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The Verdant Mile EP

by Tracy Grammer

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes Grammer's emotional rendition of Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" and her first self-penned tune, the title cut, a tribute to late partner Dave Carter. © 2004 Tracy Grammer Music.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Verdant Mile EP via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 13 Tracy Grammer releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of I'll Be Here in the Morning (Single), If I Needed You (Single), American Noel (Dave Carter & Tracy Grammer), The Verdant Mile EP, Low Tide, Joy My Love (EP), Little Blue Egg, Book of Sparrows EP, and 5 more. , and , .

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1.
i didn't want to burn like this, so close to the bone no muscle left to carry it, this black bag of stones it's a black bag the august heat, the autumn rain, and winter's face of blue the seasons keep their spinnin up but there's no sign of you there is no sign and so i walk this verdant mile of memory with you the gentle arms of eden and the mountain get me through richard says the whippoorwill taught him how to go i tell him death is just a dream but i don't really know it's everything and nothing when the spirit cracks the sky but flowers fold and go to seed and no one questions why nobody and so i walk this verdant mile ... i miss you like i love the sound of blackbirds in the trees i sit alone and wish that either one of you would visit me but no matter how much seed i hang, what prayer i call out i cannot bring that bird in from the field or make an angel come around and so i walk this verdant mile ...
2.
someday i'm gonna leave this dirty little town where the talk is cheap on the dirty little streets and the trees are dying underneath a sky that's purple and brown you can't drink the water, can't breath the air of you go out at all, well you better take care people packing heat on the mean old streets of this dirty little town i've been saving my money each and every day every dollar i make, i put a nickel away five little pennies don't seem like much after twenty more years i'll have enough someday i'm gonna leave this dirty little town ... folks around here say i'll never go but there's something about me that they don't know i've already left this place in my mind till my body goes, it's just a matter of time but someday i'm gonna leave this dirty little town ...
3.
oh I'd rather go and journey where the diamond crescent's glowing and run across the valley beneath the sacred mountain and wander through the forest where the trees have leaves of prisms and break the light in colors that no one knows the names of and when it's time i'll go and wait beside a legendary fountain till i see your form reflected in it's clear and jeweled waters if you think i'm ready you may lead me to the chasm where the rivers of our vision flow into one another i will want to dive beneath the white cascading waters she may beg, she may plead she may argue with her logic and mention all the things I'll lose that really have no value in the end she will surely know i wasn't born to follow
4.
Solitary Man 03:26
melinda was mine till the time that i found her holding jim, loving him then sue came along, loved me strong, that's what i thought me and sue, that died too don't know that i will but until i can find me a girl who'll stay and won't play games behind me i'll be what i am solitary man solitary man i've had it to here being where love's a small word part-time thing, paper ring i know it's been done having one girl who'll love me right or wrong, weak or strong don't know that i will but until i can find me, a girl who'll stay and won't play games behind me i'll be what i am solitary man solitary man
5.
when i reach the place i'm goin' i will surely know my way and i will turn and look inside me and bid farewell to one more day every light begins with darkness every flower was once a seed and with the sun and wind to test us we are bound to be released i will fly beyond this valley i will open up the gate and when i reach the place i'm goin' i will surely know my way we have hands to hold our sorrows we have tears to heal the pain and though your eyes ask many questions on your lips i hear my name i was born without a whisper i was born beneath the rain but when i reach the place i'm goin' i will surely know my way
6.
7.
Old Paint 04:28
i ride an old paint, i lead an old dan goin' down to montana for to throw the houlihan they feed in the gully, they water in the draw their tails are all matted, their backs are all raw ride around little doggies ride around real slow for the fiery and the snuffy are rarin' to go now old john dodd had two daughters and a farm one went to denver and the other went wrong his wife was killed in a pool room fight now he sings this song most ev'ry night ride around little doggies ... and when i die, take my saddle from the wall put it on my pony and lead him out of the stall tie my bones to his back and point us out west and we'll ride the prairie we love the best ride around little doggies ...

about

From the liner notes: This two-person, two-instrument acoustic project was recorded live in an Oregon studio over two days in early June 2004, with the exception of the fiddle tune, which was arranged over the phone and recorded on opposite coasts. The songs are postcards from various points along the verdant mile, a mythical place I go to reconcile with the rivers I cannot turn, the birds that won't come, and my reluctant angels. Jim Henry, thank you for your devotion to this project, and for braving this latest stretch of mile with me. May we all find the peace we're looking for along the way. -tg

credits

released April 11, 2018

Produced by Tracy Grammer & Jim Henry

Recorded by Billy Oskay at Big Red Studio.
Additional recording by Mark Frethem at Doctor Digital; Jim Henry at Rubytone. Mixed by Bob Stark at Kung Fu Bakery. Mastered by Ryan Foster, Freq Mastering. Package design by Curt Franklin

QUOTABLE
"Grammer wraps her rich, ethereal voice around Neil Diamond's Solitary Man, evoking Joan Baez in her prime, while a lovely ray of hope rings out in Emory Gordon and Joe Henry's When I Reach the Place I'm Goin'... Classic Americana." -Dirty Linen

"A brilliant collection of songs with Tracy sounding absolutely at the top of her craft." - Kevin Welch, Music Director, KINK-FM

"This EP effortlessly reconciles Grammer's pop and bluegrass sensibilities... The results are so pure, they make Neil Diamond sound like he hails from the farthest reaches of the Blue Ridge Mountains." - Eye.net

“Tracy's song [The Verdant Mile] reminds me of how "Boulder To Birmingham" was such a significant presence on Emmylou Harris’ Pieces of the Sky...it stands as a testament to this woman's courage, considering the extent of her loss, that she's willing to place this recent part of her life journey full-square in the public domain.” - Folkwax

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Tracy Grammer Greenfield, Massachusetts

Writer. Actor. Storyteller. Singer. Multi-instrumentalist. Former head cheerleader, now a fearless navigator of the heart.

“One of the finest pure musicians anywhere in folkdom.” - Boston Globe

“A brilliant artist.” - Joan Baez

“Her gifts as a musician are like that of a painter who is a master of chiaroscuro, offering light and shadow at every turn.“ - Mary Chapin Carpenter
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