Notes Coming Soon!

1. When Panthers Roamed In Arkansas

I miss Elvis in the movies
With his dyed black hair
Wish that I could find an ice cold
Double Cola somewhere
If I had a time machine
I’d go back when panthers roamed in Arkansas
And buffalo made their home in Tennessee

Every afternoon I’d watch
Dark Shadows on TV
Scared to death that Barnabus
Would take a bite of me
If I were a vampire
I’d fly back when panthers roamed in Arkansas
And buffalo made their home in Tennessee

Frogs are disappearing
Through the ozone hole
I can’t find one song I like
On the radio
They didn’t have these problems
Way back when panthers roamed in Arkansas
And buffalo made their home in Tennessee

If I knew a Jeannie
We could live when panthers roamed in Arkansas
And buffalo made their home in Tennessee

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

2. Moonpie Dreams

Once every May Day
We stayed at her house
With doilies on tables
And cats on the couch
She played me records
The ones he adored
The music they danced to
Before the war
And now sometimes I see her
And she seems so lonely
Standing there
In my moonpie dreams

He wagged his tail
When Jim let him in
He came from the next block
And they were best friends
He’d bring the paper
Without a tear
He knew his friend Jim
Would always be there
Now he waits at the back door
But it’s just him only
Sitting there
In my moonpie dreams

Now I look out my window
And wish you could hold me
You’re always there
In my moonpie dreams

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

3. See Rock City

She put a map and a tube of lipstick
In an old Winn Dixie sack
She pulled her Firebird out of the driveway
Without ever looking back

By the time she got to Georgia
It was nearly half past eight
She bought a ninety-nine cent breakfast
At the Stuckey’s by the interstate

And she don’t know where she’s going
And she’s really not sure why
But she’s got to try and find a way
To live before she dies

She might see Rock City
She might see Ruby Falls
She might change her name to Marilyn
And drop her southern drawl
She wants to climb Lookout Mountain
And see all seven states
She wants to feel the wind through her hair again
Before it gets too late to see Rock City

Well she stopped in Chattanooga
And called her mama’s beauty shop
She said I won’t be home for supper
Give my love to Bo and Pop

And her mama knew the reasons
Without even asking why
A woman’s got to try and find a way
To live before she dies

She might see Rock City
Oh she might buy a souvenir plate
She wants to feel the wind through her hair again
Before it gets too late to see Rock City

Kate Campbell / Walt Aldridge
© 1995 Fame Publishing Co. Inc. (BMI) / Rick Hall Music Inc. / Watertown
Music (ASCAP)

4. Bud’s Sea-Mint Boat

He lived his life a civil service man
Designing toilets for the space program
He believed if we could go to the moon
There’s nothing on earth a man can’t do

So he ordered a ton of sand and clay
In his front yard he built a frame
Most folks said it’ll never float
Still they came to see Bud’s cement boat

A dream is anything that you want it to be
For some it’s fame and fortune but for others concrete
Sometimes you just gotta follow your heart
No matter where it leads

He gave up fishing and most of his friends
Worked all night and every weekend
But he didn’t mind the sacrifice
Cause he’d build a boat that’s one of a kind

Well the neighbors thought it was a real eyesore
They’d say hey Bud what are ya building that for
And knowing they would never understand
He’d just smile and say because I can

Well he got laid off in seventy-four
And they don’t go to the moon anymore
But down around the Alabama coast
She still floats Bud’s Sea-Mint boat

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

5. Bascom’s Blues

Nobody’s gonna tell you
Nobody wants you to know
Nobody’s gonna show you
Where all the money goes
If you become a big dog
They’ll buy you a Cadillac
But if they can’t recoup that Coupe DeVille
They’ll take it back

So to yourself be true
And on your way up to the moon
Don’t let Bascom’s blues
Fall down on you

They said he was a genius
The best they’d ever heard
All he needed was a new sound
And a high-powered PR firm
Well he sold a million records
But it wasn’t what he dreamed of
Cause when it came time for the payoff
There was not enough

You know you just gotta do what you gotta do
And not look back

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

6. Tupelo’s Too Far

I can see Saltillo Street
And the house where I was born
I can hear gospel songs
From the church on Sunday morn
Saturday nights around the radio
Life was simple then
But this road I’m on won’t take me there
You can’t go back again

I wish I could take route 78
And be there in no time
Rest beneath the sweet gum trees
Leave all my cares behind
But Tupelo’s too far

I never dreamed I would be
A king much less a star
And I never knew that what I loved
Could also break my heart
I always thought if I just sang
Everything would be alright
And I don’t know what went wrong
But I’m lonesome tonight

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI)

7. Older Angel

I don’t know who dug this hole we’re standing in
All I know is that it’s dark and deep
We’ve cried out to heaven and lifted up our hands
But I kind of got this feeling we ain’t getting nowhere man

We need an older angel if we’re gonna make it through
One who’s been around this block we’re on a time or two
If he knows all the angles then we might have a prayer
We need an older angel tonight if we’re gonna get there

People make their choices I have heard it said
Maybe that’s the truth or maybe not
When you’re lying in this clover with a bullet in your heart
Tell me what it really matters when the shooter finds the mark

One who knows the score
Who’s walked through the doors of heaven
One who’s been around
One who’s fallen down and learned to fly again

Kate Campbell / Walt Aldridge
© 1995 Fame Publishing Co. Inc. (BMI) / Rick Hall Music Inc. / Watertown
Music (ASCAP)

8. Delmus Jackson

Delmus Jackson was a black man
Delmus Jackson was a custodian
He cleaned the church house five days a week
Delmus Jackson talked to me

