9/27/20, 2pm: Jud will be performing a benefit concert to raise funds to help rebuild the Seagull Shop which was recently destroyed by fire. The concert will be held outdoors on the lawn of the Bradley Inn on Pemaquid Point. More info and tickets.
7/5/20: Jud will be playing the "Real Outdoor Concert Series", sponsored by the Chocoate Church Arts Center at 6pm on July 25. It's a great opportunity for Jud to perform a concert so close to home, with such a great organization. This is an outdoor event (rain date is July 26, same time!) at a private home, with a maximum seating of 50. All care will be taken to keep this responsibly "distanced" - and this may be your only chance of the summer to catch Jud in concert! Tickets are by advanced sale only, $18. More info and tickets.
6/16/20: Morning Cordial Vol. I is now available for download! It includes 14 tracks of remastered audio, originally released in my daily video series. Vol. I is all originals - many previously unreleased songs, some brand new, and a couple of dusted-off old gems.
6/3/20: I hope you can join me for an hour of music this Friday, 6/5, at 6 pm to cap off this week of support for the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program. Expect the same kind of grab-bag of tunes that you've been getting in the Morning Cordial series!
All donations to my paypal account are split 50/50 with MCHPP
Go to my facebook page to watch.
5/19/20: This Friday night, 5/22 at 6pm Jud is kicking off the "Evening Cordial" -- a live streamed concert on my facebook page. Like the Morning Cordial series, all donations to my paypal account are split 50/50 with covid relief efforts. This week's we are sending to the United Way of Mid Coast Maine's Covid-19 Urgent Needs fund.
5/2/20: A huge Thank You to everyone who gave to paypal.me/judcaswell to support
my "Morning Cordial" music series last
month! Together we are donating over $1000 to local Covid-19 relief efforts!
About half of this total was shared with the Covid-19 Urgent Needs fund run
by the United Way of Midcoast Maine.
The remaining funds are being shared with the Bath Area Food Bank
4/1/20: "Live at the Seagull Shop" was the number one album on the FAI Folk DJ List for the month of March! Pour Me a Guinness was the number 4 song of the month (Happy St. Patrick's Day!) and Jud was the top played artist as well. This is a huge honor and couldn't have done without the hard promotional work of Kari Estrin and the support of Tim and Betsey Norland and the Seagull Shop!"
Virtual Home Concerts: If you'd like to be entertained in the comfort of your own home in these tough times, Jud is available to stream live music to you and a select group of your friends! Make requests, video chat, and then sit back to a private show! Email jud@judcaswell.com for more info!
Live events are mostly suspended for now but check back here for online events.
Until live music performances get to be a thing again, Jud is sharing a song at 10am every weekday on youtube and facebook in his "Morning Cordial" series. Here is a full list of all the Morning Cordial songs with links to the YouTube videos.
The "Morning Cordial" playlist
Keep Walking
Pemaquid Sunset
Halfway There
1952 Vincent Black Lightning
Thick as a Brick
Rocky Road to Dublin
Maine singer/songwriter Jud Caswell has got a keen eye for detail. There’s a magic to the way he draws you in until you’re transported -- to the old farmhouse, the salty shore, a wood full of birdsong. You might just think he’s taking you to visit his home. But there’s the magic. When the words are just right, and the chords are struck just so, and the river of melody pushes and pulls in all the right places, then it’s not his home at all anymore. It’s your home.
A seventh-generation Mainer, Jud grew up on the farm of his great-grandfather, a poet and humorist who wrote a column for the local paper and kept horses in the old post-and-beam barn to pay the bills. Jud went all the way to New Hampshire to get his degree in music at Dartmouth College, but came home to work for the family business, bringing his college sweetheart back to start a family of their own.
For a time, it looked like music might just draw Jud out of Maine. In 2006, he burst onto the national scene with wins at the most prestigious songwriting contests in the country, including the Kerrville New Folk competition, where his song “Blackberry Time” was hailed by songwriting guru Pat Pattison as a “perfect song.” Sing Out! Magazine called him “one of the leading songwriters on the scene… highly original and wise beyond his years” and his record was a folk dj favorite. His song “The Weight of the World” (cowritten with Amy Speace and grammy award winner Jon Vezner) was recorded by Judy Collins and named the “#4 Folk Song of the Decade” by New York’s premier AAA station, WFUV. It was in Judy Collins’ apartment in Manhattan, looking over the contract that would have signed him to Collins’ record label, that Jud decided it was time to go home.
