songnotes: Black Dirt Road

In 2004 my wife and I left the West coast to start our family on the East.
We decided to come back to my roots in the Hudson Valley.

My wife Ruthie's family has a long history of California agriculture, so when we discovered Pine Island it felt like home. Of course there are few places as unique as the Black Dirt Region. We were told early on of the ancient lakes responsible for the flatness and fertility of the farms. So, before we had actually relocated here and in enthusiastic anticipation of the new chapter in our lives I wrote "Black Dirt Road'.

While many of my songs relate a story, this one really is an impression; after all I wasn't even a member of the community yet. I had yet to drink my first Doc's Cider, buy a tank of gas from Harry, meet  my daughter's beloved elementary school principal, Jane Hamburger. What I did know before we arrived is that when we make dramatic transitions in our lives, we ask ourselves a lot of questions that we have to answer honestly. Like onions we have to peel away that top layer, maybe the next one as well, to get to those layers that stays hidden inside.

Black Dirt Road

and if that day
should ever come
when worlds collide
and home is not the place it was
what will you keep
what burdens will you let go
the road forgives you
when you lighten your load

will you fly
or are there just too many strings attached
will you give yourself the time to cut them one by one
you're a puppet on the run
cheating fate
since you were born

and now we walk
this black dirt road
the harvest rising
from all that we have sown
I feel the wind
I see its trail
are we the path it leaves behind
are we the sail

will you fly
or are there just too many strings attached
will you give yourself the time to cut them one by one
we're puppets on the run
cheating fate
since you were born

I didn't know that when I left
I left so I could come home
I didn't know that I would find you
cheating fate on an unfamiliar road
I didn't know that this was here
so close and so far away
we peel away the layers from the onion
on this black dirt road we walk down everyday
we peel away the layers from the onion
on this black dirt road we walk down everyday
we peel away