WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE
I’m With Her is Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sara Watkins
Produced by Josh Kaufman
Recorded at Outlier Inn in Woodridge, NY and The Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY
Engineered by D. James Goodwin and Gillian Pelkonen
Assistant Engineering at Outlier Inn by Josh Druckman
Assistant Engineering at The Clubhouse by Joe Kress
With additional recording and engineering by Josh Kaufman at Little Pink in Kingston, NY
Mixed by D. James Goodwin
Mastered by Paul Blakemore
All songs written by Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins
Published by
SoRaw Music (BMI) / Exclusively Administered by Songs of One Riot Music / Reservoir 416 - Cosmic Seed Music (ASCAP), Administered by BMG Rights US - Fiddle and Fall Music (ASCAP), administered by Hipgnosis Songs Group
Sarah Jarosz - vocals, octave mandolin, mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, banjo
Aoife O’Donovan - vocals, acoustic guitar, baritone electric guitar, piano
Sara Watkins - vocals, fiddle, cello, hammond b3 organ
Josh Kaufman - nylon string guitar, electric guitar, tenor guitar, bass, fretless bass, lap steel, vibraphone, percussion, piano, organ, synths, harmonium, drones, hammond b3 organ, transistor organ, wurlitzer electric piano
JT Bates - drums, percussion
LYRICS
ANCIENT LIGHT
Better get out of the way
Gonna figure out what I wanna say
I’ve been a long time comin’
Making my way through the weeds
Branches tug at my sleeves
I’ve been a long time gone
No more cryin’
I’m not gonna put up a fight
When I get there
I’ll be swimming in the ancient light
Dry leaves under my shoes
I got nothing to lose
And now the clouds roll in
In the dark I’m gathering
While everything’s unraveling
I’m building a fire
Sparks and smoke rings
Fill up the night
When it catches
I’ll be swimming in the ancient light
Thinking of who came before
I hear them knock at the door
They been a long time comin’
Mmmm when I let ‘em in
I feel their breath on my skin
They’ve been a long time gone
We’ll be dancing
Oh what a sight
When they get here
I’ll be swimming in the ancient light
WILD AND CLEAR AND BLUE
Sunlight breaking through the blinds
Someone shouts come on it’s time
Rushing out the door, buckle up
Diggin’ around in the tapes on the passenger side
Push one in and press rewind
Windshield wipers keeping time
Ooh when I was nine
Heard you singing ‘bout the five and dime
What’s that I asked
And my mama said
They were everywhere when I was a kid
I hear the fiddle and bow
Still playing long after the show
Your voice runs like the Brazos through me
Wild and clear and blue
Feet shufflin’ cross the floor
Moonlighting at the record store
Thumbing through the bins to find a friend
Pick one out and I put it on
Dancin’ alone to my favorite song in
Under the flicker of fluorescent lights
Ooh when I was nine
Heard you singing ‘bout paradise
What’s that I asked
And my mama said
That was everywhere when I was a kid
I hear the fiddle and bow
Still playing long after the show
Your voice runs like the Brazos through me
Wild and clear and blue
Now I’m rolling down all my windows
While the wild birds cut lines across the sky
Your voices are swirling around me
Driving into the west Texas night
Breathing in the scent of the sage brush
Tears cutting lines ‘cross my face
Now the static is slowly replacing
The sounds of my childhood days
Singing ‘bout paradise
What’s that I asked
And my mama said
That was everywhere when I was a kid
I hear the fiddle and bow
Still playing long after the show
And love runs like the Brazos through me
Wild and clear and blue
SISTERS OF THE NIGHT WATCH
Sisters of the night watch
Do you know me?
I feel my soul resonate with thee
Sisters I’m not sure where I’m going
But to rest here with you, I am relieved
I was brought by I know not whom
Ancient lights are still guiding
The voice is one I’ve heard before
Unearthing spells inside me
I was told my soul is sinful
But the spirit he is true
I still pray in my own way
But not like I used to
Sisters of the night watch
Do you know me?
I feel my soul resonate with thee
Sisters I’m not sure where I’m going
But to rest here with you, I’m relieved
Magical marauders moving through me
Had to cross a dried out river on my knees
Picking blood red berries off dead trees
Withering like a cattail in the breeze
Running into ghosts that I see right through
Puts a chill into my bones
Oh tripping over roots
Must I make my way alone?
