Cold Line, Hard Truth

[Verse 1]
Found my brother on a Tuesday
White foam on a cheap old rug
Three missed calls on my phone screen
And a cop with a careful hug
Tried to trace it back to someone
Just a name and a burned-out face
All that poison on the freeway
Flowing in like it owned this place
[Chorus]
So I stand with the ones on the cold line
Chasing shadows through the dead of night
Every load they stop
Is one last shot
That never hits a kid like mine
You can argue on the sidelines
I’ve heard all the noise online
But if you’ve buried blood
Because of that flood
You’d thank the ones on the cold line
[Verse 2]
Seen that border in the headlines
Turned into a wrestling ring
Talking heads and talking slogans
While the pills still slip and sting
But I’ve watched a mother shaking
At a flag-fold funeral
Whispered “please just make it harder
To get this death at the shopping mall”
[Chorus]
So I stand with the ones on the cold line
Chasing shadows through the dead of night
Every load they stop
Is one last shot
That never hits a kid like mine
You can argue on the sidelines
I’ve heard all the noise online
But if you’ve buried blood
Because of that flood
You’d thank the ones on the cold line
[Bridge]
This ain’t red, this ain’t blue
It’s a folded shirt that still smells like you
Every siren, every raid they run
Feels like one more war we might have won
[Chorus]
Yeah I stand with the ones on the cold line
Chasing shadows through the dead of night
Every load they stop
Is one last shot
That never hits a kid like mine
You can argue on the sidelines
I’ll be praying for that sign
That we’ve turned the tide
On this slow landslide
And God bless the ones on the cold line

country, Moody country-rock ballad with male vocals; fingerpicked acoustic and low electric drone in the verses, stomping drums and slide guitar blooming in the chorus, subtle organ pad under the bridge. Energy starts reflective, then builds into a proud, chest-voiced hook with stacked harmonies on the title line.