the secular, often in the same verse.  we're just doing our best making good for all the rounders who've come before us. 

Luther's Rules For Fine Living # 3

It doesn't count if it's (insert day of the week).
EXAMPLE:
person 1 - man you're not supposed to (insert vice or habit)
person 2 - dude it doesn't count if it's sunday. 
PROBLEM SOLVED

*this applies to all things ranging from moral dilemmas to spiritual mishaps to accidental road kills. 

benny is the dean martin of folk music.  think about it.  picture it.  can you see dean martin?  now picture ben after his third irish whisky.  scary, init?  this came to me last week while talking to jessica and pete around 2am in that  tropicana bar in davis and having our conversation drowned out by him holding court with some loud tale about how 'they do it back in maine'.  it's as if now everything ben does makes complete sense.  who's that wacko spewing off profanity in seattle traffic senselessly stuck in a morbid crawl with the loose necktie and gangster hat blaring banjo music?  it's dean martin. well....okay, it makes sense to me.  you'd get it, too, if you were in the car with us. (you're more than invited, by the way) soon we'll have to bring a piano on tour with us just to prop him up. 

NEWS FLASH -
'Warm Clothing Line' will be available to the public February 1, 2007.  Produced by Shiftless Rounder-In Arms, Luther Wright, the CD features new favorties 'White Bucket' and 'Bloody Murder.'  And also there are some very cool, sneaky special guests jamming out with us.  More later!

YO PEOPLE.  WE ARE THUMBING IT OUT A FEW TIME ZONES TO CATCH THE LEAVES CHANGE AND PLAY TONS OF DATES FEATURING NEW MATERIAL FROM OUR TWO UPCOMING RECORDS!

PLEASE VISIT WWW.THESHIFTLESSROUNDERS.COM FOR THE DATES.

I WISH I WAS IN DIXIE........AWAY, AWAY.....................

We will, from time to time, share with you some learning we've come across on the road. 

Our good friend, Luther Wright, has tons of useful advise.  Things to remember -

1.  Gatorade - Gatorade can save a man from ruin.  When vitamins are too expensive and a day at the gym is months away, get your health on with Gatorade.

2.  Never brake more than one law at a time.