We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

BORDER RADIO

by Todd Hearon

supported by
tomciurczak
tomciurczak thumbnail
stacirain
stacirain thumbnail
zapgun70
zapgun70 thumbnail
indigocrush
indigocrush thumbnail
deborahbarlow
deborahbarlow thumbnail
dmason1144
dmason1144 thumbnail
bigmck
bigmck thumbnail
Jeffrey Ousborne
Jeffrey Ousborne thumbnail
paulk72
paulk72 thumbnail
fitzz99
fitzz99 thumbnail
adg-21
adg-21 thumbnail
dbmck
dbmck thumbnail
Steveooo
Steveooo thumbnail
davemedic
davemedic thumbnail
jesobb2
jesobb2 thumbnail
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Wallet case with liner notes and photography by Brian Crowley and Nate Hastings. Autograph and personalized copy by request.

    Includes unlimited streaming of BORDER RADIO via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 50 

      $15 USD or more 

     

1.
Border Radio Introduction 00:28
buy track
2.
Another Shitass Night (On the Sunny Side of Life) 04:20
lyrics
buy track
ANOTHER SHITASS NIGHT (ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF LIFE) Everybody’s burning rubber on the high road when they wake up in the morning Everybody’s blowing by me in the summer with the world to lose Me I’m stranded here somewhere between the sunny side of life and California With a blown-out set of Firestones and a broken pair of buckle shoes Everybody’s anybody always tells me that they going up the country – whoa Everybody’s anybody always got a lucky place to fly and a fancy ride No no brother not I My wishing well’s run dry Another shitass night on the sunny side of life Well my mama always told me there’d be golden waiting for me in the morning Just dream prospector dreams and pay your dues But the shining silver lining dulls with all my nickel-diming Dollar-Storing And the Gold Rush turned up nothing but the Blues Well I say my prayers and light my little candle most every night – whoa They tell me when I’m flying off the handle just hold on tight, just let it slide Well that just don’t feel right Ain't no safety net in sight Another shitass night on the sunny side of life Everybody’s anybody always tells me that they going up the country – whoa Everybody’s anybody always got a lucky place to fly and a fancy ride No no brother not I My wishing well’s run dry Another shitass night on the sunny side Well I know my sunny future’s somewhere up there fuming on that highway I know the train-a-coming’s more than just a faint mirage There’s a hundred ways to run the money and I’m gonna do it my way If I can only get my engine, only get my engine outa this locked garage Everybody’s anybody’s always tells me that they going up the country – whoa Everybody’s anybody always got a lucky place to fly and a fancy ride No no brother not I My wishing well’s run dry Another shitass night on the sunny side Another crapshoot lonely roll of the loaded dice – whoa Another lucky silver bullet right between the eyes – gets me every time Another shitass night on the sunny side of life
3.
All My Best Intentions 05:11
lyrics
buy track
ALL MY BEST INTENTIONS All my best intentions always somehow end up working in the graveyard All my best intentions always somehow end up mopping up the floor All my best intentions always somehow end up playing second guitar I’m old enough to know The things you just let go Don’t get too far All my best intentions always somehow end up sitting in the dugout All my best intentions end up starring in somebody else’s show All my best intentions took to Percocet when 40 pulled the rug out I’m old enough to know The things that just don’t show You don’t talk about I was gonna be King of the Bengals, King of the Buckaroos King of the Jungle, King of the Jews But best intentions like messiahs just climb up on their cross and die hard With the world to lose And I’ve grown happy with the wealth of my deficiencies I’m satisfied to be a sinking star I’ve come to terms with my outstanding mediocrity I’ve set the bar So Low The dreams I’ve just let go Don’t hurt too hard All my best intentions always end up working midnights at the Walmart All my best intentions hung their hats up in Las Vegas long ago All my best intentions send their genuine condolences from Hallmark I’m old enough to know The dreams you just let go They don’t hurt too hard I was gonna be King of the Bengals, King of the Buckaroos King of the Jungle, Jesus, King of the Jews But best intentions like I mentioned just climb up on their cross and die hard With the world to lose Like I lost you Like I lost you
4.
Border Town Girl 05:45
lyrics
buy track
