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Down to the Well

down to the wellDown to the Well(SH6049)

produced by Bo Ramsey, Joe McMahan and Kevin Gordon

recorded Fall 1999

released August 2000

Kevin’s second (and final) release for the Shanachie label is still perhaps his best known recording. The title track, a duet with Lucinda Williams, appeared on the Oxford American southern music sampler, and on the compilation “No Depression: What It Sounds Like, vol. 1”.

The song “Down to the Well” has been covered three times since Kevin’s original version was released: most recently by Hard Working Americans(featuring Todd Snider, Dave Schools from Widespread Panic, and others) Blackie and The Rodeo Kings (band featuring the song’s co-writer, Colin Linden), and on the Eric Brace and Peter Cooper duet record, “You Don’t Have to Like Us Both”.

“Promise Road” was later covered by the great Ronnie Hawkins; “Jimmy Reed” by Webb Wilder, and “Water or Gasoline” by Blackie and the Rodeo Kings.  Before Kevin’s version appeared here, “Deuce and a Quarter” was covered by an amazing supergroup of rock legends (Keith Richards, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Scotty Moore, D.J. Fontana, and others) on the tribute record, “All the King’s Men”.

Track 12, Kevin’s version of the traditional gospel song “Shoes”, appeared in the Billy Bob Thornton film, “The Badge”.

Buy it!

Down to the Well CD (SH6049)
produced by Bo Ramsey, Joe McMahan, & Kevin Gordon
recorded Fall 1999
released August 2000

Autographed?
inscription:

track listing:

1/ Down to the Well

It’s mud-colored dogs guarding shotgun shacks
A red door on a green Cadillac
Hot wind blowing smoke through graveyard streets
Face I recognize looking right through me

Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Think I had my fill
Worked that ground til I done got sore
Ain’t goin’ back down to the well

You played that dive twenty some-odd years
with the faith and whiskey you killed your fear
I remember the night you broke down to the core
Threw that black stratocaster through a plate-glass door

Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Believe I’ve had my fill
Worked that ground til I done got sore
Ain’t goin’ back down to the well

See that woman in the corner, brother, she knows
Every inch of my body, every mile of my soul
We used to shake ‘em on down til the blazing day
What’s she doing here tonight watching me that way

Ain’t goin’ down to the well no more
Believe I had my fill
Worked that ground til I done got sore
Ain’t goin’ back down to the well

Written by Kevin Gordon/Colin Linden, ©1999
(Little Rain Music(BMI)/Colin Linden Publishing/Warner-Chappell(SOCAN))

2/ Burning the Church House Down

I didn’t mean no harm
I was just a shit-faced kid
Police called my mama
Told her what I did
She said your body is a temple built by the Lord
Keep on drinking, you’ll be damned for sure
Hey mama,
I’m burning the church house down

I’m in the James Hotel
Up on the fifteenth floor
Down on my knees
Chain on the door
It’s three in the morning, no one around
TV on but there ain’t no sound
Hey Lord,
I’m burning the church house down

Gone too far, can’t get back
Too much smoke, chokin’ black
Bring me a little water, can’t get clean
Burns like fire on gasoline

I dreamed I was walking
Out between the pines
Saw a red dog running
Looked a lot like mine
I called her name, but she kept running
Guess she must’ve known what she had comin’
Hey now
I’m burning the church house down

Written by Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen, ©1999
(Little Rain Music(BMI)/Turgid Tunes(BMI))

3/ Marina Takes Her Aim

4/ Promise Road

5/ Time for the Sun to Rise

6/ Deuce and a Quarter

Buy a bottle, get to feeling good
The world’s looking like you think it should
Happy hour, everyone’s your friend
Closing time and you’re down againUp in the morning and you face this town
You walk the same streets up and down
Fire burning in your worn-out shoes
Every day you got something to proveCurb feelers and fender skirts
Scrub the chrome until your elbow hurts
Pinstripes and cherry-packs
Grass stains on your second-hand slacks
Keep on bettin’, think you’re gonna win
You can dress it up and try to pretend
Car’s a car and that’s a fact, but a
Deuce and a quarter ain’t a CadillacUncle Johnny Hypochondriac
Thinks his headache is a heart attack
Honey, bring me down a couple more pills
Call the lawyer up and change my willHam sandwich and a glass of tea
Lunch is cheap but never free
Shakin’ hands and scratchin’ backs
Grass stains on your second-hand slacksKeep on bettin’ think you’re gonna win
You can dress it up and try to pretend
Car’s a car and that’s a fact
Deuce and a quarter ain’t no Cadillac
I got a date, gotta dress with care
Wash the gray right outta my hair
Clean the car out, and when I’m through
Wax it up til it looks like new

Written by Kevin Gordon/Gwil Owen, ©1999
(Little Rain Music(BMI)/Turgid Tunes(BMI))

7/ Jimmy Reed is the King of Rock n’ Roll

8/ Water or Gasoline

9/ Great Southern

10/ Pueblo Dog

11/ Oil City Girl

12/ Shoes(Walk All Over God’s Heaven)