Deal With The Reaper

[Verse 1]
Spurs in the doorway
Boots full of dust and sin
Whiskey on my collar
Blood on my knuckles again
Every town got a story
Every story got my name
Can’t scrub off
All this stain
[Chorus]
Then the reaper said, “Ride with me, rider
You been living on borrowed time
Trade your gun hand for a guiding hand
And I’ll cover your crimes”
He said, “Guard the weak, stand in the fire
Let their trouble be your last chance”
So I shook that cold hand in the darkness
Took a deal with the reaper for a second chance
[Verse 2]
Woke by the gallows
Rope swingin’ slow in the wind
Sheriff had the paper
List of everything I did
But a rider in the shadows
Whispered just loud enough
“Walk the long road
Do the hard stuff”
[Chorus]
Yeah, the reaper said, “Ride with me, rider
You been living on borrowed time
Trade your gun hand for a guiding hand
And I’ll cover your crimes”
He said, “Guard the weak, stand in the fire
Let their trouble be your last chance”
So I shook that cold hand in the darkness
Took a deal with the reaper for a second chance
[Bridge]
Now I walk between crosses
In fields I once burned (oh Lord)
I carry their coffins
Pray they never return
When a child starts cryin’
Or a good man falls
I feel that chill
Hear that call
[Chorus]
’Cause the reaper said, “Ride with me, rider
You been living on borrowed time
Trade your gun hand for a guiding hand
And I’ll cover your crimes”
So I guard the weak, stand in the fire
Try to balance out the bad in my past
Every soul that I save buys a heartbeat
From the reaper, and my second chance

country, Dusty outlaw country with a dark Western twang. Baritone male vocals over slow, swinging drums, tremolo Telecaster, and mournful pedal steel. Verses stay sparse and close-mic’d; chorus swells with gang harmonies and low fiddle. Bridge brings a half-time stomp and ghostly reverb tails, then strip back to voice and guitar for the last line.