Is anyone a friend that I can go to?
Give me a smoke signal or a bird on a wing
Further on ahead I see the sparks fly
Could it be my old companions welcoming?
Sisters of the night watch
Do you know me?
I feel my soul resonate with thee
Sisters I’m not sure where I’m going
But to rest here with you, I am relieved
DIFFERENT ROCKS, DIFFERENT HILLS
Make your list
Check it twice
In the column on the left don’t forget the sacrifice
I carried yours
You carried mine
Sharing the burden
Stopping to laugh sometimes
Now it’s hard, it’s hard
When you got two people pushing different rocks up two different hills
And it’s hard, it’s hard
Nobody sees the top we just keep soldiering on nothing breaks our will
Out in the world
Running free
I built my life working and loving
I got everything I need
But I’d give it up for you and her
Far from home sometimes I feel like a childless mother
And it’s hard, it’s hard
When you got two people pushing different rocks up two different hills
And it’s hard, it’s hard
Nobody sees the top we just keep soldiering on nothing breaks our will
Oh in the morning light
The sun’s like a blanket on me
Oh and our heartbeats fly
Let’s take a minute
Know that I’m not leaving
And it’s hard, it’s hard
When you got two people pushing different rocks up two different hills
And it’s hard, it’s hard
Nobody sees the top we just keep soldiering on nothing breaks our will
STANDING ON THE FAULT LINE
Is it when the reservoir dries out
And the birds stop flying south
How we gonna know it’s time to flee?
If we wait for a rainy day
When the opening sky just seems to say ‘stay’
We’ll never leave
Standing on the fault line
Waiting for the ground to crack
Just put one foot in front of the other
Don’t look back
Half our friends are movin’ out of town
They wanna own their own piece of ground
They follow the riverbed for miles
You only need a map when you’re a stranger in the land
But I know this place like the back of my hand
Been here since I was a child
Now we’re standing on the fault line
And waiting for the ground to crack
Just put one foot in front of the other
Don’t look back
Wise old tree sends her roots down deep
Drinkin’ up water for her soul to keep on standing
The crust of the earth untouched by light
For centuries the highway signs were fading
Doubling down in the dusty soil
Where the colonies of life unspoiled go on living
Cottonwood pile’s been petrified
Everything buried in the landslide remaining
Oh what a sweet discovery
And a wise old woman you might be tomorrow
Standing on the fault line
And waiting for the ground to crack
Just put one foot in front of the other
Don’t look back
MOTHER EAGLE (SING ME ALIVE)
When the sisters spoke to me
I didn’t have the ears to hear ‘em
They were just motioning from up on the rise
When the sisters called to me
The sunlight was between us
I couldn’t open my eyes
But there was a whispering it sounded just like a lover
Every secret seconded by blue butterflies
And then across a broken morn
A deep and azure stillness
Sister sing me alive
Sing me alive
Guess I’ll take another look at my reflection
In the small pool gathering all my love liquified
Don’t be afraid if you don’t recognize me
Yeah if you don’t recognize me
I’m like the changing tide
Oh I don’t wanna cry
But I have to
We all gotta go to the other side
It’s a dark road
Let the tears roll
Your life is what you make of it
You’re a fighter
Mother eagle
Sing me alive
I rub my sleepy eyes and see you’re still beside me
The sound of tiny footsteps running down the hall
A sip of coffee and I’ll leave the dream behind me
But I’m right where they can find me, sisters all
We all gotta go to the other side
It’s a dark road
Let the tears roll
To the other side
Oh, your life is what you make of it
You’re a fighter
Mother eagle
Sing me alive
ONLY DAUGHTER
Moon is on the water
I am an only daughter
Thinking of my mother and father
Dusk hits the bay
Tired old row boat creaking
Purple martins speaking
In tongues of my childhood teaching
What I used to know
Maybe I’ll find myself back in my mother’s arms
If I could just find myself
‘Stead of sitting here wishing on a setting star
Burning bright
Dusty comet tails trailing
Remind me of casting out in the dark and waiting
For the pull of the line now it’s fading
Into the black
Spent all my life chasing
Had to feel my heart racing
To know I’s alive and not wasting
Everything I had
Maybe I’ll find myself back in my mother’s arms
If I could just find myself
‘Stead of sitting here wishing on a setting star
Losing light
Cassiopeia’s wrapped ‘round me
Crescent moon is drowning
On a wave of ancient sounds
I’m comin’ into shore
And I find myself back in my mother’s arms
And I find myself
In my mother’s arms among the setting stars
