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

My dad died in the cab of a pickup truck My dad died in the cab of a pickup truck In a dirt floor garage Thank God my Mom didn't find him I was just shy of four so sometimes I need remindin' that dad died in the cab of a pickup truck My dad died too damn young in that pickup truck When dad died in the cab that pickup truck Just 33 years old slumped over in a pickup truck I don't care about the make, but wish I knew the model Did the fumes come slow or did he push on the throttle My Dad died in the cab of a pickup truck Just a young, sick man, at the wheel of a pickup truck Two kids and a wife what the hell were you thinkin'?

Was the radio on when your light stopped blinkin'?

Did you get to hear 'Aqualung' just one last time?

When my mind does wander to 1987 I'm taunted by thoughts of unattainable heaven and these photographs of a man who looks just like me My dad died in the cab of a pickup truck Just a young, sick man, at the wheel of a pickup truck I've tried to sit down and say I'm going to write and it's never really went that well.

I ended up hitting walls so it's very much just kind of spur of the moment, try to latch on to a feeling or a melody or something.

A lot of times songs come if I'm just sitting on the couch at home just dinking around and not really trying to play anything.

Maybe something will, a spark will happen, so I'm always waiting for little sparks.

Miles of cornstalks standing way up high Taller than I was by mid-July and I just run Getting lost didn't mean a thing You can do anything when you're the king of your own world Take aim at blackbirds that squawk and scream But spare the mourning dove Their melody meant everything to me Follow the creek the two miles back from town Followed by the setting sun in that long and mournful sound Mournful sound But summer evenings soon give in to fall Mountains of snow make it so you can't hear anything at all And January's silence fills a young boy's dreams With his friends a thousand miles away and summertime they always bring Come back and sing Come back and sing So as far as performing my more personal songs in front of an audience, especially in an intimate setting, it is exhilarating.

I think I'm used to it now.

It was maybe the hardest thing was some of these songs that I have that are super personal and kind of, you know, hit some really, they hit really close to home for some people who have experienced certain traumas and things like that.

The hardest part was taking it out of my house and presenting it to anybody in the first place, but once it's out into the world, you know, I've gotten pretty comfortable with doing it and it can be a really wonderful shared experience, you know, to play something super personal to me but then have somebody come up to me later and say thank you for that song.

Well I'll never forget that day I ran for the shed There I hid, but I just had to see If sweet Sarah had made it If she'd ran for the field or disappeared into the trees Well was only 11 But I'd heard and seen things A boy of that age can't explain Eyes glued to the crack in the doorway I watched that devil beat my poor dog with a chain Well I couldn't stand to lose her I'd rather have died And when I think of that day, sometimes I still cry If I'd been older or bigger or good with a gun I'd have promised you Sarah He'd never hurt anyone [Music] Living always knowing that at night I would dread The cries in the darkness through the vent by my bed My little sister is sleeping and I hope she don't wake Cause hearing mama crying is more than a little girl can take So we walked through the ditches Through the creek, in the rain Slashed tires assured an uneasy escape He rev'd up his engine as he yelled out our names But I'd be damned if I was gonna let that bastard hurt my family again Well I couldn't stand to lose her I'd rather have died When I think of that day, sometimes I still cry If I'd been older or bigger or good with a gun I'd have promised you, Mama He'd never hurt anyone I couldn't stand to lose her I'd rather have died and when I think of those days Well sometimes I still cry If I'd been older or bigger or good with a gun I'd have promised you, Mama He'd never hurt anyone My favorite part of the music process.

I'll tell you what there's, I love performing, and I've really latched onto that more in recent years and really fallen in love with it, but the composition of a song, that completion of a song, there's nothing like that either.

When you come across something and it just flows out of you and you go wow, you know there's still nothing like that, it's just magic.

As far as traveling with my music, yeah, I've been able to do this full-time about six years now.

As of right now I believe my last count is I think 37 states I've played in.

Canada, a few Canadian provinces, played a festival out in Nova Scotia, that was really cool and then this past spring I was able to tour the UK, England and Wales, for a couple weeks.

I did a bunch of shows out there and I just keep jumping on every opportunity that I can and I've always had that travel bug in me.

