Dedicated to James Ritter (1989-2021)
All songs and lyrics by Paul Willson ©
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When we watched the leaves at play
That faintly glowing autumn day
You stood with your shoulders braced
Your thoughts were all of winter
When we watched the flowers open
The first words spring had spoken
Your brow was furrowed you were hoping
That summer heat would not wither
When we played at politics
I won some ground I took some hits
But I had other wounds to lick
I was only coping
When we raced to the finish line
I ran well and made good time
But I looked at my feet to find I was treading an ocean
Every step in the hall of dreaming
Every door that you can choose
Don’t you know that waking up is
most of what you can do
If a day of judgment comes
The cosmic scales of justice hung
I don’t know what will be done
but I have my suspicions
That they all will laugh and tell
of how a snowball’s chance in hell
Was not a wholly untrue description
Every step in the hall of dreaming
Every door that you can choose
Don’t you know that waking up is
most of what you can do
Instrumentation:
Guitar- Paul Willson (tuning: standard)
Vocals- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Bass- Eric Godsey
whistle- Paul Willson
All synthesizers- engineered by Eric Godsey and played by Eric and Paul
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson
Mastered by Curtis Fye
I can’t be too worried about it sweetheart,
That things will fall apart, they will
But build just the same there is no shame in breaking nor shame in aching when you do
Have you forgotten the heart’s for feeling
Wounding and healing in them we’re human
So let us break more
Let us not be so concerned for
Our own little world
My shoes and shirt, My own patch of dirt
My success my work, My sense of my worth
it gets lonely and harder to see
Beyond the walls of a castle of me
But we can be free to let fall these walls
As it turns out they were only imaginary barriers
Do you believe that one day you’ll get there
You’ll reach that top stair
And walk through the doors
The final reward
That place that’s untouched by sorrow
Where night never follows the day
There that peace the one that you long had dreamed for
Still and pure as a bed of water
encircled by trees
Whose leaves never fall
from the tall branch’s reach
If we are good and act as we should
I’m sure one day we’ll go to heaven
But what of the hell we make for ourselves
To need somewhere else to never have enough
Have a look around
Beauty and death are chatting at the bar
There is no escape
Freedom comes when there’s nothing to be freed from
You fell asleep darlin, that’s alright, wake up again
The day is blossoming the moon appears
It would be so nice darlin to have you here
Instrumentation:
Guitar (tuning:DADGBD), Vocals and Violin- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Bass- Evan Sarver
All synthesizers- engineered by Eric Godsey and played by Paul
Ambient water sounds made by water
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
How can you tell me all is well?
When my angel’s stuck in hell
What it does to her body
And does to her mind
It seems that there’s no place in her
The demons can’t find
I’m not giving up, but I’m letting go
I will weather wild winds and waves, but won’t be drowned below
How can you tell me all is as it should be?
The world is on fire or did you not see?
The earth is resilient perhaps it is true
But as if that is license for the harm that we do
I’m not giving up, but I’m letting go
I won’t turn my back but I can’t be the one to take these blows
Everything that I see
Is stricken with a gray streak
Smiling like a sick child stewing in its own shit
Bleeding from a bad wound shortly to be septic
Schlepping through samsara is there really recourse?
Everything that I feel
is burdened by a dead weight
Sorry as a sad sack
Dropping like a drunk troll
Tethered to a tall truck
Idling in the alley
Cranking out carbon
like the world is waiting
How can you tell me justice exists?
When our means of correction
Is doing more business
How often does crime and its punishment fit?
And how could you trust to administer it?