BORDER TOWN GIRL We were low on tequila as the morning came down So we coasted on enmity to the next border town At Diablo’s Cantina caught her first through the flies She was loading up deadmen, I drank deep with my eyes Singing Sweet Margarita with a twist and a twirl And that was my shot with the border town girl She had eyes black as midnight, take you back to the days When the hulls of conquistadors cut through the waves And the spades of Tampico shoveled out the French dead And the corpses of Goliad danced through your head Singing Sweet Margarita with a twist and a twirl Shots all around for my border town girl She was High California She was Sonora range Was the wilds of New Mexico Before it was known by that name ’Cross the badlands of the Indians On wild horses we ride Through the dreamland of the Texians And all their imagined barbed wire Singing Sweet Margarita with a twist and a twirl And that was my shot with the border town girl Well God help the fools, they building a wall Ain’t nothing gonna keep me from Diablo’s back stall Gonna trump every hand they play, when they lay the last cards They’ll find me in yesterday, back in her arms Singing Sweet Margarita with a twist and a twirl Sharing a shot with my border town girl She was High California She was Sonora range Was the wilds of New Mexico Before it was known by that name ’Cross the badlands of the Indians On wild horses we ride Through the dreamland of the Texians And all their imagined barbed wire Singing Sweet Margarita with a twist and a twirl And that was my shot with the border town girl
5.
Evangeline 05:02
lyrics
buy track
EVANGELINE Evangeline you don’t come ’round here anymore Your smile’s gotten strange to me All your poetry was an open door in the forest floor To insanity Wanna do right by your mama, by your papa too By their big Impala, 1962 Now come on Evie, grab your Chevy, let’s see what she can do We’ll go holy rollin’ for a while Evangeline with the far-off name and the wall-eye trained On eternity In your cut-off jeans you’re as long and lean as the poets’ dream Of immortality Wanna climb into your bearskin, wanna be born again Eat peyote in the desert with your medicine man Now come on Evie, grab your Chevy, let’s take her for a spin We’ll go holy rollin’ for a while Holy rolling Holy rolling Holy rolling Going out in style Turning those tricks on the Miracle Mile Evangeline you’re a junkyard queen and a saint’s wet dream Of criminality All your sweet-sixteen and your submachine, they’re reminding me All is vanity Save a spot for your grandma, all your Oklahoma kin Save a spot for the preacherman with his pocketful of gin Come on Evie, grab the Chevy, let’s pile the whole clan in We’ll go holy rollin’ for a while Holy rolling Holy rolling Holy rolling In and out of time Turning that holy water into gas-o-line Holy rolling Holy rolling Holy rolling Going out in style Turning those tricks on the Miracle Mile You just smile, pretty baby You just smile like you’re crazy You just smile and I’ll be happy for a while Turning those tricks on the Miracle Mile You’d just smile, pretty baby You’d just smile like you’re crazy You’d just smile and I’d be happy for a while Turning those tricks on the Miracle Mile But Evangeline you don’t come round here anymore
6.
Mary Dyer 04:30
lyrics
buy track
MARY DYER I came here with the reckoning done And I saw the scales sink into the sun And the fields were heavy with the heresy grain And a lone tree leaned and chuckled my name Oh up in Boston It’s a hard falling from grace Oh up in Boston It’s a dark professing place Well they welcomed me into the fold And they bound my arms my hands to hold They kissed my cheek my tongue to check And knitted me a pretty noose around my neck Oh up in Boston It’s a hard falling from grace Oh up in Boston Such a dark professing place They tied my skirts and covered my face My house of bone and blood to raze My body you kill, my spirit flies freed As the big wind taking a dandelion seed Spin my shroud when I come to die With a thread too bright for the magistrate’s eye No tongue can tell nor eye can see That diamond dangling from the gallowman’s tree Oh up in Boston It’s a hard falling from grace Oh up in Boston Such a dark professing place Such a dark professing place
7.
Angel Wings 06:07
lyrics
buy track
ANGEL WINGS Was in the flyin' month of June My baby left me He changed his tune And now I'm tryin' so hard to grow Some angel wings He took my years He took my youth He took a train to Baton Rouge And now I'm tryin' so hard to grow Some angel wings Won't you help me if you can Mr. Morphine, be my man I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings Oh won't you help me if you can Sweet Mr. Morphine, be my man I wanna fly into the sky I wanna leave, I wanna die I wanna see them big bells ring I wanna hear my baby sing I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings They might be silver, they might be gold They might be lead, you never know I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings They might be rags, they might be bone They might be stitched, they might be sewn I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings They might be diamond, they might be coal They might be bought but boy you know they might be stole I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings I might be good if I could grow Oh honey, you hurt me so I might be good if I could grow Some angel wings