“A singer/songwriter does one thing, night after night, in a thousand places,” Caswell said. “I wanted to be in one place. I figured it was time to go home and do a thousand things.” He rolled up his sleeves and got to work, playing up to 7 shows a week locally, teaching songwriting, working with kids, striving to make his music be of service to his community. He built a recording studio in his home, where he produces records for other artists while continuing to write and record his own songs. Most importantly, he was able to be with his young family, nurturing a connection to home and the roots that feed his music and his soul.
Jud draws inspiration from the land like Mary Oliver, pushing gently into the specific until it unfolds into the universal. He paints his landscapes like Wyeth, with an adoration for humble beauty that approaches reverence. His music rises from the land as well -- with a voice fresh as water over granite and soft as a pine needle bed. His melodies are familiar and surprising as an old sea-captain retired to shore, with a head full of far-away and a heart full of home. A talented multi-instrumentalist, he wields his guitar, banjo, whistle, and cittern with the easy deftness of an old woodsman with an axe.
He is at work now on a new collection of songs, written and recorded in Maine, but with a connection to place and family so clear that they’ll ring true no matter where you call home.
Full List of the Morning Cordial Songs
6/3 #55 Just Like You (Jud Caswell)
6/2 #54 Norwegian Wood (Beatles)
6/1 #53 Skating Away (Jethro Tull)
5/29 #52 The Irish Rover (trad.)
5/28 #51 Still Life (Jud Caswell)
5/27 #50 The Boxer (Simon & Garfunkel)
5/26 #49 Transistor Radio (Jud Caswell)
5/25 #48 No Man's Land (Eric Bogle)
5/22 Evening Cordial 1
   Don't Think Twice, It's All Right (Bob Dylan) 0:09
   Phoebe on a Fencepost (Jud Caswell) 5:00
   For Sale (Jud Caswell) 9:10
   Thick As An Aqualung (Jethro Tull) 15:13
   Irish Rover (trad.) 23:12
   Pemaquid Sunset (Jud Caswell) 28:45
   Vincent (Don McLean) 33:03
   Watch The Fall (Jud Caswell) 39:12
   Halfway There (Jud Caswell) 46:11
   The Room at the Top of the Stairs (Jud Caswell) 50:37
   I'll Have To Say I Love You in a Song (Jim Croce) 54:30
   The Parting Glass (trad.) 58:48
5/22 #47 Pemaquid Sunset (Jud Caswell)
5/21 #46 Halfway There (Jud Caswell)
5/20 #45 1952 Vincent Black Lightning (Richard Thompson)
5/19 #44 So Far So Good (Jud Caswell)
5/18 #43 9 to 5 (Dolly Parton)
5/15 #42 Rare Old Mountain Dew (trad.)
5/14 #41 Immune (Jud Caswell)
5/13 #40 Thick As A Brick (Jethro Tull)
5/12 #39 Where Do The Children Play? (Yusuf/Cat Stevens)
5/11 #38 Dreams of My Grandparents' House (Jud Caswell)
5/8 #37 Little Beggerman (trad.)
5/7 #36 Laughter (Bruce Cockburn)
5/6 #35 Richard (Jud Caswell)
5/5 #34 What Ever Happened to Rob (Jud Caswell)
5/4 #33 The Only One (Billy Bragg)
5/1 #32 The Mermaid (trad.)
4/30 #31 Montreal (Jud Caswell)
4/29 #30 Leave It Like It Is (David Wilcox)
4/28 #29 The Long Walk Home (Jud Caswell)
4/27 #28 The Hills of Isle Au Haut (Gordon Bok)
4/24 #27 I'll Tell Me Ma (trad.)
4/23 #26 The Moon on a String (Jud Caswell)
4/22 #25 Big Yellow Taxi (Joni Mitchell)
4/21 #24 The Butterfly Effect (Jud Caswell)
4/20 #23 Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel)
4/17 #22 Rocky Road to Dublin (trad.)
