Welcome the Traveler Home - album download
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231
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In the spring of 1979, Art Coates called wondering if I'd attend a festival he was booking in Kansas. He'd heard my recordings and figured his neighbors might enjoy my music. I suggested he hire me as part of the band I was working with at the time--Wry Straw. He said yes, and so did I.
That visit to the small town of Winfield would be the first of many. I returned often in twenty-five years, forging lasting friendships and discovering musical collaborators. I learned about wheat farming, cattle ranching, local legends, hometown orchestras, hobo eggs and calf fries.
I've seen romances bloom, and fade. Seen children come, and grow. And I've buried friends. Through mud, drought, dust storms and September 11th, I've joined this far-flung family that gathers for one weekend each year. It is unlike any other festival I attend and Iâm humbled to be welcomed by these good people.
I'm a Midwestern kid at heart. I came from a small town, with small town sensibilities. And as I wedded the remembrances of my past with the things I learned from these sturdy Kansans--the songs nearly wrote themselves. Songs which fell naturally between the fencerows of Walnut Valley. More songs followed. But I always knew where they came from ... and belonged. Most years I composed a new song with these people in mind: waiting to be sung just for them. Oh, other audiences may have heard them first. But no one ever listened to them, understood them, in the way Winfield did.
So, this is my gift to the Winfield family: a collection of thirteen songs, birthed over the years, from 1979 through 2004. The newest, "Just One Voice," speaks best of what I've learned from this diverse, generous audience: that from the simplest, humblest beginnings, amazing things may spring.
No Turning Back Now 2:53
Just One Voice 3:36
One More Mountaintop 4:22
Dearest Martha 3:57
Ask Any Farmer 4:52
Welcome the Traveler Home 3:45
Doing Our Job 4:00
Immigrant 5:25
Monkeys 2:56
One Man's Trash 4:24
Follow the Light 4:19
Ashcroft's Army 2:57
Wish You Goodnight 4:02
That visit to the small town of Winfield would be the first of many. I returned often in twenty-five years, forging lasting friendships and discovering musical collaborators. I learned about wheat farming, cattle ranching, local legends, hometown orchestras, hobo eggs and calf fries.
I've seen romances bloom, and fade. Seen children come, and grow. And I've buried friends. Through mud, drought, dust storms and September 11th, I've joined this far-flung family that gathers for one weekend each year. It is unlike any other festival I attend and Iâm humbled to be welcomed by these good people.
I'm a Midwestern kid at heart. I came from a small town, with small town sensibilities. And as I wedded the remembrances of my past with the things I learned from these sturdy Kansans--the songs nearly wrote themselves. Songs which fell naturally between the fencerows of Walnut Valley. More songs followed. But I always knew where they came from ... and belonged. Most years I composed a new song with these people in mind: waiting to be sung just for them. Oh, other audiences may have heard them first. But no one ever listened to them, understood them, in the way Winfield did.
So, this is my gift to the Winfield family: a collection of thirteen songs, birthed over the years, from 1979 through 2004. The newest, "Just One Voice," speaks best of what I've learned from this diverse, generous audience: that from the simplest, humblest beginnings, amazing things may spring.
No Turning Back Now 2:53
Just One Voice 3:36
One More Mountaintop 4:22
Dearest Martha 3:57
Ask Any Farmer 4:52
Welcome the Traveler Home 3:45
Doing Our Job 4:00
Immigrant 5:25
Monkeys 2:56
One Man's Trash 4:24
Follow the Light 4:19
Ashcroft's Army 2:57
Wish You Goodnight 4:02