1. 1000 POUND MACHINE

The pressing of the key
Rocks the center rail
Pushes down the jack
Which makes the hammer fall
Until it strikes the string
And sends out good vibrations
Across the cast-iron plate
The soundboard starts to ring
Then when the key’s released
The backcheck drops the catch
And the hammer falls back down
Until it’s struck again
And this is how it works
A simple pair of hands
Still a mystery
The music of the spheres
A thousand pound machine

Kate Campbell & Will Kimbrough
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Will Kimbrough Music (BMI) Administered by Bluewater Music

2. WAIT FOR ANOTHER DAY

Fields need planting
Bills need paying
And I know time
Keeps wasting away
Calls need returning
Lessons need learning
They’re gonna have to
Wait for another day

And only one thing
That I need to do
Is sit right here
And tend to you

Risks need taking
Money need making
If you’re gonna stay
Ahead of the game
Cakes need baking
Children need waking
They’re gonna have to
Wait for another day

Sky might start falling
River might start rising
What tomorrow brings
Come what may
Earth might stop spinning
Sun might stop shining
But they’re gonna have to
Wait for another day

Cause loving you
Just can’t wait for another day

Kate Campbell & Mark Narmore
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Oven Music Inc. (BMI)

3. MONTGOMERY TO MOBILE

Late night Greyhound station
Burnt oil and diesel
Cigarettes and coffee
From the vending machine
Waiting in the silence
The silence of a painting
The coldness seems to fill
The space between
Boarding now
Going south

You can take the window seat
And I’ll sit right beside you
We’ll see if the view has changed
We both know on this road
So many things can blind you
When you let fear get in the way
Some might find it funny still
George and Rosa
On a bus ride
From Montgomery to Mobile

And how many years
Did we miss each other
Because of all the seats
Between the front and back
And how many miles
Do we have to go
To shine the light
On the kindness we so often lack
Time rolls by
We must try

So much pain
And so much struggle
When will there be
Trouble enough
Well if we plow this field together
Surely we can rise above

Kate Campbell & Mark Narmore
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Oven Music Inc. (BMI)

4. RED CLAY AFTER RAIN

I got on that train and I never looked back
Rode it up north ’til I ran out of track
I left Birmingham to learn a new trade
And the six bucks an hour I made
But sometimes at night I still dream about then
Tarpaper houses and momma and them

I miss red clay after the rain
Dying the rivers with that crimson stain
I miss cotton, camellias, curtains of cane
And red clay after the rain

Well I don’t miss August out in the field
Or breaking your back without any yield
And I don’t miss all of those holes in my shoes
Or not having nothing to lose
But sometimes I hear an old song on the wind
And part of me wants to go back there again

I guess the thing about all that red clay
Is there ain’t enough water to wash it away

Kate Campbell & Walt Aldridge
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Full Circle Music (ASCAP)

5. SPOONERVILLE
Dedicated to the legendary Spooner Oldham

Up above the City Drugs
Down in Florence town
Tom said we can build a sound
With all this time to kill
With just one take
And we can make
A 45 to spin
We don’t wanna do it again
It’s all about the fill
In Spoonerville

And don’t you know
You gotta have soul
If you wanna rock and roll

Boxtops are in at 10 a.m.
Still no song to play ‘em
I’m so tired I could cry like a baby
That ain’t no big deal
Jump on in
And take a swim
That river ain’t so wide
You’ll always make it to the other side
Without a chill
In Spoonerville

Cause don’t you know
You gotta have soul
If you wanna rock and roll

Lift up your head
And roll up your bed
If you want to be healed
It don’t matter who’s on the bill
All will be revealed
And don’t forget to pray for Neil
In Spoonerville

Kate Campbell & Mark Narmore
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Oven Music Inc. (BMI)

6. THE OCCASIONAL WAILER

Kate Campbell
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)

7. ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS MEDITATION BLUES

I killed a man to get in here
And here I’ll be for life
Hardest of the hardest men
Step aside when I walk by

I was born an angry man
This is all I know
I gave up on the human kind
A long, long time ago

Then one day a man came ’round
Put us to the test
Gonna sit right here and think a while
Like Jesus in the wilderness

I thought that man was crazy
Two days on and on
Three days in the walls came down
And all my pain was gone

A long time I was dying
Blind but now I see
Locked up here for all my days
I am finally free

Alabama here we rest
Live in light and peacefulness

Kate Campbell & Will Kimbrough
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Will Kimbrough Music (BMI) Administered by Bluewater Music

8. I WILL BE YOUR REST

When you have fought every good fight
Tried with all your strength and might
But cannot lift your sword
And that dragon’s at your door

When the tempests toss you from side to side
And you cannot find a place to hide
Listen for my voice
In the middle of the storm

I will be your rest
I will calm your fears
I will be your peace
I will dry your tears
I will be your song
When you cannot sing
I will be your breath
I will be your rest

