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Earth Hero

by Kamara Thomas

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1.
My Kentucky 07:01
MY KENTUCKY This is Kentucky, the town of Hazard And I'm living with my ladylove, the lily-white Olivia Oh I say Olivia, I won't do for mining I'm gonna take the railroad to the southern tip of Mexico Now little girl you dry your eye and keep it on our mother mountain From there I will come home to you And I promise that I will be true, I'll say In my Kentucky, the town of Hazard Lives a lady, and I love her oh So it doesn't matter what they may got to say to me My home they'll never be This is rail yard, downtown Chicago And I've been working on the rail cars days, sleeping in the board house nights Oh I dream Olivia of you dressed in ermine Stepping off the luxury line So I'm telling every friend of mine In my Kentucky, the town of Hazard Lives a lily-dove, and I'm the one she's thinking of oh So it doesn't matter if I got things I gotta do To me she'll always be true This is a highway through Minnesota And I'm a-following the heartland snow through the corner of Oklahoma Oh I know Olivia that I'll find my treasure Buried in these southern hills, and I know I gotta have my fill As for my Kentucky, well I had to pass her I know she'll understand why I had to keep going I won't pay no matter 'Cause there's a thing I gotta be And home a-waiting always is she This is a fire side, cold dark Alaska And I've been searching from the Iowa plains to forests of the Pennsylvane For something, Olivia, I can't quite remember I've been alone so long, I can't recall my home Kentucky, oh town of Hazard There ain't nothin' I wouldn't do to get me back home to you This is a ghost town outside Tallulah And I've been staring at the southern sun from the dawn until the day be done Oh I heard Olivia, of your body buried And now I'm riding me a riverboat back to the banks of my Hazard home And then I'm gonna cry my eye for the daughter of the mountain May our mother make a use of my tears May she find me fit to bury here In my Kentucky, the town of Hazard I knew that I'd return one day But not that I'd find my treasure this way But what does it matter I am old now And my lily-love golden is gone Oh Olivia, oh Olivia...
2.
YOU CALL EVERYBODY BABY You call everybody baby I've heard more than enough And that was only yesterday It wasn't loud But you sure did let it ring I thought you'd know To be takin' to whispering I heard of a duke over in Italy Whose duchess Disappeared mysteriously He'd kiss her wrist And the joy would just blush up her cheek But the blush returned For something simple as a bowl of cherries Enter in with brushes in hand The kindly priest Who by the time he'd stroked all her lines Backslid completely The blush is captured now But only in a painting Of the two who loved her I wonder which one I would be You call everybody baby You call everybody baby
3.
Slow Sally 05:15
SLOW SALLY I've seen the sound of words spoken in secret I've seen the whispering that happens in your darkness I've seen the remnants of those lovely eyelashes And I've seen the way you talk like I'm some kind of slow Sally If I lie but I say I'm sorry tell me does it count If I change does it make a difference and for what amount If I'm good Tell me what I win If I'm good I've seen the way you do behind those Chinese curtains I've seen the hazy fog that happens out your window I've seen your lily back and all its constellations And I've seen the chime that rings Time's up for the merry widow If I lie but I say I'm sorry tell me does it count If I change does it make a difference and for what amount If I'm good Tell me what I win If I'm good Slow Sally on the ledge Slow Sally I'm gonna come on down I do need the wash to clean me clean I do need the blood that we all bleed I need to let the blood that lets me die I do need the flames from which to rise I know the way to fall to find my rock bottom I'd show the way to you but I think you know it too I could write the words on the wall But are they the ones that we wanted I'd just as well be singing a different kind of tune If I lie but I say I'm sorry tell me does it count If I change does it make a difference and for what amount If I'm good Tell me what I win If I'm good
4.
LILY GLORIOSA All the folks on Prospect Street Saw the vortex in the sky As for me I choose to believe It was aurora borealis Beauty has not left us yet So weep on Audrey Weep on Standing stranded in the street In Vegas version of starlight As for me I choose to believe That a spider web can still Survive the night Audrey's still weeping Weep on Audrey Weep on C'mon let's keep on weeping Weeping But I hope I hope I'm gone Before we're down to our last bone Before this city has turned us to stone Before the snow hides the ice's place And our footprints have all Melted away I hope I'm gone I'm gone Chasing summer to the south Nearing the end I'll be tired out Am I headed to the same Destination Will I be dead when it's all done It's too late now The taste is in my mouth Sucked right past the Event horizon And searching for the eastward sun To find my comfort In the eastward sun I find my comfort Future glory Lily Gloriosa I'm dreaming of falling teeth I must be Dreaming I"m dying Future glory Lily Gloriosa
5.
Red Wing 05:37
RED WING I wanna be an old woman Gold buckles on my shoes Staring deep into a cauldron Tripping over the clover I wanna be an old woman No cares to cut my mind A good spell to bide my time And sing a song auguring the red-wing blackbird Red wing, red wing Red wing, red wing I wanna be a grasshopper And taking my time Waiting on an unspecified rhyme Jumping only when I feel to I wanna be a grasshopper Staring up at the sky With no care for wrong or why Happy singing with the red-wing blackbird Red wing, red wing Red wing, red wing I want to be a painter I want to know what painters know I want to see straight into heaven I want to dream in gold, gold, gold I want to fly into the dawning sky Alight on a clover and cry into the morning I'm waiting my love Flying on my red wing I want to fly into the morning light Is it dawning on you baby I'm calling you Flying on my red wing Red wing…
6.
THAT'S NO WAY TO TREAT YOUR SWEET GUITAR I wept all night when I forgot my axe Down in New Orleans at the One-Eyed Jack's And that's no way to treat your sweet guitar She's a patient gal, I drag her place to place Loyal even when I leave her in her case But that's no way to treat your sweet guitar That's no way to treat your sweet guitar I give her talk-back flak for her rusty old strings Then put her in a dusty corner like another dirty thing And that's no way to treat your sweet guitar I yell you're just like me, you only buckle and bruise Why don't you give up on me like I give up on you And that's no way to treat your sweet guitar That's no way to treat your sweet guitar That's no way to treat your sweet guitar I could tie you up on a railroad track Take my leave on you and never look back But that's no way to treat your sweet guitar I could shut my trap, I could fight to be free I could do unto you like I think you're doing unto me But that's no way to treat your sweet guitar I spend my time getting in your head Keep my mind on you, leave myself for dead But that's no way to treat my sweet guitar Or I could keep my eyes on the heavens above While I try to be holy and deny our lowly love But that's no way to treat your sweet guitar That's no way to treat each other baby That's no way to treat your sweet guitar
7.
You Wreck Me 04:53
YOU WRECK ME Yeah I've been tired, and tired from sleeping Sick to the stomach from closeness Pretending my jaw's all broken And staring at walls like a coward But I'd rather be kissing my pillow Than having the battle of Shiloh again with you You're just another ghost gambler Dressed in your skin, silver and shining Speakin' of silver, I was looking at mine Trying to remember who I'd saved it show Wondering when I'd let it dull to a stone Of course wondering when you'd be coming home So I'm a hellcat, and you're a hellbender Lord between your roaming and my toxic tongue But I could plunder the lark and her bevy For feathers of second-hand sincerity So if I shine your shoes and wash off your feet Can we ignore the shards in the sheets Until we're lyin' down on the same opinion Until we're cryin' again when somebody bleeds You wreck me… Well you can find another who has what you need Or learn not to need anything from me So said the body on the slaveship Desire We're made of mistakes And they've made us liars You wreck me…