8.
Station Break 00:21
buy track
9.
Wandering Stream 04:56
lyrics
buy track
WANDERING STREAM The bars are closed in Bristol town tonight The wires are down, the AM waves are quiet And I been calling On my old Epiphone Rang a hundred times, you ain’t home You’re out on the town In some other scene Wandering stream Always out of touch and out of time The ghost of A.P. Carter walks the line In the moaning Of some old lonesome train He’ll bottle some and bring it home again Out of the steam Into a dream Of the wandering stream Well that old stream runs out and back again From across the Rio Grande to Bangor, Maine And tell me, have you ever heard your name On the radio It’ll make the bedsprings tingle out and ring Wandering stream And that old stream runs out and back again From the Grand Old Opry out through the Great Plains And tell me, have you ever heard your name On the radio That border radio It’ll make the barbed wire tingle out and sing Wandering stream Hard to tell the question from the clue What Sara might have thought, Maybelle knew In the morning when they’d rise And wipe the wings of Elvis from their eyes And follow him down Out of a dream Wandering stream Well that old Heartworn Highway has the sound Of every Sunday morning sidewalk coming down And every shooting star that hit the ground And started to gleam They’re all holding to the sunlight what they found In the wandering stream There’s Hank and Woody, Willie, Waylon too Patsy, Doc and Townes and Emmylou In the morning when we rise And wash the halleluiahs from our eyes And follow them down Out of a dream Wandering stream They’ll bottle some and bring it home again Wandering stream
10.
Another Tuscaloosa Sunrise 03:59
lyrics
buy track
ANOTHER TUSCALOOSA SUNRISE Did the circuit down from Memphis, just a drifter with an emphasis on staying drunk and stoned Raked the rounds in Mississippi with a van of New York hippies headed home Had a little lark in Arkansas with a sassy little Chickasaw, she let me gnaw the bone Now I’m stuck in Alabama with her pair of pink pajamas on my own Well that old East Texas highway had an exit labeled “My Way,” now I’ve nowhere left to go My bar tab’s out of credit and I’m just too dry to sweat it anymore Birmingham they wined and dined me, Mobile beauties tried to blind me but I still know what I know It’s no sweet home Alabama to a boy who’s Texarkana to the core Another Tuscaloosa sunrise and my Texarkana heart is sinking low I’m down in Tuscaloosa but my luck it up and left for Tupelo Too much rambling too much gambling restless days and one-night-standing for the soul Another Tuscaloosa sunrise and my Texarkana heart is sinking low It’s been double time and driving blind, I tried so hard to clear my mind of all I know is true But I still see my little darling planting bean rows in a garden two by two Traded Texas sand for red clay land and heeding every wind at hand, her rooster crew and crew Now those Piney Woods are calling and tomorrow I’ll be hauling home to you Another Tuscaloosa sunrise and my Texarkana heart is sinking low I’m down in Tuscaloosa but my luck it up and left for Tupelo Too much rambling too much gambling restless days and one-night-standing for the soul Another Tuscaloosa sunrise and my Texarkana heart is sinking low Another Tuscaloosa sunrise and my Texarkana heart is coming home
11.
Maybe in a Blue Moon 05:07
lyrics
buy track
MAYBE IN A BLUE MOON Maybe there’s a gold ring Lost somewhere in the box spring Maybe there’s a brass key Hidden somewhere in the oak tree Maybe there’s a tin cup Full of whiskey we ain’t drunk up Maybe there’s a way to make you fall in love again Maybe there’s a lucky star’s light Twinkling out there like a firefly Maybe there’s a horseshoe Hanging on outside our old room Maybe there’s a lucky four-leaf Growing somewhere on the junk heap Maybe there’s a way to make you fall in love again Maybe with an old tune Rising like a blue moon I could make you fall in love again Maybe in a blue moon make you fall in love again Maybe with me Maybe we could find a dark bar Somewhere out there on some dark star Maybe in the smoke’s haze You’d recognize my old face Maybe there would be a trap door Somewhere out there on the dance floor Maybe it would trip and you would fall in love again Maybe if I hold tight And baby play my cards right I could make you fall in love again Maybe in a blue moon make you fall in love again Maybe with me Maybe if I touched you But maybe didn’t rush you If I promised not to bruise you Couldn’t stand again to lose you Maybe with the right tune Maybe in a blue moon Maybe in that double moonrise You’d come around again and realize Maybe there’s a way to make you fall in love again