4/16 #21 Holding It Together (Jud Caswell)
4/15 #20 Wond'ring Aloud (Jethro Tull)
4/14 #19 Golden Time (Jud Caswell)
4/13 #18 American Tune (Paul Simon)
4/10 #17 This Winter Night (Jud Caswell)
4/9 #16 If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out (Yusuf/Cat Stevens)
4/8 #15 Up Through the Snow (Jud Caswell)
4/7 #14 Pink moon (Nick Drake)
4/6 #13 Blackberry Time(Jud Caswell)
4/3 #12 Now Forever (Jud Caswell)
4/2 #11 Sweet Baby James (James Taylor)
4/1 #10 That's the Way We Climb (Jud Caswell)
3/31 #9 Homeward Bound (Paul Simon)
3/30 #8 Get Poor Slow (Jud Caswell)
3/27 #7 Phoebe on a Fencepost (Jud Caswell)
3/26 #6 Wondering Where the Lions Are (Bruce Cockburn)
3/25 #5 Pacing the Cage (Bruce Cockburn)
3/24 #4 Here Comes the Sun (George Harrison)
3/21 #3 We Just Disagree (Dave Mason)
3/20 #2 Ring Joy and Peace (Jud Caswell)
3/16 #1 Pour Me A Guinness (Jud Caswell)
3/11 #0 The Great Divide (Jud Caswell)
Tracks:
1. Get Poor Slow
2. Montreal
3. Talk to Me
4. Watch the Fall
5. Now Forever
6. Breathe
7. Chasing the Leaves
8. Cutting Back
9. So Far So Good
10. Between the Lines
1. Get Poor Slow
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar / Jagoda: Drums / Jason Rafalak: Bass)
I never cared about money much
I never had a lot to throw around
I never cared about the fancy cars
Just give me something that can get around town
I never thought I would amount to much
Never wanted to go too far
All I wanted was to spend my days
Picking songs on an old guitar
If anybody asked me what my plans were I'd say œI don't know
Some people want to get rich quick
I'd be happy just to get poor slow.
She never cared about money much
Never had a lot growing up
She's got an eye for the Goodwill gold
Makes it look like a million bucks
Don't need to buy caviar
Don't need the pearls or the symphony
Just a cider and some takeout Thai
Jane Austen on the DVD
She told me when she met me There was something I should know.
She said, œSome people want to get rich quick
But I'd be happy just to get poor slow.
So I asked her if she'd marry me and wear that little ring.
I said, œthe best things in life are free.
She said, œThe best things in life are not even things.
Now we've got a place to call our own
Apple tree growing in the yard
Seems there's always something else to do
Seems we never have to work too hard
Little girls out on the swings
Smell of smoke coming off the grill
Maybe later we could bundle up
Sit and listen for the whip-poor-will.
All I want to ask her is, œBaby, when did you know
Our life was gonna get rich quick
Trying just to get poor slow?
˜Cuz our life sure got rich quick
Trying just to get poor slow.
2. Montreal
(Jud: Vocals, Uke, Melodica / Nat Hussey: Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Shaker, Glockenspiel / Jason Rafalak: Bass)
I can hear your laughter
I can feel you near me
See your lips as red as Cabernet
The breeze at your hemline
Filled me like a sail
We drank Sangria
In a sidewalk garden
Watched the tourists on Place Jacques-Cartierr
But the thing most clear
Was how I loved you on that day.
Holding hands on Rue Notre Dame
We stopped to hear a gypsy play guitar
Saying œje ne parle pas Francais
We didn't speak the language.
I want to know the language.
We were strangers then
on the Saint Laurent
With a thousand secrets locked inside
Every passing gesture
A mystery sublime
But the wine is open
And we've filled our glasses
And it doesn't matter what we want
There's no road that travels
Back to Montreal.
3. Talk to Me
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Harmonies, Keys / Jagoda: Drums / Jason Rafalak: Bass / Paul Benham: Electric Guitar, Harmonies)
That old familiar sucker punch has flattened you again,
Blindsided by the find winding line dividing enemy and friend.
There's no olly olly oxen free, there's no magical undo,
You can't go around or under, it's not fun, you've gotta somehow blunder through.
Sometimes you stumble backwards to get free.
When you lose your faith in second chances, come talk to me.
Because it's time for resolutions, it's time for planning plans,
You don't need more confrontation, just a place with a foundation you can stand.
You've gotta leave the past behind you, change the channel on that dial.
When you're history's a hornet's nest it's best if you stop kicking for awhile.
The way it's always been it doesn't have to be.
When it's time to pour the poison out for good, come talk to me.
You tell me it's your special kind of genius
To always take the bad and make it worse.
