From Pittsburgh, PA - the heart of America's working class music and hearty good times - Burlap Road plays an eclectic mix of original, contemporary, and traditional American Roots music featuring acoustic guitar rhythms backed by drums & electric bass beneath soulfully sung vocals, fiddle runs, harmonica solos and hot lead guitar riffs.
Our debut album is now available!
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The sound of these six strings ringing
Will slip between my fingers to simply fade away
As you hear these words I’m singing
Do memories converge for you to see?
Are they like photographs in a picture postcard road map
Of the past? Of your past?
It don’t last, happens fast
Is it all predestination?
Or are we ruled by the pull of some distant star?
Is it the struggle for salvation?
The will of the Lord announced with trumpet and sword?
Or just an avalanche of destiny and chance?
Just an avalanche of destiny and chance, pure chance?
Around the sun this world is turning
We’re fellow travelers on this orb spinning in space
Tell me what is your heart yearning?
As life unwinds like ribbon, rope or twine
Your peace of mind gonna depend on what you find
Yeah, your peace of mind gonna depend on what you find
In This Lifetime
In This Lifetime
In This Lifetime
In this Lifetime
Down in the valley of Macpherson’s Ridge
Stands the site of the Old Stone Bridge
Where the water runs fast and the big trout live
Under the arches of the Old Stone Bridge
The southern face it is all entwined
With honeysuckle and trumpet vine
The northern face in the deep, deep shade
From the Hickories and Oaks in O’Leary’s Glade
Down in the valley of Macpherson’s Ridge
Stands the site of the Old Stone Bridge
Where the water runs fast and the big trout live
Under the arches of the Old Stone Bridge
Each pylon it has a five foot ledge
Lie on the cool, cool stone by the water’s edge
That’s where I caught my first fish
And fellas, that’s where I got my first kiss
Its grand Gothic arch, it spans a couple hundred feet
Over the splashing rapids of Doheney’s Creek
Can you see it, capture it there in your mind’s eye
Can you see it, as down this road we ride
To the base of that ridge, to the scenic site
Of the Old Stone Bridge
O’Connell’s Mill is just around the bend
Big water wheel turning round again and again
So many times down this wandering lane
In the welcome warm sun and the cool, cool rain
In the fall a sight to behold, leaves turning orange and red and yellow
In spring the apple blossoms, they twirl down the valley just like snow
Can you see it, woo hoo hoo
Can you see it, as down this road we ride
Moving fast, oh yeah
Down in the valley of Macpherson’s Ridge
Stands the site of the Old Stone Bridge
Where the water runs fast and the big trout live
Under the arches of the Old Stone Bridge
(Repeat last line twice)
Down the Crescent City, Big Muddy, runs deep and wide
Damn near a country mile stretching from side to side
Tug boats, steam boats, fishing boats and super tankers cruise under the skyline
How their horns boom and moan as the river buoys chime
When you’re standing down on the pier in the Big Easy
With the wind whispering in our ears in the Big Easy
Stay in Kate and Mike’s shot gun house, over in Algiers
Just a couple blocks away, from that ferry boat pier
Stand up, stand out, stand together, arm and arm down Burgundy
When Tom Waits sings that song, I want to be
Doing a night on the town in the Big Easy
Enjoying the spice and the sound of the Big Easy
Maybe the Saints will come marchin’ in while we’re there
Leave a token on Madam Lavoue’s tomb if you dare
Listen to the street musicians, jamming down in Jackson Square
The streetcar named Desire, that’s the Big Easy
The smoky rooms of Storyville, that’s the Big Easy
Got voodoo, got gumbo, got Creole, zydeco, Dixieland and blues
Every night they throw, one hell of a hullabaloo
Darlin’ let’s slide down to the Big Easy
Yeah, that’s my kind of town, the Big Easy
Good times and good friends to be found, let’s not forget, the Big Easy
“Et tu, Brute?” great Caesar’s ghost
Whom did Cleopatra love the most?
