Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.

Riding the high line, heading back east, Engineer Bill, Poker Pete, and me.

Northern Pacific pays me in cash, but it's Engineer Bill who's got my back, one more mile, round this hill, get us to the roundhouse Bill.

Belly up buddy, belly right up to the bar, got a thousand miles of stories, hauling the railroad cars.

I remember Saint Mathias on a Sunday afternoon, walking with my true love under the yellow moon.

One more mile, one more hill, get us to the Roundhouse Bill.

Pacific moonlight, great Northwest, had to leave behind the one that I love best.

Northern Pacific they pay me in cash, it's Engineer Bill it's got my back.

One more mile, one more hill, get us to The Roundhouse Bill.

Got one more mile, one more hill, get us to The Roundhouse Bill.

I'm Bruce Archer.

I'm up here from Brainerd area, and I play a kind of a Americana under that big umbrella of Americana.

But I incorporate a lot of Blues, and Bluegrass, some folk, those kinds of influences.

And then I try to take them in, and then put them out my way.

I try to have it be a an expression of humanity "you know" like this is how I'm expressing myself.

And so like, what I hope, is that when people listen to me we go on a journey together.

I've seen some bands around that they take you on this journey and if you let them, it's pretty fun, I mean it's just an excellent ride.

I see the glitter, but I can't find the gold, Downtown's likes winter, as it's turning cold, another city slicker talking bold, but I'm burying a picture somewhere, I call home.

Rosie the nights, turn out to be the hardest part.

Rosie the nights, how did you get to be so hard?

Rosie the nights.

About 100 times I've drove away from this town, but the siren songs of night, they turn my head around, to that yellow horizon, a song come to ground, fill your head with promises you stand on sacred ground.

Rosie the nights, turn out to be the hardest part.

Rosie the nights, how did get to be so hard?

Rosie the nights.

Well we both said we know, about what paved the streets, but I'm here to tell you Rose, it's only concrete.

Rosie put your arm in mine and see if you can see, anything left that reminds you of me.

Rosie the nights, turn out to be the hardest part.

Rosie the nights, How did you to get to be so hard?

Rosie the nights.

Rosie the nights.

Oh the busier schedule definitely made it more difficult to learn new songs.

My songs come in spurts, and I have to have the time to let the spurt develop it's, you know, let it bloom.

And a spurt for me might be five or six songs within, you know, a two week period.

But a lot of times what'll happen is maybe the first song is one that pops into my head and I think oh yeah, but then, you know, after I've been with it a few days I'm thinking ooh that one, I don't know about that one, but the thing about it was it got me to the next one, that maybe that's going to be a song I play the rest of my life.

That stays with me, and kind of some of them kind of grow with you.

You know there's a song I wrote, Rosie the Night, that I had that done back in like 1989, but then as I grew, and developed, and matured, I wrote the last verse that I really like now, I wrote that just like a couple years ago, because it kind of grew with me.

And the thing is when you're that busy, during the summer, it's just like Bam, Bam, Bam.

This last summer, we had days like the Fourth of July week, where I think, we had seven or eight gigs.

My wife is my roadie, Lisa, and for a while my children were too.

So when I say we, my family traipsing around, carrying my equipment, and doing my sound checks.

I'm going to the big lake, haul my fishing boat, I'm going to the big lake, haul my fishing boat I'm going to the big lake sweetheart, you can watch me go.

I got a bucket of live bait, I got some fancy mojo.

I got a bucket of live bait, I got some fancy mojo.

I'm going to the big lake, sweetheart you can watch me go.

I got coffee on the table, I got cash on the board.

I got coffee on the table, I got cash on the board.

I'm going to the big lake, sweetheart you can hold the door.

I'm going to the big lake, haul my fishing boat.

Yeah, I'm going to the big lake, haul my fishing boat.

I fished out this little pond, Darlin' you can hop right on.

Well 6 years ago was my first appearance, and I had just started playing in this general area.

I, you know, after we recorded the first Backroads show in 2017 I was able to use that kind of as a calling card for places that I wanted to get gigs at.

And when I found out that I was going to be on this show I thought I need a good guitar I'm going to finance one.

And at that point, you know, it was the middle of summer and it seemed like there were enough gigs, that I'd be able to pay, you know, a couple hundred bucks a month for another year or so.

And then I found out that in my area of Minnesota, that once Fall hits, a lot of those gigs just went away because they were all based on tourism, but there were other places out and about that, you know, they had a high percentage of their clientele was specifically there to listen to music so, I had to somehow get a hold of them and make myself, you know, enticing to them in some way.

Mama, Mama, which road you traveling down?

Mama, Mama which road you're traveling down?

I'm parked on the greenway, but bound to follow you around.

Mama, Mama feel like I've been here before.

Mama, Mama feel like I've been here before.

Parking on the Greenway, pacing on a kitchen floor.

Well I been drinking down at Lucky's down on Second Street.

I've been drinking out at Lucky's down there on Second Street I've been hearing all about you, from everyone that I meet Mama, Mama which road you traveling down?

Mama, Mama which road you traveling down?

I'm parked here on the Greenway, but I'm bound to follow you around.

But you could orchestrate these little jaunts, out into the other states and stuff, and be away.

But my goal, when I started this again, you know, after a few years of raising children, it wasn't to like get so busy I ditched my family.

It was I needed to work it into my family, and so I made my children my roadies.

I use three guitars, now, I was up to four at one point, but I've got it down to three.

And I have my Martin that I've had for through this whole time, I had that on the first time I was on the show.

That's for you know my finger picking style, and kind of the old timey mountain flavor songs and some like Blues-influenced, Bluegrass.

It's sort of a mesh of the Bluegrass, like Bluegrass breakdowns but with the Blues edge.

And that's something that I've been practicing for years, that was a style I kind of developed back in Minneapolis, and that was kinda my thing back then to just kind of wail away, so that's what the Martin's for.

And then I got a resonator guitar, which I'd wanted for a long time, mostly cause I play slide a lot, and that seems, you know, that's the sound, you know, especially if you put a little bit of reverb on it, you can get the southwestern ghost sound, and if you have it real staccato, you can get the delta blues from the, you know, Louisiana type thing, and it's got that Robert Johnson sound to it.

And Johnny Winter used a national guitar, and it's just one of them that I needed to have.

Only the thing with me was I'd get a hold of a metal body one, and it was like the sound was a little too brash for me.

Jim and Lenore, met each other, they were working together, at the same place they said, they would remember the time.

Lenore sometimes she cried, set her guard, and don't go right, in this town, where the air turns brown, have to pay for black dirt ground.

She said, she misses, the smell of the pines, the North Shore under November skies, when the snow flies.

Now Jim stayed in town, he's chasing himself round, in his dreams but Lenore, was running 'round and 'round on his mind.

Especially when the north wind blows, the summer breeze into memories and the snow flies.

Now Jim, he's driving in, to stiff north wind, he wants to see her, in the theater, of the Northern Lights.

He's going up to the land of the pines, he's going to get to her, when the snow flies.

Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, with money by the vote of the people November 4th, 2008.