They call me Hayes T. Witherford
I was born in the hills of Richmond in 1834
I left home when I was 16 with everything I owned
Headed down south to find the Tar Heel Road
The States divided sometime in ’61,
I took to the shipyard, instead of fighting with a gun,
On the western rivers and cold Cumberland lines
I bathed in tar, pitch and turpentine
And I built the ship that withstood the rain
From the coast of Savannah, to the wave rocks in Maine
And wherever I went, wherever I roamed
I was stuck here in the Tar Heel Road
Oh at night I would dream of the West Country sky
And the visions it would cast in the Carolina night
Down near the Tar Heel Road
Tomorrow’s horizons, the rebel calls
The warm western wind that carried it all
Oh I’m running with a heavy load
But I’m stuck in the Tar Heel Road
I met a gypsy girl on a mountainside
A Cherokee beauty, selling animal hides
We danced in a river ‘til the dawn approached
Then headed back to camp near the Tar Heel Road
But there are some things
That will never change
Like what people think and what they find strange
So we packed our bags and we left our home
Swore we’d never come back to Tar Heel Road
Oh at night we would dream of the West Country sky
And the visions it would cast in the Carolina night
Out by the Tar Heel Road
Tomorrow’s horizons, the rebel calls
The warm western wind that carried it all
Oh we’re running with a heavy load
Far away from the Tar Heel Road
But as we crossed that state line
A rebel troop took us alive
They hung us up, in a tall oak tree
And that’s where I died, swinging high in the breeze
Say Goodbye to the dreams in the West Country sky
And the visions it would cast in the Carolina night
Down near the Tar Heel Road
Tomorrow’s horizons, the rebel calls
The warm western wind that carried it all
Oh I’m running with a heavy load
Like all the stories that go untold
The ones that run deep, deep in the soul
And that’s how I died on the Tar Heel Road
Sometimes at night when the west wind blows
You can hear my voice beneath the Tar Heel Road
credits
from Highway Rider,
released January 31, 2016
AARON LAWSON- Drums
ALEJANDRO TREVINO- Bass
MARK DESCHNER- Electric Guitar
SEAN TRAINOR- Vocals, Background Vocals, Acoustic Guitars, B3, Harmonica
ZACK LEFFEW- Electric Guitar
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