Sugarloaf Mountain Records
presents
"Rising Tide"
by Rhododendron Road

   3. Black Hills Ranger (3:09)

I left my home in Alamance County, 1875.
The news was gold. There weren't no stallin'.
All I could hear was them Black Hills callin',
Calling me to come alive.

I left my woman and my dog named Willie,
Left my boyhood friends.
I left my name to be eternally cussed,
All for the sake of some golden dust.
Never went home again.

No, this wasn't what I came after.
Pockets full of hunger, ears full of laughter.
Yes, I am the Black Hills Ranger,
Destined to be everybody's stranger.

Somebody please lend me a dollar.
I can hardly stand.
Spent last night at a gambler's table,
Drinkin' from a bottle with a poison label,
Waiting for a golden hand.

No, this wasn't what I came after.
Pockets full of hunger, ears full of laughter.
Yes, I am the Black Hills Ranger,
Destined to be everybody's stranger.


Words and music by Jim Choukas-Bradley.
Jim Choukas-Bradley: vocals, acoustic guitar;
Jesse Daumit: rhythm and lead guitar;
Jesse Choukas-Bradley: vocals, rhythm and
lead guitar; Amanda Olsavsky: vocals;
Jeff Reed: bass; Mike Kuhl: drums.

Recorded at Bias Studios, Springfield, VA.
Engineered and mixed by Jim Robeson.

I wrote this song many years ago as a young man earnestly playing guitar and casually reading American History and putting into songs the pictures I saw in my mind’s eye while reading that history. This one tells the story of a man who leaves his home in rural North Carolina, leaves everything behind, family, loved ones, obligations -- and heads west to the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory in the Gold Rush of 1875. Seeking adventure and his fortune, he ultimately finds a life of lonely disillusion and dissolution.


Sugarloaf Mountain Records, Inc. wishes to thank Susan A. Roth for the use of her photographs,
and Tina Thieme Brown for the use of her paintings on this website.

Sugarloaf Mountain Records, Inc.
©2013 All rights reserved.
www.sugarloafmountainrecords.com


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