about

Kamara Thomas, bassist/singer of the indie power trio Earl Greyhound, returns to her solo songwriting roots by creating an album of astro-religious songspells channeled from the American Dreamtime.

Kamara Thomas and The Ghost Gamblers' debut album "Earth Hero" is a hypnotic collection of meticulously crafted songs that transports the listener from a lost-love journey through the mythic American landscape (My Kentucky), to an angelic apocalypse (Lily Gloriosa) to a timeless ode of love/hate in the bedroom (You Wreck Me). The Ghost Gamblers create cosmic Americana from a wide swath of classic rock and country influences (Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Emmylou Harris) with echoes of Native American shamanism, early American spirituals, hymns and mountain songs.

"Earth Hero" is a classic, coast-to-coast road trip album, traveling from melancholy to majestic. It's heart is Kamara's milky-wayed warble and her powerful storytelling, channeled through a poetic gaze and an obsession with America's landscape and psyche.

credits

released January 1, 2013

All songs written by Kamara Thomas (BMI)
Produced by Jeff Malinowski
Mixed by Dave Schiffman
Mastered by Howie Weinberg and Dan Gerbarg at Howie Weinberg Mastering, LA

Kamara Thomas - vocals, guitars, tambourine
Gabriel Berezin - guitars, vocals
Amal Bouhabib - vocals
John Durgee - drums
Gordon Hartin - pedal steel
Jeff Malinowski - guitars, vocals, 12-string, bass, piano, harmonica, tambourine

Recorded at Beatstreet Productions
Engineered by Jeff Malinowski, Matt Longoria and Alby Cohen
Design by Matthew Fletcher
Cover photo by Leilani Himmelstein
Back photo by Colm Johnston

THANKS
Goddess & Great Spirit; Gordon & Cherokee, Jeff, Amal, Gaber, Johndurgs, Fletcher, Brian Young, Emily D, Leilani, Ryan Simms, Chris & Arianne at Picture Farm, Larune, Earl Greyhound, Honky Tonk Happy Hour, friends and family-- for your encouragement and support!

Info: kamarathomasmusic@gmail.com, kamarathomas.com, facebook/kamarathomasandtheghostgamblers

2013 All Rights Reserved.

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Kamara Thomas Durham, North Carolina

Astro-religious songspells and tales culled from ancient American songlines and dreamtimes. Echoes of Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Dolly Parton, The Band, Tom Petty, spirituals, hymns, earth & mountain songs, intricate vocal harmonies and multi-instrumental adventures lilting over country-soul and dreamy pop grooves. Satisfaction guaranteed. ... more

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