Austin City Limits Live at The Moody Theater, by Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange) (2024)

1.

Just like an old friendKinder than expectedThat Cadillac came and gave our girl a rideLoss has no end It binds to our connectionAnd we don’t speak of it, we don’t even try If you could help me to share the trouble that you’ve got burning in you, then you can help me And in our time togetherHer memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night I miss the old hymnswhen she used to singThe sparrows spread their mortal wingsNow they’ve all lighted with the silence of stringsLike notes on the pages, she breathed life into all thingschorusJust like an old friendReach out to me Bathe me in the light of understandingAnd try to help me to share the troublethat you’ve got burning in you, then you can help me And in our time togetherHer memory will ever shine like golden embers in the night

2.

At my gate I’ll always greet you At my door you’re welcome inThere can be no transgression as a means to an end On the wind the wolves are howling, open arms are closed in fearHelping hands are clenched in anger, broken hearts beyond repairEverything’s so great, it can’t get betterMakes me want to cryBut I’ll go out howling at the moon tonightThere she stands so tall and mighty with her keen and watchful eyeAnd the heart of a mother, holding out her guiding lightIt’s a hard road to travel, this old rock from end to endThe sun it rises on her brow and sets upon the great expansechorusThere she stands so tall and mightyHer gaze facing the east At her back our doors are closing, as we grin and bare our teethOn the wind the wolves are howlingShe cries ‘they’re drawing near’ Turn around, turn around, my darling, no, the wolves are here chorus

3.

She only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blueMy baby only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blue She sparkles like a diamond and she shines like goldShe tends to avoid me when her heart is full And you can find her roaming from dusk till dawnWith her tricks and her treasures and her dancing shoes onShe only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blueMy baby only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blueShe calls me up and tells me 'Honey, I need you'And I come a’running like I always do She only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blue My baby only holds me in her arms when she's feeling blue There was a time we rambled ‘neath that neon moon Her tricks and her treasures were all that I knewNow she calls and tells me 'Honey, I need you' And I come a’running like I always do

4.

If I showed up to your wedding wearing black and blue and redWouldn’t it seem fitting, ‘cause I’m as blue and angry as I’ve ever beenThere was a time when I called youThere was a time when I called you mineThis old house is cold and emptyEven these old walls have bentI lay down, you’re not with meWaking up just sinks it inThere’s no gold on either side of the Mississippino silver in this world left to findPrecious metal and precious memories slip away, slip away from your finger and your mind

5.

Every little thing you do is a small reminder, now all I seeis you upon the mountain peakfalling down on meBut looking out over all of ShenandoahThe rocks below could never understand, little darling,all they stole from meNow every little thought of you is a small reminder of my regretsIf only you’d known true happinessmaybe one less ghost would be just a lost kidroaming these hills of Rockbridge CountyBut round and round you gomountain high and valley lowAnd you know i’ll never losethese old Jump Mountain bluesRound and round you gomountain high and valley lowRound and round you gomountain high and valley low(you know i’ll never lose these old Jump Mountain blues)(you know i’ll never lose)

6.

My blinded heart and these binding chainsAre gonna make a loner traveling onward out of meJust a rambler calling for constant changeAs constant sorrow follows me all of my days I’m a careless lover reeling over all the achesAnd the hearts I can’t unbreakAnd it’s breaking mineCause if the tides should turn, and I learn all they knowCould I let you go, if it should ever come time My blinded heart and these binding chainsAre gonna make a loner traveling onward out of me When did all the good times turn to hard lines on my faceAnd lead me so far from my place right by your sideAnd when did all the sad songs that we used to knowCome to haunt me so, each lonely night My blinded heart and these binding chainsAre gonna make a loner traveling onward out of meJust a rambler calling for constant changeAs constant sorrow follows me all of my days

7.

