GEMINI (2020)

My fuse is getting shorter making me feel old

And everybody's out there trying to bare their tortured souls

But it ain't real

And your words are coming at me like a shotgun spray

But I'm not afraid of dying so there's nothing you can say

That I can't take

You think you're so strong

Girl you got it wrong

The stars and the earth won't give you worth

If my light's too bright

Then cover your eyes

Because I'm not gonna fake it 

Just 'cause you can't take it

If you think you know me 'cause you asked my sign

Then act all surprised that I'm a gemini 

Bait and switch

I'm not your crazy bitch

I finally think I'm learning yeah, it's coming clear

That I might burn my brightest after 40 years 

and if you're scared

I don't care

'Cause I'm feeling strong

I know what turns me on

And all my fucks are long gone

If my light's too bright 

Then cover your eyes

Because I'm not gonna fake it

Just 'cause you can't take it

Truth or Consequences (2020)

Moonlight floods the canyon walls

Wind picks up and rain begins to fall

Hissing stones glow under Cottonwoods 

Infinite darkness fear misunderstood

But I’m alive

And we’ll survive these restless times

And when we die

Our souls will find that fire in all that dark and cold

Robert Wagner framed in gold

Bought at a swap meet from a disheveled soul

If we keep buying shit like this we’ll be in debt until we’re old

But I don’t care as long as I’m with you

Because I’m alive

And we’ll survive these broke ass times

And when we die

Money won’t matter it’s that we tried

Sometimes our lives it feels so unreal

Like a Game Show we know we’re never gonna win

But we wake up and we do it all again

Travel expenses 

Come back to our senses 

Somewhere in Truth or Consequences 

Driving through this mini Las Vegas town

Old motel signs barely lit now

Easy Rider film locations at fire stations

“Get your motor runnin’ let’s head out on the highway”

‘Cause I’m alive 

And we’ll survive these dramatic times

And when we die

Our souls will burn out like neon in the night

And we’ll shine

And we’ll be fine

‘Cause we’re alive

We’re alive 

Arbitrary Magic (2018)

Overloaded

El Paso, el crasho I’m risking it all to get by

This country doesn’t want me I’m giving in

Packin’ it up stackin’ it high

Tied it all down…Overloaded

Passed Ina Rd. and Orange Grove both roads closed on the 10

The rich people stare at the giant stuffed bear tied face down to the couch

But they won’t bring me down

I’m leaving this old town….uh oh oh oh oh oh

Open gate Sonoran plates

Cast my fate when I’m home, when I’m home, when I’m home…

Brake lights on the freeway

I’m painting the white lines red

Thought it would be better making money, sending letters but

working hard ain’t enough

Open gate Sonoran plates

Cast my fate when I’m home, when I’m home, when I’m home…

No Hand Me Downs

Sometimes I wake up in the morning feeling just like a little girl

My older sister treats me just like her little servant

Try baby…try being me

You never know maybe…down at the end of the block cross the road turn the corner

I wish I had anything that any girl would ever want

Ears pierced, nails done, hair cut evenly, cuter clothes anything that’s good for me