Friends, Romans, and countrymen
Lend me your ears and I’ll tell you of when
The mighty Romans for a thousand years
Kept all the world on the edge of their spears
But there’s a lesson seems we just ain’t learned
Shouldn’t stand and fiddle, While Rome burns
They had gladiators and chariot races
Now museums are full of marble Roman faces
Like Caligula who had a favorite horse
So he put it in the Senate of course
Cicero Greek, well it’s all Greek to me
And it seems that’s the way we read our history
‘Cause there’s a lesson that we just ain’t learned
Shouldn’t stand and fiddle, While Rome burns
All roads they led to Rome
Which was bomb if Rome was home
With its slave girls, aqueducts, and domes
All the world it was their own
‘Til the hoards came to rock the throne
From across the Rubicon
Ha, ha, yeah, here they come
The name of Caesar became Kaiser and Czar
Charlemagne and Napoleon played the emperor card
Like Rome our birth it was in revolution
Then we looked to Rome to write our constitution
We’ve all read about the rise and the fall
But was we paying any attention at all
‘Cause there’s a lesson seems we just ain’t learned
Shouldn’t stand and fiddle, While Rome burns
Yeah there’s a lesson it seems we just ain’t learned
Shouldn’t stand and fiddle, While Rome burns
Shouldn’t stand and fiddle, While Rome burns
There’s always someone looking out
There’s always someone looking in
I don’t know what it’s all about
I don’t know where it all begins
I’m just playing my guitar
Strumming along and singing a tune
In a high mountain meadow trying to get myself
A world wide, a worldwide view
Of the world wide, the Worldwide Blue
In the city streets the crowds move fast
Past hungry, lost and lame
The here and now well it don’t last
But Able still is slain by Cain
The wind sweeps down through the cedars
Cool with the snow caps and sweet with dew
In this meadow of wild flowers, I’m trying to get myself
A world wide, a worldwide view
Of the world wide, the Worldwide Blue
I’ve seen pictures from space
Of the earth, taken by a man, who was standing on the moon
The entire human race
Lives in that round, communal room, the third one out from the sun
I’ve seen pictures from space
Taken by a man, standing on the moon, and the planet’s such a lovely hue
Of the world wide, the Worldwide Blue
World Wide Blue
Trying to get myself
A world wide, a worldwide view
Of the world wide, the Worldwide Blue
I’ve seen pictures from space
Taken by a man, standing on the moon, and the planet’s such a lovely hue
Yes, our one round communal room
Is such a lovely shade and hue
Of the world wide, of the world wide, of the Worldwide Blue
World Wide Blue
There’s always someone looking out
There’s always someone looking in
There’s always someone looking out
There’s always someone looking in
The date was August 31st in the summer of 1952
The crowds in the groves of Idlewild Park, heard the train before it rolled into view
First came the growl and the grind of the wheels, rumbling over the rails
Then clouds of steam rose over the trees, it was the engine’s grand flowing tail
The smiling conductor was good Danny Piper, Eddy Blair was the proud engineer
All along the line, when the train whistle cried, the crowds in their Sunday best, they would cheer
Oh how they waved and cheered
For they knew they were watching the passing of time
The Last Run of the Ligonier Valley line
Following the Loyalhanna Gorge, the line cut the Chestnut Ridge
Running from Ligonier to Latrobe, through Darlington, Kingston and Longbridge
Hanna’s Run hauled the coal, the dark mines sent down to Pittsburgh
Where the furnaces burned that helped win the world wars, like they’d helped Grant lay siege to Vicksburg
Once the train passed, it was not coming back, there were those who lay pennies down on the track
For good luck and keep sakes and such souvenirs, that help you to cherish a memory, through the years
Though the memory might move you to tears
For they knew they were watching the passing of time
The Last Run of the Ligonier Valley line
R.K. Mellon came to make a speech, all the dignitaries were there
The marching band paraded past, their brass and drums rang the air
Up in the cupola of the caboose, Spoony Knox he doffed his cap
To every hamlet in the Laurel Highlands, the train went rumbling past
First came the growl and grind on the rails, then the engine’s grand flowing tail
All along the line, when the train whistle cried, the crowds in their Sunday best, they would cheer
Oh how they waved and cheered
For they knew they were watching the passing of time
The Last Run of the Ligonier Valley line
Oh, the last run of the line
Yes, they knew they were watching the passing of time
The last run of the Ligonier Valley
The last run of the Ligonier Valley
The Last Run of the Ligonier Valley line
Yes, it happened, oh, it happened
Back, once upon a time
St. George’s Strait is churnin’
An’ the Dungarvan light is turnin’
An’ the Druid stars burnin’
Light years away
The foamin’ crests a-sprayin
An’ the plumes of beach grass wavin’
An’ the misty moon cascadin’
In the tumblin’ waves
Walkin’ these Celtic Dunes
I feel like I have been marooned
Between the shadows of the moon
And the soundin’ sea
Just like the surf washin’ ‘cross the shoals
This life is lived and lost
An’ I swear on the journey to heaven’s gate
There must be a sea to cross
A sea to cross
The North wind keeps a-squalin’