12.
Indian Rodeo 03:34
lyrics
buy track
INDIAN RODEO I wish I had a pony A little honey I could call my own A pretty Indian pony Take her out to see the Astrodome, where the big stars roam I’d trade my luck and liquor for a little of the rodeo I felt my blood beat quicker when I heard it on the radio Indian Rodeo, Indian Rodeo Trash fires burnin’ in a white man’s town No amount of talkin’s ever gonna turn this rig around Headlights stretch like arms through the snow If I find you babe I swear I ain’t ever gonna let you go, never let you go I’d trade my luck and liquor for a little of the rodeo I felt my blood beat quicker when I heard it on the radio That Indian Rodeo I know she’s out there somewhere, waiting on a calico When I find her gonna bind her in a blanket of fire and indigo And I know and I know and I know and I know and I I’d trade my luck and liquor for a vision of the rodeo Felt the blood in my veins beat quicker when I heard it on the radio Indian Rodeo, Indian Rodeo, Indian Rodeo If I only had a pony
13.
Troubled Mind 04:12
lyrics
buy track
TROUBLED MIND Takes a Thor to throw the thunder Takes a Christ to calm the sea There’s any ways of going under If you’re anything like me Burning bridges ’cross the river I could rail forever on a train Ride my nightmares out to never And bring em all back home again I’ve been gone too long Had to take a little time I make my bed in a troubled mind If you come with me Gonna lay it on the line I make my bed in a troubled mind No flash of lightning from the tunnel No aurora borealis from above No colder comfort to discover I kill everything I love Did I go too far Had to fly a little blind I make my bed in a troubled mind If you ride with me Gonna lay it on the line I make my bed in a troubled mind – singing In the morning I’m alive, it’s all too much to believe Take a boot as big as God to kick the hell out of me Take a telescope inside my skull to see what I mean, what I mean If you see what I mean I been gone too long Had to waste a little time I make my bed in a troubled mind If you lie with me Gonna lay it on the line I make my bed in a troubled mind It seems I’m always driving ninety When I dream I can still hear that engine moan But when I wake I always find me Still a million miles from home Did I go too far Had to taste a little time I make my bed in a troubled mind If you come with me Gonna lay it on the line I make my bed in a troubled mind I make my bed in a troubled mind I make my bed in a troubled
14.
Bring It Home Carolina 05:32
lyrics
buy track
BRING IT HOME CAROLINA When you’ve finally got dog-tired of all your runnin’ Chasing something that just ain’t ever gonna come around And your veins have had enough of all their junkin’ And you’ve hounded the last tourist out of town When you’ve finally made a grave up for your mama And drove your daddy’s dust clear out of sight and mind Your old room’s clean and open if you want it And Bubba’s fridge is full of beer ’bout half the time Bring it home, Carolina Spanish leather don’t sit easy on a rolling stone Bring it home, Carolina Leave your banishment behind and let that banjo Roll you baby on back home Well you say you always knew you had it comin’ Livin’ outa that old guitar case way too long You didn’t even have a good string left for strummin’ And your head stuck on some Ronnie Milsap song With your trucker tricks you kept them big wheels pumpin’ And you found there just ain’t fuck all in the world to kill your pain Somewhere along the way you just lost somethin’ Somewhere in that Smoky Mountain rain Bring it home, Carolina Spanish leather don’t sit easy on a rolling stone Bring it home, Carolina Leave your banishment behind and let that banjo Roll you baby on back home, Carolina Spanish leather don’t sit easy on a rolling stone Bring it home, Carolina Leave those Spanish boots behind and let that banjo Roll you baby on back home
15.
Where the Well Don't Run Dry 05:12
lyrics
buy track
WHERE THE WELL DON’T RUN DRY There oughta be an answer on that highway There oughta be a mansion in the sky There oughta be a fat paycheck come Friday And I’ll meet you where the well don’t run dry There oughta be some beauty in the desert A little speck of bluebird by and by A private little bucketful of pleasure I’ll meet you where the well don’t run dry Where the well don’t run dry Sunny days and Meltaways Beyond the Great Divide Fortune-wheeled or far afield You know I will always be on your side There oughta be a way to live forever On Church’s chicken wings and cherry pie Jim Beam and grenadine and Dr. Pepper Man I’ll meet you where the well don’t run dry There oughta be a better way of leaving Some way to say farewell without goodbye There oughta be a heaven worth believing And I’ll meet you where the well don’t run dry Where the well don’t run dry