Though gently she flows, her depths hold no secrets and that’s where you'll find my rage Where the loss and the tears, tucked away through the years, Rise and fall in wavesIt's time we made time just for talkingIt's time we made time to heal But I know she'll be there when I'm lonesome And tell me just how I feel Softly, tenderly, using delicate voicesShe'll lean in close and draw me nearAnd once I have heard it's all I can hear You may ramble my darling but I'll always be thereThough gently she flows, she'll drag you along to a place just around the bendWhere the riotous roam and nothing is sacredWhere broken hearts never mendHow wonderful it is...How wonderful...How wonderful it is...How wonderful...It's time we made time just for talkingIt's time we made time to heal But I know she'll be there when I'm lonesome And tell me just how I feel Softly, tenderly, using delicate voices

8.

I’ve carried the world on my back with no more to obtainthe fire in the sky, a dim light in my eye that’s long fadedAnd I’ve stood where heroes have fallen, their names turned to stoneYet I remain nameless, the best friend a hero has knownNow I’m saving my strength for runnin’these days I’m saving my strength for runnin’From the age of kings when pride decided all fatelong before war machines took charge and I was to waitit was blind hope and blinders with young men to carry betweenall the death and the glory, believing they’re one in the sameyes I’ve carried the world on my back with no more to obtainthe sword and the shield, perched upon saddles and reinsbut the stampedes of thunder, the cavalry’s charge leave me nowfor your last war will come and I cannot follow you down

9.

I try to close my eyes, clear my mindAnd just listen to the wildflowers growingBut such whispers on the breeze don’t come easy now, over all this noiseI spent my youth among the pinesThey used to sing a tune so fineAnd the wind moved like an echo carrying their voices But I saw it in a dream, monuments of treesAs the air we breathed turned our lungs to dustAnd the redwoods so tall, in all their awe, began to rustWith no bend and sway at all, that ancient dance was lostAnd the wind moved like an echo, with a sigh in every gust Someday I hope to find that land of honey wineWhere the coffee grows on the white oak treesAnd those sugar-coated mountains in the spring begin to melt intothe sweetest streamsWhere each night the starlight and the sea together form eternityAnd the wind moves like an echo as the world drops off to sleep

10.

Some set their heads to swimming, nothing to loseAnd drift about the good times with slippers in their bootsSome walk the straight and narrow, only passing throughTrading this world over for a pair of gospel shoes Gospel shoes are laced with shackles and chainsFitted for the poor, the runners of the raceNow every hand is folded to the shape of a gunThe target’s ever changing but the war, it rages on So the armies march onward for the mother and the sonAs this world of screaming color is bleached in the blood Freedom was a simple word, so reverent and trueA long time ago, it meant the right to choosewho you love and how to live, but now it’s so misusedand twisted by the politics of men in gospel shoes So the armies march onward for the mother and the sonAs this world of screaming color is bleached in the blood Our mother she is crying, her broken heart is blueCause we’re too busy dying to love this life we loseShe’s grown weary of the lyingShe’s tired of all this fighting in the name of gospel shoes

11.

12.

13.

14.

Ain’t I got a fortune buried so deep In a lifetime of memory and the love I keep Turning within me while the sake of my namePours forth the only fortune I’ve gainedAnd calls me onwardInto the sunOnward Into the sunJust a bird with a broken wing, longing to fly They’ve stretched every highway this poor boy could driveAt home with the grounded I found a way Across the plains and o’er the mountains, and back again chorusAin’t I got a fortune in nearing my endWhen I think of my family and all of my friendsBut the highway has ended, my keys handed in I’ve mended my broken wing, my soul it beginsto call me onwardchorus

15.

Brave men fall with a battlecry Tears fill the eyes of their loved ones and their brothers in armsAnd so it went for Joseph WarrenIt should have been different, it could have been easyHis rank could’ve saved him but a country unborn needs braveryAnd it spread like wildfireFrom the ashes grew sweet libertyLike the seeds of the pines when the forest burnsThey open up to grow and burn againAnd it should’ve been different, it could have been easyBut too much money rolled in to ever end slaveryAnd the cry for war spread like wildfireCivil war came and civil war wentBrother fought brother, the south was spentBut its true demise was hatred passed down through the yearsAnd it should have been different, it could have been easyBut pride has a way of holding too firm to historyThen it burns like wildfireI was born a southern son In a small southern town where the rebels run wildthey beat their chests and they swear “we’re gonna rise again”And it should have been different, it could have been easyThe day that old Warren died, hate should’ve gone with himBut here we are caught in a wildfire

16.