An’ the headland horn is callin’
An’ the dragon’s breath is crawlin’
Cross Dungarvan Bay
The slopin’ beach is empty
An’ the waning night is lonely
An’ the sea is wild and holy
Beside these thunderin’ waves
Out here on the sand
Along the point here where I stand
The ocean reaches its salty hands
Toward the haloed moon
In the bracken beyond the shore
The ruins of an abbey stand
A stone angel ringed with leaning headstones
Looks seaward with prayin’ hands
Prayin’ hands
Walkin’ these Celtic Dunes
I feel like I have been marooned
Between the shadows of the moon
And the soundin’ sea
Just like the surf washin’ ‘cross the shoals
This life is lived and lost
An’ I swear on the journey to heaven’s gate
There must be a sea to cross
One last sea to cross
We lie together, on the crest of this dune
Moss covered boulders, they surround the lagoon
This is the ebb tide, with the coming of high tide
Our footprints upon this strand will be washed away
As the Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
The shimmering Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
Hear the sound of the surf on the sand as the tide slips away
The last rays of sunset, cast their patina
On the rows of masts, lined in the marina
In the red ruddy light, and the steadily falling night
The warm west wind starts the palm trees to sway
As the Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
Shimmering Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
Hear the sound of the surf on the sand as the tide slips away
Southern Cross on the rise, half moon a setting
Silver shadow across the sea, tonight there’ll be no regretting, no, no, no
As the Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
Shimmering Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
And the sound of the surf on the sand as the tide slips away
The sea rolling quiet, down on the waterline
Deep velvet twilight, oh how the stars shine
I feel a rip tide, do you feel it too
When I look in your eyes, it comes rushing through
As I kiss your lips and taste the sweet red wine
As the Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
The shimmering Harbor Lights, sparkle on that horseshoe bay
Hear the sound of the surf on the sand as the tide slips away
Hear the sound of the surf on the sand as the tide slips away
Hear the sound of the surf on the sand as the night slips away
Maggie says the fish aren’t biting today
So grab your guitar Charlie come on let’s play
We’ll sing some songs down by the river
Maybe drink a little wine
We’ll get the girls to do the shuffle
Dance catfish onto the line
When the big old bass has his belly full
And the trout are sleeping at the bottom of the pool
Well, don’t feel bad, we can have a good time
We’ll get the girls to do the shuffle
Dance catfish onto the line
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, dance the catfish onto the line
The tugboat Captain makes his whistle blow
As he floats the Allegheny down the Ohio
Michael plays his harp
And makes a freight train engine cry
Let’s all do the shuffle
Dance catfish onto the line
Waves from the barges splashing 4/4 time
Sandy says “C’mon boys, bait the lines!”
Everybody shuffle, Everybody feeling fine
Swing your partner ‘round and dance the catfish onto the line
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, dance the catfish onto the line
Grab your skillet Martin
Carbo grab your plate
We can shuffle in the morning
We can shuffle when it’s late
We can shuffle at noon
And shuffle way past ten
We’ll take a little break
And go catfish shuffling again
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, we’ll do the Catfish Shuffle
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, dance the catfish onto the line
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, dance the catfish onto the line
We’ll do the Catfish Shuffle, dance the catfish onto the line
Waterfall
Splashing on the stones about my feet
Waterfall
Splashing on the moss, the ferns, the peat
Listening to the rhythm of the rapids and the rills
Of this graceful waterfall, I’ve never had my fill
Listening to the rhythm of the rapids and the rills
Of this graceful waterfall, I’ve never had my fill
Waterfall
These willow roots will be my willow chair
Waterfall
Run my fingers through the water then through my hair
The magic of the morning, the swallow and the crow
The whispering Mountain Laurel and this clear tumbling flow
The magic of the morning, the swallow and the crow
The whispering Mountain Laurel and this clear tumbling flow
Waterfall
Water splashing cool and smelling sweet
Waterfall
A-sparkling and a-spilling in the heat
I love the sound of water, its laughing wordless call
Nothing so soothing as the voice of a waterfall
I love the sound of water, its laughing wordless call
Nothing so soothing as the voice of a waterfall
Waterfall
Water, water, waterfall
Waterfall
I’ll see you in the rainbow in the mist
Beside the waterfall
Your hair dripping wet, a smile on your face
In the rainbow in the mist
Beside the waterfall
Waterfall
Water, water, waterfall
Waterfall
Waterfall, waterfall
In the rainbow in the mist
Beside the waterfall
Our beautiful and talented back-up vocalist, Sarah Bowen, is temporarily on break to take care of her wonderful newborn boy. Congrats, Sarah! Take care, and we can't wait to have you back!
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