about

BORDER RADIO, Todd Hearon's first full-length studio album, featuring 13 tracks of Americana/Classic Country/folk-inspired original tunes alongside the old-timey sounds of 1930s border radio.

credits

released August 20, 2021

Todd Hearon: Acoustic guitar and vocals, Tracks 1-15; banjo, Track 14
Dan Beller-McKenna: Pedal steel, lap steel, dobro, electric guitar, Tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12
Chris Caruso: Bass, Tracks 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11
Chris Plante: Piano, Hammond organ, Tracks 5, 7, 11, 13
Aaron Zaroulis: Drums, Tracks 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 14
Pete Iannitto: Bass, Tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14
Scott Heron: Mandolin, banjo, vocal harmonies, Tracks 4, 6, 9
Betsy Heron: Fiddle, vocal harmonies, Tracks 4, 6, 9
Lindsay Lassonde: Vocal harmonies, Track 7
Kevin Kidd: Vocal harmonies, Tracks 4, 5, 12, 13, 14
Melissa Foley: Vocal harmonies, Tracks 4, 5, 12, 13, 14
Stu Barer: Harmonica, Tracks 2, 4, 5, 9, 13
Glenn “Scotty” Scott: Mandolin, Tracks 4, 6, 9
Tamara Hearon Rowland: Vocal harmonies, Tracks 2, 10, 11
Tim Hearon: Vocal harmonies, Tracks 2, 10
Michael Jerome Moore: Drums and percussion, Tracks 3, 5, 13
Paul Bernhard: Drums, Tracks 2, 12
Ellie Dunbar: Violins, Track 15
Tess Crowther: Cello, Track 15
Sara Sasaki: Viola, Track 15
Eleonore Denig: Arrangement, Track 15
Ralph Sneeden: Electric guitar, Tracks 7, 11, 12, 14
Bobby Squires: Classical guitar, Track 15
Marcus Rabb: Trumpets, Track 4
Tim Phillips: Electric guitar, Tracks 2, 3, 5, 12, 13
Greg Brown: Trumpet score, Track 4; string score, Track 15
Fermin Perez-Andreu: Announcer’s voice (Spanish), Track 1
Eric McHenry: Announcer’s voice (English), Track 1
Erica Plouffe Lazure and Kelly Flynn: “Carter Family” voices, Track 1

All songs by Todd Hearon except "Keep on the Sunny Side" by Ada Blenkhorn

Produced by Todd Hearon
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Tim Phillips at Phillips Sound
Photography by Brian Crowley (front cover) and Nate Hastings (back cover)
Design by Christine Hodgson

Lyrics and liner notes at www.toddhearon.com/borderradio

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Todd Hearon image

Todd Hearon Exeter, New Hampshire

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, and raised in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, Todd Hearon is a poet, author and songwriter living in Exeter, New Hampshire. His two studio albums are YODELADY (2023) AND BORDER RADIO (2021); he's also the author of three volumes of poems, a number of plays and essays, and a novella.

Click here for news on upcoming shows: bnds.us/lvev1t ... more

contact / help

Contact Todd Hearon

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Todd Hearon recommends:

If you like Todd Hearon, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Fabiana Palladino stops by to talk about her mesmeric debut LP.
listen now