I say when it works out in the end
The victory is sweeter for how hard it was at first.
Those devils in your details, they've got the angels on the run,
And there's no one to explain away the pain or shame the blame for what's been done.
But there's a ladder in this labyrinth and you can look up above the walls
And when the crooked path that got you here is clear it won't seem hard to steer at all.
You got so turned around that you can't see,
But I know your north is true and I can prove it if you'll talk to me.
Yes I know your north is true and I can prove it if you'll talk to me.
4. Watch the Fall
(Jud: Vocals, Cittern / Paul Benham: Electric Guitar, Harmonies / April Reed Cox: Cello / Jason Rafalak: Bass)
The Androscoggin River is staggering and stumbling
Tumbling down the rapids through town,
Mumbling and shouting out the sorrows
He's been trying to drown
Ever since the ice broke he's been out on a bender
Muddier and meaner every day
Tripping up the riverbanks
Kicking down whatever's in his way.
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
That's the name of the game in this town
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
Watch the fall.
I still remember the year this old river
Flooded out the old abandoned mill
All the boys were drinking Narragansett
And watching from the hill
While the Androscoggin river climbed that foundation
Tore out every scrap they left behind.
I guess he used to work there
And when they left he didn't take it kind.
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
That's the name of the game in this town
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
Watch the fall.
The Androscoggin river was a hell of a worker
He carried this whole county on his back
Now he's just a drunkard singing shanties
On the wrong side of the track.
The new people frown and they hold their noses
Their little ones throw rocks and run away
But you should've seen him
The day he dragged that mill down to the bay
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
That's the name of the game in this town
Set ˜em up, knock ˜em down,
Watch the fall.
5. Now Forever
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar / Zach Ovington: Fiddle / Jagoda: Drums / Jason Rafalak: Bass)
Do you mind if I stare
While you let down your hair?
Just stand right there for awhile.
Where's the fire, what's the rush?
Hush
It won't be now forever.
And I know that it's late
And the morning won't wait
There's so much on your plate these days.
But the kids are in bed
˜Nuff said
It won't be now forever
And I know I don't know and I see I can't see
The forest for the trees
You might say I don't say all the things I might say
But please
Won't you give me a sign
You've been reading my mind
You've been doing it fine for so long
Oh my love, Oh my friend
Let's pretend
That we've got nothing but time
It won't be now forever
6. Breathe
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Drum Programming, Bass, Keys, Harmonies / Nat Hussey: Electric Guitar / Eleanor Caswell: Harmonies)
We were born to mystery and sacrificed to math
We were on the high road when they said œtake the shortest path:
There ain't anybody anywhere who ever got a guarantee
So son you'd better find yourself a hole and start digging.
But in the empty fullness of a reasonable day
There's a simple question that just won't go away:
Why would anybody ever want to sell another moment of the present
For the future that is never gonna be here?
Buddha said breathe
You can be free
Still I believe the lies I've been living on
It's a world of wonder, still I feel so all alone
There's an open window, but I can't put down my phone
I know it's junk but I'm a junkie and the monkey on my back
Is in the pocket of the market that truly understands me
They've worked out all the angles, they've got their formulaic list
They've got our brains on speed-dial, it's pointless to resist
Take a seat and grab a magazine or catalog
The doctor will be with you in a moment to remove these feelings
Buddha said breathe
You can be free
Still I believe the lies I've been living on
7. Chasing the Leaves
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Drum Programming, Bass / Paul Benham: Harmonies, Electric Guitar, Keys)
Sharp as a shadow hard as a stone
Hopeless November endlessly blown
The wind off the river naked as bone
Hear my teeth chatter, feel the trees groan
Running in circles, chasing the leaves
A part of you dancing with some part of me
Full of the morning, empty of fear
Blind to the darkness, seeing so clear
8. Cutting Back
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar / Jagoda: Drums / Jason Rafalak: Bass / Paul Benham: Electric Guitar, Harmonies, Keys / Nat Hussey: Electric Guitar)
The knife blade falls
Better, she supposes
To be cutting back her roses
To give them room to grow
It shines and steals
Gentle as a lover
She's only just discovered
That something's gotta go
Can you hear your voice above the noises
Of all the little choices you made yesterday?
Can you find the center of your life
Sharpen up your knife and cut the rest away?
