3 DAYS until the Release of MOUNTAIN. Wanted to apologize for the delay in breaking some of the songs down. It’s been crazy last few days with things going on and we are trying to catch up. Putting together the kickstarter rewards to ship, working with our PR folks in Nashville, radio interviews, licensing projects. But hey, it’s Sunday and we are slowing catching up.
Today I’ll break down the title song from the album “Mountain”.
One of the first things you have to do when you find out you have cancer is come to grips with it, and come to terms with death. For the first two weeks after I got a diagnosis that I may live 6 months I woke up each morning and cried. Each morning you wake up, and realize it’s not a dream and that you may be dead soon. It’s very humbling for me to even write this, and I’m not embarrassed to say that I woke up to cry and speak to God, and to pace the floor and try to understand things for hours each morning. After that shock passes, and you “man up” and say, hey, I might die, the first thing you do is prepare. There are people every day that get hit by a car, or have a heart attack and go into the afterlife with no preparation. Cancer is like an bill notice that you get in the mail, it’s a warning that death is seeking you. So you say ok, nothing I can do to stop it, so how do I prepare? I spent a day thinking about any ill will or issues I had with anyone, and I called and apologized. That apology goes like this “I don’t know what happened, or why it happened, but I need to let you know that I take 100% of the blame, and I’m seeking your forgiveness”. I did that with my dad. I asked him to come over, and I told him exactly that, and I told him I had cancer and may die. Not going too far into that, but man you can see things clearer in the position I was in, and how petty things can get. I cleaned up any relationship I had and got any negativity out of my life. I know a lot of our fans may not believe in God, and I respect that decision, and I’m not trying to convert anyone, but I can’t not be who I am in explaining this. It’s very easy at times in your life to question if there is a God, or God’s role, but I can tell you- bluntly, that if you look death in the face it’s very easy to find some clarity in your faith. If you want to pass out of this world with the mindset that there’s no afterlife, that’s on you my friend, but I am not willing to take that risk. Also will say, for whatever reason I’m compelled to tell you, that I’m a sinner. I sin every day, I make mistakes every day, I slide closer and farther away from God due to decisions I make all the time. I’m not your role model, but I know someone who can be. I believe in grace and forgiveness, in Jesus and his message, and as much as a failure as I am in some aspect of my faith, the one thing I refuse to do is coward down and not say what I believe.
I wrote the song “Mountain” just as a prayer of a very flawed human, who seeks God’s help, who’s trying to “get right”. It’s about being humble, and small, and giving God the glory. I write plenty of songs about old west hangings, other worldly things, and the human condition, but this is not one of them. This is my Johnny Cash influence, or U2 or Ben Harper who don’t cower when the question is asked “yea, but what do you believe?”. The main riff was somewhat lifted from my favorite band Led Zeppelin, “In My Time of Dying”, a gospel song which they lifted from the early delta greats. Production with our friend Greg Pearce who helped us work the break down section after the 2nd chorus, which to this day gives me chills. I always loved what mountains represented to our ancestors. It was the highest place, and place they believed to be closest to God. “Go child go, high up on a mountain”, simply means get yourself closer to God. I wrote this from a very honest place, and hope it resonates with some of you as well. And yes tomorrow we may return to a song with someone getting hung or shot, but for today…. this is MOUNTAIN-
MOUNTAIN
If I am a blind man, Lord help me see you
If I am a thief, Lord help me change my ways
If I’ve been a liar, lord save me from the fires
If I’ve been a saint, remind me that I AIN’T
And say go child, go
stand on a mountain
go child go
for all the world to see
I said go child,
high upon a mountain
go child
far above the seas
If I’ve been greedy, lord make me HUMBLE
If I’ve gotten lost, help me find my way
If I’ve not forgiven, lord please forgive me
Remind me that a master, no better than a slave
And go child, go
stand on a mountain
go child go
for all the world to see
I said go child,
high up on a mountain-go child -far above the seas
If I start to backslide, Lord please correct me
If I start to tremble, Lord make me still
Meet me at the Jordan, walk me through the valley
Lead me to the place, way high above the hills
And go child, go
stand on a mountain
go child go
for all the world to see
I said go child,
high up on a mountain
go child
