The one under the hat (Gulf Coast Cowboy)

(Harmonica intro — happy, upbeat, key of C)

Kick the dust off your boots at the edge of the creek

Bring your heavy heart or the secrets you keep

Come through the front or slide in from the side

There’s shelter here with nowhere to hide

The sun might be scorching, the rain falling slow

Just arrive as you are with nowhere to go

Lead your tired horse to the shade of the barn

Set down the weight of every tall yarn

Line up the rigs in the tall grass out back

Chrome still shining on the gravel track

The door’s unbolted, the welcome is wide

Leave the madness of the highway outside

Pour a tall glass of amber for the souls on the mend

Where the horizon bends like a long-lost friend

But leave the bottle alone for the one under the hat

The Gulf Coast Cowboy don’t gamble like that

He stays in the clear while the world spins blurred

Finding peace in a single unspoken word

A heavy white haze drifts up from the porch

Lighting the dusk like a slow-burning torch

It curls through the rafters and clings to the beams

Softening edges into half-lit dreams

The air is a blanket that smothers the noise

Of a thousand lost days and the ghosts of the boys

Inhale the quiet where the salt meets the pine

Forget the deadlines and the bottom line

The pressure dissolves in a cloud of thick gray

Watching the struggle just wither away

There’s no clock ticking on the cedar wall

Only grace in the lengthening fall

The glasses are sweating, the spirits are high

Under the reach of a violet sky

One man stays steady while the others let go

Finding the rhythm in the steady and slow

Pour a tall glass of amber for the souls on the mend

Where the horizon bends like a long-lost friend

But leave the bottle alone for the one under the hat

The Gulf Coast Cowboy don’t gamble like that

He stays in the clear while the world spins blurred

Finding peace in a single unspoken word

(Harmonica ride-out, porch noise, night insects)