The cell phone call
She looks and leaves it ringing
Says that she's been thinking
She could use a little room
Says he's like this rose
Hardening and fading
She's been watering and waiting
He's never going to bloom
Can you hear your voice above the noises
Of all the little choices you made yesterday?
Can you find the center of your life
Sharpen up your knife and cut the rest away?
And when it's done, and it feels wrong
And you're scared that everything is gone
Don't give in, pour the wine
Close your mind till you find
You can hear your voice above the noises
Of all the little choices you made yesterday
You can find the center of your life
Sharpen up your knife and cut the rest away
9. So Far So Good
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar / Jagoda: Drums / Jason Rafalak: Bass / Pat Wictor: Harmonies)
Sown the rocks now watch your feet
It's easy to fall
And the waves would love to take you for their own
Take my hand and come with me
To welcome it all
Tell me why is coming here like going home?
It's been forever since we've been away together
And it's always now or never,
You can't wait for perfect weather so let's go
So far so good
This is better than it ever should have been
So far so good
I close my eyes, hold my breath and count to ten
Knock on wood, but not too hard
I say so far, so good
They dance like pipers in the sand
Those daughters of mine
And they're each the best of us rolled into one
They bring sea glass in their hands
See how they shine
There's magic in the way they catch the sun
There's no knowing, just hold on and watch 'em growing
And it seems to me they're showing us
The way that we've been going and it's
chorus
See our footprints in the sand
They wander and wind
From the dune grass right on down into the sea
There's no trace of any plan
No reason or rhyme
Just the story that you walked awhile with me
It's displaying that we've come a good long way
And when we've both gone old and gray
We'll still be out here playing, saying:
chorus X2
10. Between the Lines
(Jud: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Mandolin, Cittern, Keys / Paul Benham: Electric Guitar, Harmonies, Glockenspiel, Keys)
Sunrise like a shiner on a boxer's face
Blue and red
Two thousand miles of broken yellow fading in the rearview
And a hundred miles ahead
Nothing on this highway from baltimore to boston
Is ever gonna feel like mine
Between the lines, between the lines
Here I am again between the lines
Between the lines, between the lines
Here I am again
Handcuffed to the dream that there was something more
New and far away
Everywhere i go i find my mind is always wandering
To what you didn't say
And all the ghosts of hope and fear you bottled up inside you
When you just said fine
chorus
I've come home through the darkness and the pouring rain
Through the sleepness night
All lit up on gasoline and shaking from the coffee
And the need to get this right
Cuz it's more than miles of road that pave the distances between us
And i don't want to live my life
chorus
Tracks:
1. For Sale
2. Blackberry Time
3. Peace and Quiet
4. Down in the Crawlspace
5. Immune
6. The Raven in the Apple Tree
7. What Ever Happened to Rob
8. Too Late
9. Leave Him
10. The Men Behind the Bushes
11. Let it Go
Featuring:
Jud Caswell: Vocals, Guitar
Andy Rice: Upright Bass
Craig Record: Drums
Pat Wictor: Slide Guitar
Karen Mal: Mandolin, Vocals
Amy Speace: Vocals
Marsey Caswell: Vocals
Photography by Edward Caswell
Original Artwork by Kat Logan
Lyrics: All songs (c)2007 Jud Caswell except "Peace and Quiet" (c)2007 Jud Caswell and Amy Speace
Produced by Jud Caswell
Recorded by Jud at Frog Hollow Studio, Brunswick, ME
Pat Wictor was recorded at the Augur Compound, Durham, CT
Amy Speace and Karen Mal were recorded at Folk Alliance in the downtown Marriott, Memphis, TN
Mixed by Jud with great help from Amy Speace and Alfred Lund
Mastered by Neale Eckstein, Fox Run Studio
1. For Sale (4:08)
He tore the gravel up as he parked his Cadillac
Said it was my lucky day, clapped me on the back,
Told me that his company had authorized a proposition
He figured that the cash would mean so much to a man in my position
I ain't much to look at, I don't have much to show
Just this junk shop where I'm selling bikes beside the road
Still I never had no use for these out-of-staters
