Graveyard Gold

[Verse 1]
Left my wife in Missouri
Her Bible on the chair
Said I’d bring home heaven
Or I’d vanish out here
Cold creek cuts my fingers
Mud caked in my teeth
Every pan a little prayer
Every failure, grief
[Chorus]
This graveyard gold
Keeps calling my name
Shovel in my shadow
Whispering my shame
If the river takes my body
Let the mountain keep my soul
I’ll die here digging
For that graveyard gold
[Verse 2]
Saw a man strike Sunday
Dead by Friday night
Cards, cheap gin, loud laughing
One quick, crooked knife
We nailed him in a pine box
By a twisted cedar root
His claim already spoken for
Before we filled the wound
[Chorus]
This graveyard gold
Keeps calling my name
Shovel in my shadow
Whispering my shame
If the river takes my body
Let the mountain keep my soul
I’ll die here digging
For that graveyard gold
[Bridge]
Preacher man came riding
Cross of iron on his chest
Said, “Son, what are you chasing?”
I said, “Nothing—just some rest”
But I kept on swinging
In the dark before the dawn
Every echo in that canyon
Sounded like “go on”
[Chorus]
This graveyard gold
Keeps calling my name
Shovel in my shadow
Whispering my shame
If the river takes my body
Let the mountain keep my soul
I’ll die here digging
For that graveyard gold

country, Dusty outlaw-country groove, low-tuned acoustic guitars and a rattling snare, male vocals with a worn, smoky edge. Verses stay close and intimate over a loping bass; chorus widens with gang harmonies and a haunting slide guitar. Subtle organ pads creep in by the bridge as the energy swells, then drop back to a stark final line.