When you’re so tired that you cannot sleep
The darkness is so very deep
It’s hard to see the way
Or find the words to pray

And when the weight of this world keeps on bearing down
You cannot lift your eyes up from the ground
Don’t you know
I can bear that load

Kate Campbell & Mark Narmore
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Oven Music Inc. (BMI)

9. GOD BLESS YOU ARTHUR BLESSITT

God bless you Arthur Blessitt
Your back is plenty strong
Your load is hard and heavy
Every bit of six feet long
From Greenville, Mississippi
Out to the Sunset Strip
Where Jesus called one early morn
For you to take a trip

God bless you Arthur Blessitt
You built yourself a cross
And carried it around the world
Never once got lost
You walked through many nations
Poverty and war
And when you reached Jerusalem
Cried Lord should I walk more

And he said I’ve called you to the common man
Peasants of the earth
We’re all in this together
Toil and sweat and dirt

God bless you Arthur Blessitt
You love the people so
You’ve tried to keep it simple
As on and on you go
Across the highest mountains
The driest dessert plains
The most forgotten places
People know your name

God bless you Arthur Blessitt
You have done your part
For peace in every land
And love in every heart

Kate Campbell & Will Kimbrough
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Will Kimbrough Music (BMI) Administered by Bluewater Music

10. I WANT JESUS TO WALK WITH ME

I want Jesus to walk with me
I want Jesus to walk with me
All along this tedious journey
I want Jesus to walk with me

Walked with my mother
Won’t you walk with me
Walked with my mother
Won’t you walk with me
All along this tedious journey
I want Jesus to walk with me

Don’t you leave me alone
Won’t you walk with me
Don’t you leave me alone
Won’t you walk with me
All along this tedious journey
I want Jesus
I want Jesus
I want Jesus to walk with me
To walk with me
To walk with me

Traditional
Arranged by Kate Campbell
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)

11. 1000 POUND MACHINE REPRISE

Kate Campbell & Will Kimbrough
© 2011 Large River Music (BMI)
Will Kimbrough Music (BMI) Administered by Bluewater Music

“Long the queen of the back 40, Campbell extends and assures her reign with this deceptively simple folk and more set that has the kind of guests and cohorts that you can’t attract for love or money unless you really have something on the ball. Certainly her least radio ready set ever, but her deepest and most touching, this is music you sit and listen to when you want a cinematic experience for your head. As distinctly southern as anything Williams or Faulkner ever did, Campbell plainly and cleanly hits it out of the park with songs that must have been simmering for quite some time. A must hear if you are a fan of any aspect of the golden age of songwriting. Top shelf throughout.”

– Midwest Record

“Kate never fails to surprise and amaze. From those early days until today everything is truly unique and different – musically and lyrically. This CD is really great in distilling the music and the stories into such meaningful material – and, of course, the surprise of Kate on piano instead of guitar.”

– Bill Hahn, Producer/Host, Traditions & Sunday Simcha, WFDU 89.1 FM. Teaneck, NJ

“What a great talent Kate Campbell represents is made clear by the legends in music that appear as guest artists for her latest released album ‘1000 Pound Machine’. Emmylou Harris as backing vocalist, Will Kimbrough on guitars and ‘Hall of Fame’-initiated Spooner Oldham on organ contribute their best skills to this magnificent new lo-fi record of Nashville’s hidden treasure.”

– www.rootstime.be

“Kate Campbell sends out letters from the home front with her fourteenth album, 1000 Pound Machine. Leading with piano as opposed to her usual guitar (as the title references), Campbell offers listeners an unhurried pilgrimage into the manifold world of Southern folk. But while the Southern roots are strong, this isn’t a genre piece. Collaborators Spooner Oldham, Paul Griffith, David Henry, and Will Kimbrough—to name only a few—contribute to the diversity of the sound with instruments such as organ, electric guitar, harmonica, and strings. The instrumental breather “The Occasional Wailer” even utilizes the bouzouki, the Greek member of the lute family. Between the inventive Campbell and the contributions of her guests, the album is chock-full of engaging, surprising, and fresh interpretations of traditional genres. The melodies evoke comparisons to some old favorites: “Wait For Another Day” sounds like it could be a James Taylor arrangement, and “Montgomery to Mobile” a piece by Elton John. Each song is informed by a reverence for the southern tradition, with odes to the civil rights movement (“Walk With Me”), gospel-tinged longings for respite (“I Will Be Your Rest”), and country ballads recollecting days of hard work (“Red Clay After Rain”). Kate’s voice is clear, but not showy, its pure tone lending itself to dirges like “Alabama Department of Corrections Meditation Blues.” Her lyrics are also plainspoken but emotionally packed: “I was born an angry man / This is all I know / I gave up on the human kind / A long, long time ago.” In the straightforward language of folk, her subject matter spans universal themes of love, brotherhood, and humility. Listen to this collection and be immersed—both in the particularity of the Southern atmosphere it evokes, and the timelessness of its stories and emotional power.”

– IMAGE