Who come to buy our neighborhood and then decide we're not their kind of neighbors
They may say it's a price we have to pay
You gotta watch your home divvied up and sold away
But I can't stand to see that money waved around
As if everyone and everything's for sale in my home town
I heard he called his lawyers, I heard he called the town
I heard he figured if my bikes were gone I wouldn't hang around
So he bought 'em all from me, threw them on a truck
Paid his money on the nail and drove off laughing, wishing me good luck
The Wall Street Journal and the Prep School Education
Teach you nothing about the landfill and the transfer station
And where the good stuff goes when it gets thrown away
And where I went to pick up fifty old familiar bicycles today
2. Blackberry Time (4:05)
Lately I've been chasing after little things that always slip away
Living in my calendar and living in my car instead of living in the day
But a wind blew down from Canada this morning
Like a warning shot of cold across my bow
So now I'm out here in my sandals getting bloodied by these brambles
And eating all the berries I'm allowed
Because it's Blackberry Time, Blackberry Time
It's a secret of a season in its prime
When all the world is full and ripe and quickly going by
Then it's Blackberry Time
The air is full of cricket song and hayseed, honeybee and dragonfly
The last full day of summer, baked and cooling on the windowsill
Smells a lot like apple pie
And up beneath the poplar and the birches
At the border where the grass has gone to trees
I've got those stains upon my fingers and an aftertaste that lingers
One part sweet, one part fruit and two parts seed
Blackberry Time
I wish I had a cup to fill to take this harvest home and make it stay
I wish I had that recipe to press it into wine to seal the flavor of the day
Watching from a silver maple's branches there's a catbird, sings a hungry kind of song
He says œbe thankful for the sweet because you know that it don't keep
You just eat what you can eat and move along
When it's Blackberry Time
3. Peace and Quiet (4:05)
(by Jud Caswell & Amy Speace)
One by one the treaties were broken
Each time the lesson was the same
That every breath spent on negotiation
Would only serve to fan the flame
Side by side they had been neighbors
For centuries without dispute
And now there's a time bomb ticking
in each conversation
Welcome to Beirut.
Peace and Quiet smoldering tonight
Peace and Quiet
Marking time between the fights
You can pray for gentle weather
And the strength to live together
And cry yourself to sleep
In the Peace and Quiet, dark and deep.
In this graveyard of asphalt and ashes
Looking for a way to live
With no common ground and no hope
that anyone
Can forget it or forgive
So in quiet desperation
A kind of promise has been vowed
To stay on your own side,
always walk with hooded eyes
And never speak your differences out loud.
You read aloud from the paper this morning
Over scrambled eggs and tea
All I could think as you held forth on Lebanon
Is how much it sounds like you and me
The crooked borderlines and minefields
That make two countries of our home
The freezing detente of our cynical civility
Keeping us together and alone.
4. Down in the Crawlspace 3:50
Working in the crawlspace eating dirt,
dragging forty feet of hose
Spraying poison in the ground,
Dust and cobwebs all around
Filling up my nose
Gary hollers in to me the boss is on the phone
I pretend that I can't hear so they leave me alone
Eight hours a day they own my hands
My legs, my back at their command
They rule my body and my time
But down in the crawlspace
Down in the crawlspace it's all mine
All alone in darkness, taking back
a little time they took
Just an hour, maybe two
Where no one tells me what to do
And I can think about my book
But there's so much I've forgotten
I've got to figure out again
Like how to get an agent
and how my novel's going to end
Missouri sounds like œmisery
for a reason, one supposes
Waiting on the days of corn
and overtime and roses
Gary calls me out to give a hand
with all the piles in the garage
Broken toys and broken chairs,
Bags and boxes everywhere
There's hardly room to budge
Gary shakes his head,
œWhy not just throw it all away?
Why hang on to all of this?
How can people live this way?
