Dan McCarthy: piano, guitar, singing
James Maakestad: upright bass, singing
Pearl Lovejoy Boyd: singing on "Christmas 1974" and "Steadfast Friendship"
Aaron Markley: tambourine

Recorded and mixed by Ben Brodin at ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebr., April 2015.

Mastered by Doug Van Sloun at Focus Mastering in Omaha, Nebr.

Cover image: bison in Cherry County, Nebraska, by Andrew Dickinson

More Like It

Worry's like water, it'll always find
The lowest little ditches in your mind.
And of course the creeks get swollen after a heavy rain,
But this flash flooding can't be explained.

The head waters are a mystery.
I've heard about a lake up in the hills
Fed by the cold spring of misery:
May it run dry; I've had my fill.

Does it ever happen to you, when you're in the van —
You have a major crisis of faith in man.
Doing the subtle soft­shoe between the gas and the brake,
Thinking, How can I trust these people not to make mistakes?

The head waters are a mystery.
Must be somewhere up near the great divide.
I'd make a sacrifice to the god of gravity
If from now on, they'd flow down the other side.

When has it ever helped to worry?
This plane's been delayed.
This pain's worse today.
Will I get there on time?
How am I going to die?
Are my feelings all fake?
Is this song a mistake?

The head waters are a mystery.
I imagine a melting field of ice.
Glaciers older than history,
This century are taking the big slide.

The head waters are a mystery.
No one knows where these waters rise.
At least no one who's been there and known what he's seen
Has managed to make it back alive.

Head Waters

It's not like I think about calling you up fifty times a day.
It's not like I baked your favorite cookies and threw them all away.
It's not like I bought a bunch of flowers and placed them on a stranger's grave.
It's more like a hundred times a day.
It was more like a frosted layer cake.
It was more like the world's most beautiful bouquet.
It's not like I worry if I can be completely honest with you.
It's not like I wish it was just us when I see you across the room.
It's not like I've been staying up all night writing songs for you.
It's more like, Is there such a thing as truth?
It's more like the only number's two.
It's more like I should quit messing with music.

Fifty Times a Day

Came to California, gonna get some sand in my shoes.
It might take me a couple of days before I can get that loose.
To track in all that sand and not reach for a broom,
I'd have to rent a whole new mind, not just a hotel room.

Middle of February, a bunch of mixed­up holidays.
Washington declares his love, but Lincoln don't know what to say.
Even the Christian thrift store has a window display
That reminds me of my hometown on college football day.

My brother used to live here, I know he fit right in.
Not just his suntan, no he's also handsome and thin.
Some of the local ladies thought maybe he was a movie star.
Me, I'm more likely to be mistaken for the gardener.

Many a man is ruled by things he thinks he owns:
Insurance for the pool at your manmade lakeside home.
I say wish for what you wish, just be careful what you get.
I saw a dude with a Rolls Royce picking up a poodle's mess.

Laguna Beach

Did you know there exists a sixth Great Lake
Beneath the Great Plains of the United States?
A government geologist decided to call it
The Ogallala Aquifer.

Zebulon Pike thought there wasn't a chance
That people could live, much less cattle and plants.
But the farmers and ranchers, they found an answer:
The Ogallala Aquifer.

Formed in the age of the sabertooth cat —
What thirsty traveler could've conceived of that?
Anywhere in the Sandhills, a well and a windmill:
The Ogallala Aquifer.

Do you ever imagine that deep in your heart,
There might be a fathomless reservoir?
Something that's ancient and hidden and pure?
For our country, that's no metaphor.

Ogallala Aquifer

I've got mean things on my mind.
My thoughts are angry bees; my head's a mangled hive.

Where in the hell did you learn to drive?
Does the Helen Keller Driving School offer classes online?

Keep on talking on the phone.
I'd hate for you to have nothing to do while you're driving and eating an ice cream cone.

I've got mean things on my mind.
All my wishes will come true, as long as everybody dies.

Who's that older lady being so rude?
No kidding, that's your mother? She's looking pretty good.

You sound just like that famous country singer.
You sound just like Hank Williams, Jr.

Mean Things on My Mind

If you start to suspect that you've worn out your welcome,
It's a pretty good bet your intuition is right.
If you start to suspect you're gonna bounce that check,
You should probably listen to the accountant inside.
Do the voices in your head get ambitious
And suggest that the rules don't apply to you?
Do you often suspect that you really know best,
Better than everybody else?
Yeah, I bet you do.