I’m not giving up and I can’t let go
I won’t be resigned to sit and watch this tragic gruesome show
Look a little longer, look a little further, tell me what is there
Its not that you have been wrong but there’s something missing, absent in your stare
An eye you haven’t opened let it now be opened
Tell me what you see, to make friends with all that is is not to agree
Instrumentation:
Guitar- tuning: standard, Vocals and 3 Violins- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Bass- Evan Sarver
Synthesizers- engineered by Eric Godsey and played by Paul
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
Wicked Witch Wail
Fill the night’s black sails
Tear the waves right from the sea
Beckon ships to bed down in the deep
I’m yours
A dream i forgot i dreamed before
Candle light
For a romantic dinner
On the ocean floor tonight
Wriggle white worm
Wait but never miss your turn
Ravish apple rot the tree
Every body shows up at your feast
I’m yours
A work I’d forgot I’d seen before
A short play
For the amusement of the birds
Before their luncheon today
Lightning laugh late
Strike the bell, the hour that waits
Lick your lips and loose
Your clouds
Smile with a lover’s hungry mouth
I’m yours
A song I
Forgot I heard before
Falling rain
A red sacrifice
To make the earth green again
Instrumentation:
Guitar- Paul Willson
(tuning: DADGBbD capo 5th fret)
Vocals- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Drum programming- Gabriel Jessee and Paul Willson
Bass- Evan Sarver
Synthesizers- engineered by Gabriel Jessee and conceived and played by Gabriel Jessee and Paul Willson
Mixed by Adrian Olsen and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
Yes you are right
When you say that I am not afraid
The path has already been laid
And there’s no other way
But the choicelessness becomes the real freedom
Yes we are in love
We are always in love
Its got nothing and everything to do with us
I know it’s real though I can’t always see or feel it
Whenever I forget you remind me of it
Wherever we may be the world reveals its beauty
It’s so easy to see to feel to be
When you’re with me
It’s true too that I have been and I may be again
Afraid of a time when
I feel I’ve lost a best friend
It’s then that I’ll remember your prayer we shared
That we may fully be open in simple devotion
Simply circuits for love
Instrumentation:
Guitar- Paul Willson (tuning: DGDGAD)
Vocals- Paul Willson
Vocals Hannah Standiford
Tabla- Kevin Johnson
All Synthesizers engineered and played by Evan Sarver
Low D Whistle – Paul Willson
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson
Mastered by Curtis Fye
Instrumentation:
5 Guitars- Paul Willson (tuning: standard)
4 Violins- Paul Willson
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson
Mastered by Curtis Fye
Walking in the woods at night alone
Stop
To look over my shoulder
Perhaps I’m not alone at all
The air is as heavy as the moon
I keep on walking
The river must be soon
Solitude knows me best
It knows my secrets
And leads me to where the
winged mare nests
Way up high we fly but not tonight
The river waits
The air is sweet enough
to drink right down
And the frogs and the bugs weave
A blanket of sound
Many times I thought
That I’d arrived
As if in a labyrinth
The river seemed to hide
but now I descend the steps
And take off my clothes
And slip into the water
Dark moving mirror
Everything is here
Let me be as free and clear
Let me also be a mirror
Dark moving mirror
Everything is here
Let me be as free and clean
As your flowing stream
Instrumentation:
Guitar- (tuning: standard), Vocals and 3 Violins- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Tabla- Kevin Johnson
Bass- Evan Sarver
All synthesizers- engineered by Eric Godsey and played by Eric and Paul
Cricket sounds made by crickets
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
That grip that you’ve got
Are you sure it’ll hold?
Are you sure that your hands are even on the controls?
How long can you grasp a burning coal?
That part that you play
Does it speak for your soul?
Did you learn all the lines
and identify with the role?
And forget that it was just a show?
Our relationship was fine
As long as I agreed
That you are the person
that you think yourself to be
I can be the bad guy
if that’s what you wish
But I won’t ride passenger
while you drive off a cliff
I’ll be damned
if I live
by the grip
That face that you wear
Are you sure that it’s yours?
Is it the face that you wore
before you were born?
If you leave it at home
Which face is worn?