5. Immune (3:55)
You push back your hair
Stir your coffee, taste the spoon
You say you're trying to be fair
And it's not that you don't care
But you're immune
Your extroverted eyes
Could lead someone to assume
But something in me dies
When you say you sympathize
But you're immune
For seven weeks you wrote the
history of you and me
Untangling tapestries of thorn and rose
All alone you made us simple once again
Reducing us to friends
You drew the curtain closed
You blow a kiss goodnight
I breathe the last of your perfume
I won't say that you're not right
Because I can't begin to fight
When you're composed as a symphony
Armored in apathy
So far away from me in your cocoon
You're immune
6. The Raven in the Apple Tree (3:53)
The raven in the apple tree is watching
His voice is like the rattle
of a rusty iron gate
Swinging on its hinges in the wind
Beckoning and welcoming us in
You and I have come from far away
Drawn by quiet murmurings
too steady to ignore
A siren song singing in our bones
Calls us to this place we've never known
You find a thing you somehow know you've
always missed
And then you feel so lost
Ask the raven how it comes to this
The raven says because, because, because
The raven says because, because, because
The wind across the millpond so familiar
As surely as the tolling
of the Baptist chapel bell
Ringing off of cedar tree and stone
Echoes of our history and home
(chorus)
Our little girl runs down the lanes
She skips among the rows and rows and rows
of family names
Apples on the ground beneath the raven
Windfalls of a passing storm
returning to the earth
Gathered on the roots where they were made
In the shadow of their cradle they make their grave
7. What Ever Happened to Rob (3:51)
Everyone wishes we had his new phone number
John did the math it's been more than a year
Since Rob graced our presence
And made an appearance
At this living-room soiree
It feels like he just disappeared
Nobody noticed the signs he was leaving
No one remembers who stopped calling who
Now it seems clear
After Rob cut his hair
He was just marking time
Till he worked up the courage to do what he had to
Maybe it's best,
maybe we all could use some change
A moment to rest,
the freedom to breathe and rearrange
Maybe he met someone, got a new girlfriend
A new place to live, a new job
Nobody here has any idea
What ever happened to Rob
Somebody read it or saw it on Oprah
That every five years we start over again
It seems like a shame
But there's no one to blame
So let's lift up a glass
To the further adventures of faraway friends
Karl whittled down almost two-hundred pounds
and he turned his attention to Jesus
Ken's back in school with Foucault and Camus
and he's writing his doctoral thesis
Kathy and Stew got a family brewing and Dave
took that high-powered job
But nobody here has any idea
What ever happened to Rob
We don't want to guilt him,
just want to get filled in
About what ever happened to Rob
8. Too Late (3:38)
My fault, my bad
I wish I hadn't done it but I have
That's my bad, that's my fault
Here's your opportunity to rub a little salt
I wish it was a thing I could reverse
But since it's not there's nothing to be done but make it worse
Too late, too late, too late to make it right
Too late to make it better with a kiss and say goodnight
No one can deny you've earned the right to blow off steam
So turn that kettle up and let it scream
Your turn, your go
Tell me all the things I should have known
It's your go, it's your turn
Let's make believe there's wisdom in this lesson I can learn
But we both know this one's all over but the shouting
And if you'd rather skip that part, I sure could do without
I used to think I knew the space between us
Come to find out I was wrong
I feel the ground give out beneath my feet
by the time I know I'm slipping I'm already halfway gone
OK, Fine
We've proven we can hold this bitter line
That's just fine, that's OK
Before you turn the light out there's one thing I've got to say
It's so hard for me to lower my defense
Can I say I'm sorry now or have I missed my chance?
9. Leave Him (3:37)
In the front seat of her Subaru
In the middle of the night
Talking through our histories
All our mysteries casting Rorschach shadows
In the sodium light
On a good day she would tell me
We should think about goodbye
But the bad days were the best days
When she held me close
Counting on my fingers all the reasons
she would try
To leave him, leave him
Leave him, leave Him for me
The press of skin between us
Never measured half as much
As the great unwinding intertwining
coastline
Where two lives really touch
Her solitary marriage
It is the saddest think I know
He was the strong and silent
not quite violent type
Who never gave a good enough
excuse for her to go
I never woke beside her
My heart beneath her head
I never spoke to chide her
And I never said to leave
10. The Men Behind the Bushes (4:15)
Do you see what I see?
Up there on the right
Smiling like a cat and sliding out of sight
They've got Reagan's Teflon
And Richard Nixon's soul
They're slippery as oil
Mean as gasoline
Black as Christmas coal
Go hopping down the money trail
You find it always leads
To the Men Behind the Bushes¦
Can't you smell the greed?
They've solved the problem
Of seeming too unkind
Use Jesus as a body shield
As you rob the country blind
Keep it simple, let's focus on the war
While the riptide of arrogance and influence
Drags the living wage offshore
You can close your eyes and tell yourself
They're looking out for you
But the Men Behind the Bushes¦
Know that that's not true
Look me in the eye, tell me it's all right
And what we see is what we get
Can't you see the cretin king?
Can't you see the master's strings?
Can you see the puppeteer yet?