No hand me downs baby, she’s givin’ em to charity

All I got on me is a few ragged tees some worn out pants and a hoodie

Sometimes I wonder why I can’t be one of the cool girls at school

They’re so cool they got everythin’ they want they even got a private pool

No hand me downs baby, she’s givin’ em to charity

You never know maybe…down at the end of the block cross the road turn the corner

Adrift

No wind in my sails I’m just drifting along

No indication, starless, can’t tell right from wrong

But baby you could be my savior tonight

Come on over come make everything alright yeah

Tied to the wheel and lashed to the mast

Sky is looming over heading nowhere fast

I’ve been working ‘till I’m tired

I’ve been pushing it too hard

No it’s down to the wire

In the doldrums set adrift

I know you’re tired, and right now you’re afraid

And I know sometimes you think we’re crazy from those choices that we made

But I can hold you, I can make you come around

Baby you ain’t lost ‘cause I can make you found

I’ve been working ‘till I’m tired

I’ve been pushing it too hard

Now it’s down to the wire

In the doldrums set adrift

Keep on working ‘till we’re tired

Keep on pushing way too hard

Now it’s down to the wire

Out of the doldrums set adrift

Stay Down

Blood is flowing, heart is going, warning sign

Throat is tight, fight or flight, fear's got you blind

Stay down, stay down don't you move

Claw the ground, feel the chest pounding groove

Sweat, dust and years

Face to face with fear

Fragile flower, fatal vine

You can't take what's mine

Stay down, stay down don't you move

Stand your ground, feel the power shifting groove

How long........

All Souls Sell Out

In an LA town, nobody dresses down

It’s hard to find a southerners ground

Glass snap pearl, ‘cause you’re a vintage girl

It’s all wearing me out

We’re used to living without

Strange confession, all souls procession sell out

You see right through this sharp pants suit

But I wanted to look good for you

Held out this long, half my life is gone

What’s right is what used to be wrong

We’re used to living without

Strange confession, all souls procession sell out

From Santa Cruz to plastic shoes

The years are wearing me down

From rock and roll to tortured soul

The years have leveled me out

We’re used to living without

Strange confession, all souls procession sell out

The Distance We drive

I don’t know how to be and why the gaps in the music trouble me

I’m the blue paint that marks the trees and the hapless bag caught in the breeze

I guess, I guess I don’t know why I hung you out to dry

Or why, or why we go the distance that we drive

Trucks like trains score the plains through the dirty snow and endless rains

I guess, I guess I don’t know why I hung you out to dry

Or why, or why we go the distance that we drive

San Jacinto

Thick cloud, steam rising, hissing stone on sweat lodge fire
Around me, buffalo roam, sage in bundle, run on skin
Outside, cold air, stand, wait for rising sun
Red paint, eagle feathers, coyote calling, it has begun
Something moving in, I taste it in my mouth and in my heart
It feels like dying, slow, letting go of life

Medicine man lead me up though town, Indian ground, so far down
Cut up land, each house, a pool, kids wearing water wings, drink in cool
Follow dry river bed, watch Scout and Guides make pow-wow signs
Past Geronimo's disco, Sit 'n' Bull steakhouse, white men dream
A rattle in the old man's sack, look at mountain top, keep climbing up
Way above us the desert snow, white wind blow
I hold the line, the line of strength that pulls me through the fear
San Jacinto, I hold the line
San Jacinto, the poison bite and darkness take my sight, I hold the line
And the tears roll down my swollen cheek, think I'm losing it, getting weaker
I hold the line, I hold the line
San Jacinto, yellow eagle flies down from the sun, from the sun
We will walk, on the land
We will breathe, of the air
We will drink, from the stream
We will live, hold the line
Hold the line
Hold the line

Animatronic Heart

I had it all feels like I lost it again

Couldn’t stand, couldn’t stick to the plan

And it’s a crime, a crime we’ll never understand why some people fly and why some people can’t

You’re up there free and cold, It’s like looking down on a map

The directions are clear and you can see what you lack

Back on my feet, I’m shuffling through the dust and following those switch backs with a heart full of trust

And it’s all rooted in something

The choices that I made

Arms stretched out in the sunlight

Shiny river braid

It’s all…all rooted in something

We’re all weaved together, yet all so far apart

I try to stay connected, animatronic heart

Edge of Everything (2015)

songs in track order

Desert Home

Heart weathered heavy hands on the wheel

Searing Mojave as lonely as I feel

I never intended to be gone this long

And I never pretended to be involved

Now the road is burning as you did for me

My chrome heart is yearning to be

Home

Abandoned family through this desert lens 

Looking the way that I left them

The intention was there though I'd never follow through

This attempted return is my gift to you

Now the gauge is empty, I resign my fate

I roll to the shoulder and make my way

Home

Ghosts in the Water

Long way down, to sacred ground

We wade and wake, push through the cane break

Our sins and songs, the weak and strong

We feel their search, from our pagan perch

The mouth of the river groans , while the tongues of the people roll

We watch from the highway bridge, those ghosts in the water. summoning their father, echo down the hollow ridge

