Live By The Gun

[Verse 1]
Gravel road
Dust on my tongue
Your name carved
In the stock of this gun
Boot prints fading
In the blood and the sand
Every mile
Feels like the devil's land
[Chorus]
Live by the gun
Die by the gun
That's what my father
Told his broken son
Got a choice in the dark
When the killing's done
Revenge and death
Or forgiveness and life
Live by the gun
Or lay it down tonight
[Verse 2]
I found you shaking
Outside that burned-out store
Your hands were empty
But I'd seen them before
Pull back the hammer
Hear my heartbeat roar
Your eyes said "please"
Like I'd heard at my door
[Chorus]
Live by the gun
Die by the gun
Every loaded word
Weighs a thousand tons
Got a choice in the dark
When the killing's done
Revenge and death
Or forgiveness and life
Live by the gun
Or lay it down tonight
[Bridge]
Your kid on the porch
Bare feet in the dirt
Two small hands
On a torn-up shirt
If I pull this trigger
I become you
If I walk away
Do I die too? (oh)
[Chorus]
Live by the gun
Die by the gun
I dropped the steel
Like it burned through my thumb
Walked off shaking
As the red sun bled
Let the ghosts crowd in
Let mercy spread
Revenge and death
Or forgiveness and life
I lived by the gun
But I lay it down tonight

country, Stormy dark-country ballad. Male vocals with a rough, weary edge over twangy baritone guitar, brushed snare, and moaning lap steel. First verse rides low and intimate; chorus opens with gang-style harmonies and floor-tom hits. Second half adds organ swells and a distant church-choir pad, building toward a big, gravelly final chorus, then ending on a lone, bent guitar note and a dry vocal whisper.