He’d say I’m working for the Lord
Gonna see his face for my reward
And on that day he will say
Well-done Delmus Jackson

Delmus Jackson had nine children
Delmus Jackson had great wisdom
Do unto others as if they was you
Delmus Jackson spoke the truth

He’d say Jesus loves all his children
And he will welcome everyone
And on that day he will say
Well-done Delmus Jackson

Delmus Jackson bought me Cokes
Delmus Jackson told me jokes
He drank his coffee from a thermos
Delmus Jackson made no fuss

He’d say my bags are packed and I’m ready to go
To meet the Lord on streets of gold
And on that day he will say
Well-done Delmus Jackson

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI)

9. Signs Following

He used to preach the end of time was near
Set your house in order before the Lord appears
Be not deceived by Satan’s demonry
Brethren, let the Spirit lead

Some say the devil took a hold of him that night
Spirits from the bottle led his soul awry
He forced her hand into the rattler’s cage
Domestic violence with a holy rage

Reach down, pick up
Have faith, live right
If you believe signs following
The snake will not bite

Twelve good apostles decided his fate
Ninety-nine to life the judge proclaimed
But somewhere on Sand Mountain a woman needs no proof
That evil can lie so close to truth

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI)

10. Galaxie 500

We got her white from the factory
But daddy had her painted baby blue
She had a red vinyl interior
That burned my legs on summer afternoons
She took us down to Panama City
And we got sand all in the seats
And the year we went out west
She made it up Pike’s Peak

I could go anywhere in that automobile
My dreams came true behind the wheel
No road was too long, no mountain too steep
For me and my Galaxie 500

Mama said kids I’ll be right back
And left us in the K-Mart parking lot
On the radio we heard the news
In Memphis Dr. King had just been shot
So late that night I sat alone
Feet propped up on the big dashboard
And I cried myself to sleep again
Like every time before

When I came home from school one day
In the driveway sat a Datsun with two doors
And I never told a single soul
How much I missed that Ford

No road was too long, no valley too deep
For me and my Galaxie 500

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI)

11. Waiting For The Weather To Break

The fairest skies I’ve ever seen
Were in your eyes the day we met
The wind was hard and full of rain
A storm I never will forget
It came on fast and caught us by surprise
A raging flood swept us away
We hid beneath a hollow tree
Waiting for the weather to break

A veil of silence thick as fog
Moves between us like a cloud
How’d we ever get to where we are
And can we find our way out
Now we lie in a bed of years
Under this blanket we made
And here we are again
Waiting for the weather to break

The stars are shining blue in the distance
Calling us away
The storm in me and you once so dark
Will all be clear some day
Waiting for the weather to break

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

12. Wrought Iron Fences

Tangled vines cover the lattice
They creep and crawl around the house
Nobody lives there
Only ghosts hang around

I have seen hope and glory fade away
I’ve heard old folks talk of better days
And all that’s left to guard the remains
Are wrought iron fences

Sarah Mae bore two children
One died at birth and one at Shiloh
Now they’re on a hill long forgotten
Carved in stone

Years go by and everything changes
But nothing does

Kate Campbell / Ira Campbell / Johnny Pierce
© 1996 Large River Music (BMI) Cedarsong Publishing (BMI)

This follow-up to Campbell’s well-received 1995 debut, Songs From the Levee, is an even better collection – more focused, and with a broader musical palette. Campbell is more Southern than country; her sensibility is small-town literary rather than suburban, and the characters and locales her songs chronicle are evocative of Southern change and decline. Her musical influences range from Muscle Shoals-like R & B to the Band to acoustic country folk. Even when the arrangements are contemporary, however, the songs are rendered timeless by the vintage instruments and Campbell’s clear, unaffected vocals, pure of line with a thick Mississippi twang, sort of halfway between Iris Dement and Emmylou Harris. There’s not a single clunker among the dozen well-crafted originals here. And ” See Rock City,” which chronicles the emotional life of a young woman yearning to break free of her small-town nexus, is the sort of intelligent, boomer-oriented country pop that could gain Campbell some Mary Chapin Carpenter-like success.

– Seth Rogovoy, The Boston Phoenix

(***) Lauded by both the Farm Journal and NPR, Campbell’s music perches comfortably between country and folk. The contemplative “Tupelo’s Too Far” is very much in the Mary Chapin Carpenter mold, while the plainspoken “Delmus Jackson” is a character study in the style of Nanci Griffith. Such comparisons are unavoidable, but Campbell is nonetheless a distinctive talent. “Songs like Older Angel,” a plea for better guidance from spiritual entities, and the peculiar nostalgia of “When Panthers Roamed In Arkansas” are one of a kind.

– USA Today

Mississippi-born Kate Campbell has one of those voices that charms with its innocence and purity. Yet when coupled with her highly articulate and provocative lyrics, her sweet soprano takes on a totally commanding nature. In her second release, Campbell draws the listener into her literate songs as she artfully skirts the border between country and folk with a few rock and blues twists. Much of this album has a feel that falls somewhere between Neil Young’s “Harvest” and the country folk sounds of Iris Dement, Nanci Griffith and Emmylou Harris. In a nutshell, Campbell is a major talent. She manages to juxtapose tales of the frustrations of rural Americana with her personal experiences, as well as dealing with more touchy topics such as domestic violence (“Signs Following”). She does this with incredible precision and poignancy and without ever sounding pretentious. Simplicity, sincerity and sophistication run rampant here.

– Mick Skidmore, The Boston Globe