This ancient scene, flows through us like a dream

Prayers and gowns, washed a muddy brown 

A heavy load, now weightless like their robes

The depths of the river stole the burden of their soul

We watch from the highway bridge, those ghosts in the water, summoning their father, echo down the hollow ridge

Those ghosts in the water, sons and the daughters, summoning their father, echo down the hollow ridge

Trainwreck

You're a trainwreck, piling on the tracks

Every last box car, no one can relax

In the rail yard you took it hard

On the turntable you weren't able to roll

Are you gonna hit that note?  I didn't think so, I didn't think so

You wore your load, like a tortoise shell

No one could get a word in edgewise.  Could you even tell?

That you shut me out, shot me down

But if I'm on the wrong track, I'm willing to turn around

Are you gonna hit that note?  I didn't think so, I didn't think so

I'm running out of patience , you're running out of steam

If we make it to the station, please come clean

All my life, I yielded to you

Wolf

The moon has shown me I'm ready

My womb is pulled like the tide

And the path lit, it is selfless

And all my friends are bathing in it's light

But I'm a wolf without pups

And I'm barking, baying and bleeding

But it's you and my freedom , that keep me full

My teeth are shone quartz, white hard bone, I'm defensive

To protect our love , as selfish as it may seem

So let's run and hunt something bigger

And I'll lose my mind in our rhythm 

But in my wild head do I really have a choice

I'll choose freedom, for now I choose our freedom and this love to keep me full

Fools Gold

Give me something woman child, a hand or a foothold for my pride

Where ever you go all I know is I want you to know all my life you're mine

Oh, fools gold we were told you can't be sold but that's a lie

A heart as a handful of sunflower seed, pecked by black crows dispersed in the weeds

Now I know I didn't have to be, left in limbo took all this time to see

Oh, fools gold we were told, you can't be sold but that's a lie

Give me something , wherever you go

Give me, now you know, now I know

Give me , everywhere you go

Wherever you go, give me, now you know

Detroit

Drink all you strangers, laugh lift your city up

Do you remember while you try to forget

Let us play you our southern songs loose and loud

City stripped to the chassis, bare bones and hard living

Moon lonesome headlight, shine your pride

'Cause half the lights are burned out on the bridge to Canada

We lay in the cold, lake St. Clair and her boats

And in our haunted sleep , we dream of home

Edgewood

You've been gone for so long now your babies are all grown

I live in this old house all alone

And those babies of yours they've had babies of their own

Just faces on paper in a past you call home

Call home

Don't you miss us?

Do you wonder what we've become?

Letters from your father say he's doing good

He's leaving Washington headed eastward

He wants to know how far it is from Chicago to Edgewood

Still considers us family don't know if he should

Edgewood 

Is it too hard to remember what you'd done?

Should I thank you for taking your darkness far away?

And leaving us wondering about if you'd stayed

Catastrophe

You were the dam and I was the river, your many attempts to divert me

All in all they just made me bigger, even if they hurt me

The heart's a Catastrophe between a budding girl and a boy like me

My head's full of hot air, desire and cotton candy

I'm all in, when it began 

Your higher ground , you thinned me out like a delta fan

You stood your ground submerged in a fever, your eyes try to avert me

I'm getting in deep and you're getting weaker, it's a matter of time 'til it's over