Out of sight
Burning bright
FIND MY WAY TO YOU
Where the water used to flow
Is now ribbons on the mountainside
With the fireflies aglow
I’ll find my way to you
In the wonder and the noise
Second guessing every choice
A familiar voice
I’ll find my way to you
With the wind between the leaves
A little rustle at my feet
Through the shadows of the trees
I’ll find my way to you
A palomino’s at my side
I got nothing to hide
She’s wild and weary eyed
I’ll find my way to you
Go ahead, try to hide
But I got a nose like a dog in the woods and love like a mountain laurel
Throwin’ breadcrumbs, leaving you some
These old hands squeezed tight with sorrow, I’ll wring ‘em out for you tomorrow
In the heat the sweat rolls down
And lower sinks my crown
I can almost feel you now
I’ll find my way to you
With a wound I cannot soothe
A darkening bruise
But I got nothing to lose
I’ll find my way to you
Go ahead, try to hide
But I got a nose like a dog in the woods and love like a mountain laurel
Throwin’ breadcrumbs, leaving you some
These old hands squeezed tight with sorrow, I’ll wring ‘em out for you tomorrow
YEAR AFTER YEAR
I’m up in L.A.
We’re here living our lives
Years are slipping away
Days are flying by
So I’ll get up with the sun
Like we used to do
Pile in the car
Head southbound straight to you
If not now, when?
Your grandkids are running round
Their little voices rise
Like the strawberry moon
Reflecting in their eyes
Passing ‘round the guitar
Fire crackles and roars
And the faces through the flames
Are all ones I adore
‘Cause I'm not willing to run out of time before you know who l've become
Coming up on twenty years of finding my own way but I still need you
I wanna see you
If not now, when?
Things will never be the same as they were when we were young
Let’s welcome the change, no song be unsung and
Year after year let’s set this weekend aside
Pull up to your place you throw the door open wide
If not now, when?
RHODODENDRON
Here we are in the pre-dawn lamp light
Take it in, breathe it in
Staring into the French Broad clear eyed
Mmmm, listening
Fire flickers and the stars burn brighter
November brushes against my skin
The stillness wraps around me like a rhododendron
Clouds shifting beyond this treeline
Lookin’ out from hallowed ground
The dogwoods are blazing crimson
Glory all around
Smoke is thickening o’er mountain
Wrens scatter as the cold moves in
Underneath the brush I see a lonely rhododendron
Here’s where I’ll lay my head down
Like the ones who’ve come before
Moss be my emerald pillow
When I make my bed on the forest floor
Like a rhododendron
I’m a rhododendron
TRACKLISTING
Ancient Light
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle, cello
Josh Kaufman: nylon string guitar, tenor guitar bass, percussion, piano, organ, electric guitar
JT Bates: drums and percussion
Wild and Clear and Blue
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, octave mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: nylon string guitar, electric guitar
Sisters of the Night Watch
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, acoustic guitar
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle, hammond b3 organ
Josh Kaufman: organ, synths
Different Rocks, Different Hills
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, banjo
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: hammond b3 organ, electric guitar, fretless bass, harmonium, percussion, synths
JT Bates: percussion
Standing on the Fault Line
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, acoustic guitar
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar, baritone electric guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: nylon string guitar, electric guitar, lap steel, synths, piano, bass, vibraphone
JT Bates: drums, percussion
Mother Eagle (Sing Me Alive)
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, octave mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: harmonium, bass, synths
Only Daughter
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, octave mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: electric guitar, piano
Find My Way to You
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: harmonium
Strawberry Moonrise
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, mandolin
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: drones
Year After Year
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, mandolin, banjo
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: transistor organ, bass, piano, drums, percussion
Rhododendron
Sarah Jarosz: vocals, acoustic guitar
Aoife O’Donovan: vocals, acoustic guitar
Sara Watkins: vocals, fiddle
Josh Kaufman: electric guitar, bass, wurlitzer electric piano, synths