Instrumentation:
Guitar- Paul Willson (tuning: DADGBE)
Vocals- Paul Willson
Tabla- Kevin Johnson
All Synthesizers- engineered by Gabriel Jessee and conceived and played by Gabriel Jessee and Paul Willson
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
There’s a song that I have heard that’s brought me to my knees
I know I’d do anything to sing such beauty
So I asked the dharma department clerk how much it would cost
She smiled at me and laughed and said “nothing, but everything you’ve got”
So I dumped out my bag of tunes to see what I had sung
Some were meek and some were grand and some were simply fun.
i thought of all I stood to lose if i should let them go
But what was there that I could keep besides an echo?
Why sing with half a heart
The songs you fear to lose
When the song of songs can always be the one that’s sung in you?
Why withhold part of yourself
And cling to it in fear
when you give up all you are
is when you start to hear
It’s happening
Even now
Can you hear the ordinary glory of the sound?
It’s happening everywhere
Though it may be silenced by the sounds of all your cares
Instrumentation:
2 Guitars- Paul Willson (tuning: standard)
Vocals- Paul Willson
Drums- Kevin Johnson
Bass- Evan Sarver
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson
Mastered by Curtis Fye
I’m walking away but not from you
If I seem to be less bright
To flicker like a distant light
It may be true
I’m walking away but not from you
I’m walking away from a vacant house
At first it appeared
There were people living here
But I know now
I’m walking away from a vacant house
When we are there we aren’t somehow
Though we seem unaware
Or perhaps we do not care
Absent now
When we are there we aren’t somehow
No matter how a house is built
The rain and the wind
Seem to find their way in
They always will
No matter how a house is built
What I gave to that place
It seems I could only see
What I wanted it to be
it’s time to face
What I gave to that place
So I’m walking away but not from you
There’s a fledgling part
Of my own living heart
That I can’t lose
I’m walking away but not from you
Instrumentation:
Concertina, Vocals, 3 Violins and Walking sounds- Paul Willson
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson; Mastered by Curtis Fye
No thoughts but the wind
No God but the stream echoing on
No time but the sun
No home but the ground under your feet
A place that you know
Perhaps too close to be seen
A place that remains
There for you if you find the way
3 Concertinas- Paul Willson
Vocals- Paul Willson
Mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson
Mastered by Curtis Fye
Out of the Bog, Back On the Path (tunes)
Fiddle- Paul Willson
Concertina- Paul Willson
Concertina accompaniment- Paul Willson (special thanks to Andy Cleveland for a very helpful arrangement idea)
Credits
Guitars, drums, tabla, violins, low d whistle, concertina, birds, whistle and Paul’s vocals recorded by Paul Willson
Synthesizers tracked by Eric Godsey and Gabriel Jessee
All Bass recorded by Evan Sarver except bass for ‘Most Of
What You Can Do’ recorded by Eric Godsey
Hannah Standiford’s vocals recorded by Hannah
All songs mixed by Curtis Fye and Paul Willson except ‘Wicked Witch Wail’, which was mixed by Adrian Olsen and Paul Willson
All songs mastered by Curtis Fye
About the Musicians
Paul Willson
Paul Willson was born in Charlottesville, Virginia and is currently based in Richmond, Virginia.
He has released five albums and three double-albums as a leader/primary composer and been a collaborator and/or member with several artists including Rumput, Matthew O’Donnell and the Blue Ridge Bards, Psalm Swarr, UTV Chamber, Compass Rose Orchestra, Stag Baron, Old Soul, Hannah Standiford, Max Wareham, Abakis, Poojaa Shah Talwar and others.
In 2011, he received a Bachelors degree in Jazz Guitar performance from VCU and in 2015 he received a Masters of Social Work degree from VCU. Paul became a licensed clinical social worker in 2018 and provides outpatient therapy to families and individuals; much of Paul’s work has been informed by work in the field of mental health and he believes that creating and using art to process, reflect and express life in all its shades and hues is absolutely essential.