Flown in a blind rage down the new born river through the barn red clay

I tore at every part of you and clung to what I could take away

I'm all in, when it began 

Your higher ground, you thinned me out like a delta fan

You were the dam and I was the river, your many attempts to divert me

All in all they just made me bigger, even if they hurt me

The heart's a Catastrophe between a budding girl and a boy like me

My head's full of hot air, desire and cotton candy

I'm all in, when it began 

Your higher ground, you thinned me out like a delta fan

Edge of Everything

Well the trees get as tall as time will allow

If time will allow them to be

And I'm feeling awful small as space becomes a crime

And space is getting harder to find

But in the sky in the sky where the stars hang up high

I long for that lonely dust

Where the world is flying by in the cold endless sky

As black as the darkest night

But, when I'm down here on the ground there are things that hold me down

The weight of this world pulls me down

But we've found a place to be somewhere in the trees

We turn down our bed of leaves

In the woods, in the woods we can hide from everything 

Like kids who ran away

Let the world fly on by 'cause we slowed down the time

We stalled out the time

No ground control 'cause we're too far away

We've shut all devices down

And we'll stay in the cabin at the edge of the woods

At the edge of everything

Coyotes Album (2013)

songs in track order

FireFLy

I can't wait for the day, when landlines are back in style

Answering machines, rewind the tape to see if you called me

Call me 

I'll wait inside all day long just to see

Just to see

If you called me maybe you called me

A firefly in a jar, suffocating a star

When I was young, in my prime 

My car was a mess, I was a wreck over you

Over you

You Never saw me the way I wanted you to

Wanted you

You never saw me the way I wanted you to

Out in the garden

Out in the garden where the weeds grow, with the saplings and the undergrowth

Herbs and flowers give up hope, they've gone to seed

The owl flew out under street lights, stared us down out in plain sight

A blue hanging lantern satellite, coming down

We're going back, to where I used to live

They tore down the house where, it was hard to forgive, and forget

I used to run along the redoubt, misguided mantra freak out

The world that I'd worked out, not meant to be

We're going back, to where I used to live

They tore down the house where, it was hard to forgive, and forget

Rest of your life

Woody do you remember, why you changed your name

Was it for the sake of a laugh, or to escape from where you came

And how could you know sisters so well

You take the sadness and see a beautiful story to tell

In Technicolor or black and white

you are destined to be funny for the rest of your life

New York City she wrapped around your heart

You turned her streets, her lights, her river into a lifetime of art

In Technicolor or black and white

you are destined to be funny for the rest of your life

Love, death, god or lack there of...we watched you explore it

In Technicolor or black and white

you are destined to be funny for the rest of your life

Orion

Walking against the wind I follow

Shore lines and rip tides that swallow

A sunset so violent, It's too hard to take in

And like the sharks leave their teeth, to wash on beach

We will leave a piece of our lives on this shore line tonight

Orion

I want to understand, the deep bond between animal and man

Sweet Medicine, teacher and keeper of Cheyenne

And the east will flood the west, a killing moon pulls the tide

And you will ride for your lives, from the hunter in the sky

Orion

Coyotes

I'm your echo whisper sweet, the choir to which you preach

All the rain that I'd create, made an island that I'd gate

Lost in your coat, a suit of soot and creosote 

It's all coming down, I hope we stay afloat

It's a matter of time before you know 

'Till they take back the town and get the vote 

Coyotes get the vote 

Matted fur and thistle, thistle me

Hairs on my neck bristle bitter sweet

If there's time, I think we, I think we should

Open up our eyes and share the neighborhood

It's a matter of time before you know 

'Till they take back the town and get the vote 

Coyotes get the vote, they always get the vote, coyotes get the vote

Woodgrain Heart (2008)

Turned my life upside down

'Cause I'd been staring at the ceiling, and I didn't like my ground

Saw a heart up there in the wood

And I knew if I had found it, It could only mean we should

Wake up in each other's arms and I will love you for who you are

But we can't change the guilt we can't change regret 

But I have wanted you since the day we met

I knew you would follow through

So I tore down the world around, me just to build it back with you

This hurt of change it will fade

And we'll pull through this together, and live out the plans we made

To wake up in each other's arms and I will love you for who you are

But we can't change the guilt we can't change regret 

But I have wanted you since the day we met

Oh baby, I have needed you since the day we met