Hey stranger, there’s danger down the lineYou’ll find heartache and trouble in all your good timin’ rowdy waysI tell you no liesThere’s no burden greater in life As soon as you pick yourself up just to sayHey to your loved ones they’ll all turn awayDon’t go living with trouble in mindThere’s no burden greater in life Hey stranger, if ever you decideGiving in to the bottom will ease your worried mind and heavy heartYou’ll see in timeThere’s no burden greater in life As soon as you pick yourself up just to goHome to your loved ones you’ll find a locked doorDon’t go making mistakes like mineThere’s no burden greater in life Don’t go living with trouble in mindThere’s no burden greater in life

17.

Once the getting was good, but now the getting’s got goneso i’m going downtown just to tie one onI’m oak aged and sour, going down by the hourand I’m as blue as the night is longSo won’t someone dance with me to a waltz about whiskeyand turn my sad songs to lullabies?I don’t need much of nothing except for all your lovingand a waltz about whiskey on iceOne quarter should do, number A32a little truth from the jukebox should make it alrightand as the booze sets in I’m getting high againto a waltz about whiskey on iceI remember the night she sat down beside me, she cried love was a ring that won’t endwell i was handed a lienow the only thing I know of a ring is the circle my glass leaves behind

Back in the beginnings, we didn’t think we would ever release a live album. This didn’t make sense for a band that loves to tour and play. Sounds silly now, but we couldn’t figure out the point of it when we had album recordings, crafted with a heap of intention and total sonic and creative control. Over the last few years we’ve been warming up to the idea as we realized so many of the albums we love and return to the most are live albums.

The upending of the touring world solidified to us just what a vital art form the live show is for us personally—the interaction with the crowd, the improvisation, the eye contact, the luck of catching a performance of a tune that outdoes its album version. The night we loaded this show into protools and started listening, we were maybe three weeks into stay-at-home orders. Spirits weren’t exactly high, but we found ourselves suddenly grinning and dancing around the basem*nt, transported to a time of purpose and connection and inspiration.

Back in Austin in January, we were just on tour. We hadn’t the slightest notion of making a live album out of this show, we were just focusing on overcoming the toddler puke we had spent the day in, not knowing it would come for the rest of our crew in 24 hours. It was an average day on a really fun, sunny, and rewarding tour.

We are so excited to share the joy with you this week.

Thank you for creating a world in which we could play this show. Now close your eyes, grab a beverage and take a trip back (or forward?) in time with us.

xoxo
Emily + Andrew

released January 12, 2024

CREDITS:
Recorded at the Moody Theater in Austin, TX
Engineered by Mark Alspaugh
Mixed by Sean Sullivan
Mastered by Alan Silverman at Aerial Sound
Artwork by Ishaq Fahim
Cover photos by Kendall Bailey

All songs written by Andrew Marlin

Andrew Marlin - mandolin, acoustic guitar, vocal
Emily Frantz - acoustic guitar, fiddle, vocal
Josh Oliver - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocal
Clint Mullican - bass
Joe Westerlund - drums, percussion
Kate Rhudy - fiddle on Hawk is a Mule, background vocals on Into the Sun

This show wouldn’t have happened without the hard work and commitment from Alan Morgan, Sean Flynn, Mamie Branham, Rebecca Ottman, Jimmy Rhine, Josh Brinkman, Kate Begani and everyone mentioned above. Deep thanks go to Mark Alspaugh for running powerhouse sound and indulging our every instrument mic-ing whim, and to Sean Flynn, for doing the same in monitor land with a smile every step of the way. We hope this show brings you a little live music relief during the world’s hiatus from touring. We can’t wait to play for you soon.