Have you come to expect a buffet of pleasures
To be arrayed before you for maximum fun?
Have you come to expect a double dip of that flavor
Only after you've tasted each and every one?
If you believe that the world is your oyster,
What's that make you: a pearl or a parasite?
If you've come to expect everyone to cater to you,
I'd be a fool to argue.
No, I'm sure you're right.
Only a fool would argue.
No, I'm sure you're right.

No, I'm Sure You're Right

When I was setting out from the town where my family settled,
My grandma gave me her St. Benedict medal.
She said, ‘You don't have to pray, and you don't have to kiss me.
You don't have to write, but I sure hope you miss me.
And anyway, may this medal keep the devil away.'

Keep the devil away. Keep the devil away.
Listen to what I say: keep the devil away.
You don't have to get on your knees and pray, just know when to call it a day
To keep the devil away.

I'd been doing pretty good, hadn't been drunk in a couple of years,
When I made the mistake of having a couple of public beers.
An old buddy of mine heard I was drinking again,
He drove over so fast it'd make your head spin.
He showed up with that stuff he'd been known to commandeer.

I met this girl the other night, we got as far as her room.
That's where I learned she was mostly into cartoons.
She insisted she had something to show me.
I resisted, but, well, you know me.
On her hip she had a Tasmanian Devil tattoo.

Keep the Devil Away

Remember the day of the Terror?
I left the office and came over.
You always had the fastest browser
And your roommate's enormous TV.
We watched as they replayed the horror,
People jumping out of towers.
I swore I heard a plane flying over.
You said, ‘All right, let's go out and see.'

It was the only plane in the sky.
There was only one person permitted to fly.

I told you I'd call you later.
You were having something frozen for supper.
What a rotten end to the summer,
And a pretty shitty end to our youth.
I was living with my sister and our friend.
That afternoon, they were both working.
They hadn't seen the plane flying,
And it got lost in the haystack of news.

Remember when we took calculus,
With that teacher like a blunderbuss?
Just trying to keep our feet under us
As he blasted us with math?
Do you remember what he meant by inflection point?
Who am I kidding, of course you don't.
Just when this whole world twisted out of joint,
There surely was a better path.

Air Force One

Two days before Christmas, 1974:
You've got all your pretty Christmas cards spread out on the floor.
From your sisters-­in-­law and your mother's friends who'd come to the wedding back in June.

It was no surprise to any of them that you'd be expecting so soon.
Using your sewing scissors, even though you know it'll make them dull.
Cutting out snowflakes and reindeer, tie a ribbon through a little hole.
You've got a Joni Mitchell record playing on the stereo,
And a second pan of popcorn popping on the stove.

With your little homemade dress,
And your little homemade ornaments,
You were making it up as you went along.
Maybe it was common sense,
To make your own cheerfulness
In that little rented house on a corn and soybean farm.

Take your garden shovel and a five­gallon bucket down the lane.
There's been plenty of snow this winter, and then yesterday it rained.
Half a bucket of gravel oughta be enough to hold the tree up straight.
Then you'll string the popcorn and cut an angel from a paper plate.

Christmas 1974

All those nights I was making myself cocktails in your kitchen,
I'll reveal my recipe: nine parts booze, and two parts ice.
Meanwhile, you were busy doing dishes and changing diapers.
You had that gentle method where you'd microwave the wipes.
It seemed like we hadn't had a grown­up conversation in years.
When I needed help, you said ‘Why don't you stay here.'

Steadfast friendship.
Some gifts you're just lucky to accept:
Steadfast friendship, good health, and a peaceful death.

One night, a while later, when the kids were out of diapers,
You were raking up debris that you'd cleaned out of the gutters.
I was lying on the lawn, it was one of the longest days of summer.
The kids were running through the sprinkler.
I've read that it all comes down to brain chemistry,
But that evening I believed in happiness as a reality.

I don't really miss you when I'm gone,
Like I don't really miss my mom.
It's easy enough to keep in touch,
Plus I know you'll be there when I get home.

Steadfast friendship.
Given three wishes, here's what I'd request:
Steadfast friendship, good health, and a peaceful death.

Credits

More Like It

1. Head Waters

2. Fifty Times a Day

3. Laguna Beach

4. Ogallala Aquifer

5. Mean Things on My Mind

6. No, I'm Sure You're Right

7. Keep the Devil Away

8. Air Force One

9. Christmas 1974

10. Steadfast Friendship