Blackwater Bride

“Blackwater Bride”

(Slow. Minor key. One guitar. Space between lines.)

[Verse 1]
Down by Blackwater bend
Where the sycamores lean low
I met a girl named Caroline
With a voice soft as coal
She didn’t talk much about her past
Didn’t ask me much ’bout mine
Just said, “Some things in this world,
Boy… ain’t meant to shine.”

(bass enters — steady thump)

[Verse 2]
There was a man called Hollis Reed
Tall, thin, mean as drought
Kept a .45 in his glovebox
And a Bible he liked to shout
Folks said he used to court her
Back when her hair was long
But love turns quick to ownership
When a man’s wired wrong

[Chorus – low, almost restrained]
Oh Caroline… Blackwater bride
You can’t outrun a jealous tide
The river knows, the river hides
What a man won’t leave behind

(long instrumental pause)

[Verse 3]
Found her scarf by the old rail bridge
Found tire tracks in clay
Found one shell down in the gravel
Where the cattails sway
Hollis said it weren’t his doing
Said I best let sleeping lie
But guilt sits loud in silence
And truth don’t meet your eye

(snare brush enters, soft and slow)

[Verse 4]
I won’t say what passed between us
Under that river moon
Only one man walked back home
And it weren’t him… too soon
Blackwater keeps its current
Slow, deep, and wide
Some men sink from anger
Some sink from pride

[Final Chorus – almost whispered]
Oh Caroline… Blackwater bride
The river took you in its side
And I laid another body
Where the dark runs thick and wide
Now when the night wind moves
Through pine and cypress line
I hear your voice in low notes
Just beneath the tide

(instrumental fade — single low guitar note rings out)

Outlaw country baritone, male