[Music] On roller coasters and bright stages When dice roll and we hope we're going to make it I can depend on you In rough landings and smooth takeoffs In crowded rooms and when no one else can see us I can depend on you In heavy traffic on Oklahoma tollways When I can't stop telling you I'll love you now and always I can depend on you, I can depend on you I depend on you When days are young and days are through I can depend on you When days are young and when days are through I can depend on you [Music] In freezing weather When night surrounds us When I'm so worried, my anxiety is contagious I can depend on you In dark alleys and border crossings If I had to rob a bank Just so I can give you all the things I can depend on you I can depend on you I depend on you When days are young and when days are through I can depend on you I can depend on you I depend on you When days are young and when days are through I can depend on you when we're old and your hair is blue I'll still depend on you When days are young and when days are through I can depend on you The Minnesota music scene is very, it's a big state you know.

Like down where I live there's sort of a certain scene, you know, and Rochester has really been coming to life the last few years between Rochester, Winona, Redwing, stuff like that.

Then I come up north and it's a whole different set of people, you know, and bands and I'm starting to find some cross cultural connections between the different regions of our state.

I think it's headed in good directions.

I've found people who are playing our music, independent music, on small-time radio stations in town, internet radio stations.

Things are things are looking up.

Think of all the things you'd like to do before you die Think of 21, how it's just begun Think about your mother and realize how much you love her You know her heart it beats Just to see you smile Then think about ol' Hiram At how young they said 'goodbye son' He won't be dreaming about his mama for a while Cuz it's our knowledge of death That keeps our souls in unrest If that soul's inclined to shed its thorny crown It don't have to be a quest Or a diatribe against the rest Whose only notion is to keep us shackled down So with a scrap of a plan And little sense of who I am I'm going west to meet a friend for a change I'm going to meet all kinds of girls Join a band and feel the world See all things topographically strange I know I ain't big on goals And my bucket's got some holes But I'll keep it patched 'Cause I know I ain't alone I've got blood and country blues And that alone should get me through Until the day I'm ready to go home So with ma on my mind and Hank Williams at my side Well I took an old Cadillac out for a ride Across the Great Divide all on my own A thousand miles from anything I'd known A thousand miles from anything I'd known With Ma on my mind Hank Williams at my side I took that Cadillac out for a ride Across the Great Divide all on my own A thousand miles from anything I'd known With Ma on my mind Hank Williams at my side I took that Cadillac out for a ride Across the Great Divide all on my own A thousand miles from anything I'd known A thousand miles from anything I'd known I got into music from the very first memories I have is toddling around the house listening to a record in the house.

The music that was playing in the house when I was a kid was a big mix.

You know old rock and roll and blues albums and Grateful Dead, a lot of folky stuff and blues and rock and a little country.

So for my introduction to actually performing music would be I was about 17.

I was just starting to learn an instrument, which happened to be the bass guitar, but it was for a senior project in our high school and I ended up doing this big like History of Rock and Roll thing and you had to do like a research and then also like a performance-based or a physical project they called it.

So I took up the bass and I started teaching myself how.

At the end of the school year came me and two of my friends, who one had learned drums one was learning guitar, we did this performance in front of the judges.

[Music] This song is called If You Think I'm Crazy.

Well I've heard that being crazy Is when you keep doing the same damn thing Expecting something different each time Even give it a different name Well I guess that makes me crazy Cause all I've been doing all along is trying to find a melody And the words and the chords that go along Well I ain't sure if it's working I ain't got much to show but a few handfuls of these songs that I wrote that I'll sing wherever I go Well I do find folks that like my stuff, and that always feels so good But what I need is a find a way to make this my family's livelihood That don't mean I'm afraid of working Hell I've done all that for years I spent time loading trucks I tried not to mess up, while the miles disappeared What I'm saying is Maybe being crazy and having passion are the same Nobody wants a boring lover What the hell is normal passion, anyway If you think I'm crazy it's 'cause I am If you think I'm crazy it's 'cause I am Well I'm crazy about my woman Real crazy about my kids I'm crazy enough to keep singing these songs that keep me away from them This bittersweet direction I've wished life would take me in Revealed something to me about myself I just might have suspected way back when If you think I'm crazy it's 'cause I am If you think I'm crazy it's 'cause I am I'm crazy about my woman Real crazy about my kids I'm crazy enough to keep singing these songs to keep me away from them This bittersweet direction I've wished life would take me in Revealed something about myself I just might have suspected way back when Well I'm a little crazy Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.