Paul performs under his own name but occasionally plays the sideman role from time to time. His work has been reviewed in RVA Mag, RVA News and Style Magazine. Paul’s compositions cross into several genres. He sings, plays guitar, fiddle, tenor banjo, concertina, pennywhistle and bowed psaltery. Paul’s past recent releases include “Occasions For Reflections” an album of songs marking specific events or points in time and “I Made Friends With A Dragon”, an album of British, Irish, and Scottish traditional ballads and an album of original songs.
Evan Sarver
Evan Sarver is a professional bassist in Atlanta, Georgia with a background in both electric bass guitar and upright double bass. Currently on the road with Southern Avenue, one of the Southeast’s hottest Soul/blues-rock ensembles, Evan continues to work extensively across genres as an instrumentalist, improvisor, composer and arranger on stage and in the studio. From a young age, Evan learned from his father Joe, a jazz bassist himself. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Evan attended James Madison University as a performance major in nearby Harrisonburg. In addition to jazz and improvisation.
After graduating in 2010, Evan found himself back in his hometown in the deeply original Richmond scene. He worked with and drew inspiration from stellar musicians such as John D’earth, DJ Williams, Devonne Harris, Paul Willson and countless others in central Virginia. It was typical for him to play late nights in regional clubs only to wake up to play in the studio or the church band the next morning. Evan moved to Atlanta in 2012, where he delved further into improvisational music as well as funk/R&B, psych-rock, salsa, country and blues. In 2013, he joined the Madrid Express and spent two years on the road with the late absurdist southern music mystic Col. Bruce Hampton. With Bruce, Evan discovered the psychic parameters of artistic limitation, how to shed the toxic ego to become a true servant of music, and how to guide songs toward to the full extent of their energy.
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson was born 1988 in Virginia Beach and started playing drums at an early age, collaborating with different rock and pop groups around the oceanfront area. Moving to Richmond in 2006, he began performing with fellow music students and professors at local venues, clubs and restaurants while attending Virginia Commonwealth University. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree with a focus in percussion and drum set from VCU (2010). While continuing his studies of Jazz, Latin, African, and other world music, Kevin has concentrated on the classical music of North India and studying under Loren Oppenheimer, a disciple of Pandit Divyang Vakil. He is the percussionist with Jouwala Collective and Peña Verde; two world music fusion projects, in addition to freelance performing and studio work.
Gabriel Jessee
Electronic music producer by night, software engineer by day. Gabriel Jessee has spent years crafting electronic music for the dance floor and film under the moniker time_frame.
Hannah Standiford
Hannah lives in Pittsburgh and is working on a PhD in ethnomusicology. She comes down to Richmond frequently to rehearse and perform with Rumput, a string band that also does shadow theater. Hannah also put together an old-time band in Pittsburgh called Howling Mob so that she’d have an excuse to play clawhammer banjo, which has been her covid hobby.
Eric Godsey
Eric is a multi-instrumentalist music producer native to the city of Richmond, Virginia. He currently plays in two local RVA bands: Bass/background vocals in Indoor/Indoor as well as drums/background vocals in the suspender-wearing Wimpy rockers The Wimps. “Mr. Godsey” is also in his 8th year of teaching elementary music. He is in his 5th year teaching at Richmond’s own Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts!
Curtis Fye
Curtis Fye was born and raised in Richmond, VA. He began recording and mixing music in his teens with bands of his own. After spending several years as a professional musician, Curtis decided to turn his focus towards audio engineering. He spent three years as staff engineer at Omega Studios outside of Washington, DC, and is now Studio Manager at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond.
Adrian Olsen
Adrian has been making records for most of his life. As the son of a producer and songwriter, he has been around studios since before he can remember and is definitely at home in the environment; something he hopes rubs off on the people he works with. Adrian owns a studio in Richmond, VA called Montrose Recording and has made many records there.