It's a whirlpool, anyone could drown
When the paranoia sucks you in
And pulls you down
You feel the outrage fading into numb
When you realize it only makes more sense
The more cynical you become
You can close your eyes and tell yourself
There's really no one there
But the Men Behind the Bushes¦
Have got me scared
11. Let It Go (4:46)
It's stuck in your head
It's under your skin
And the more you rail
and the more you shout
To work it though and work it out
The more you work it in
I know, I know
It hurts you so
Just let it go
It's more than you can carry
When it's all that you can do
Just to bite your nails down to the fists
And rattle off your favorite lists
Of all the nastiness that's been done to you
(chorus)
You could spend your whole life
telling the story
Of how the world's been so unfair
But how's that going to change
your situation
And who's gonna care?
Holding on to anger
I sure do understand
But it's caught you there
in a monkey trap
And you'll never get your freedom back
Until you open up your hand
Tracks:
1. Meeting Mairghread
2. Lost and Found
3. 451
4. This Winter Night
5. Simple Fascination
6. Leather Shoes
7. Up Through The Snow
8. Andy's Wedding
9. Too Hot
10. Summer Doesn't Have a Reason
11. Standing On Your Porch
12. Bittersweet
13. Golden Time
14. Transistor Radio
Featuring:
Jud Caswell: Guitar, Vocals, Sax, Whistle, Bass, etc.
Bill Kelleher: Bass
Tom Corcoran: Drums
Robby Coffin: Lead guitar
Ed Howe: Fiddle
Marsey Caswell: Vocals
Steve Gerlach: Vocals
Josh Caron: Drums (8)
Alfred Lund: Percussion (8)
Paul Schaffner: Hammer Dulcimer
Produced by Jud Caswell
Mixed and Mastered by Jud Caswell and Alfred Lund
Recorded and Engineered at Frog Hollow Studio, Brunswick, ME
Photography by Edward Caswell
Graphic Design by Graham-Caswell Design
Lyrics: All songs (c)2004 Jud Caswell
1. Meeting Mairghread
It was coming up on quarter past two
On a night as black as stout
Walking down the Connemara road
A drop of whiskey on my lips to keep the cold out
When high on the hillside a flickering light
Led me off the highway and into the night
It was coming up on quarter past two
My head was thick with stout
Then as quick as you can whistle a tune
I had my feet atop that hill
There I found her in a circle of stone
A fire burning off the cool September chill
She was dressed all in garments of shimmering shear
Which much to my wondering eyes disappeared
Then as quick as you can whistle a tune
I had my feet in deeper still
I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread
Then as sure as I'm standing before you
She burst into song
And she danced about and tempted me sorely
But still I resisted, God-fearing and strong
˜til she settled herself there astride of my knee
And proceeded to Rum-Tiddle-Dum-Tiddle-Dee
Then as sure as I am standing before you
I did sing along
I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread
Well a sorrier gentleman waking
You never did see
With a headache and half a mile home
Stretching out like a gauntlet before me
I guess you can say that the bloom's off the rose
When your lady has left you and taken your clothes
With a half a mile of churchgoers waiting
Between home and me
I'm probably going to regret meeting Mairghread
2. Lost and Found
How did we get here?
Only God and Rand McNally know for sure
Still, the sunlight through the trees is kind
And the pull of what we've left behind
Is weaker than the tug of what's in store
So here we are
Hook the dog and park the car
We're lost and found
Sick to death of digging through
The same old worn-down tired-out ground
We're lost and found
So we hop in our escape pod
And we aim toward sunset
Until we run aground
Then you couldn't find our troubles with a hound
We're lost and found
You're my compass and sextant
And I'll follow you from now until the end
Because even when the road is strange
It feels like every coming change
Is welcome as a childhood friend
And they say that it's God's will
That nothing should be still
3. 451
451 -- it's bright and it's clean
451 is a shining machine
it's the color of smiles
an immortal old style
451 -- it's a happiness tree
451 is a conscience for free
it's a place in the sun
it's a terminal fun
when your ironclad pretenses rust
if you think you've been thinking too much
don't waste your time, get right in line
for a share of the american pie
cross your heart and cover your eyes
here's a sample free, pal, the drink's on me
raise your hand raise your flag raise a torch
and set us free
451 is dehydrated truth
451 is for the good of the youth
it's the closing of eyes
it's accepting the lies
451 is a tourniquet cure
451 -- so righteous and pure
it's a life under glass
it's a brave new past
it starts out so harmless, you know
when the school board says twain's got to go
it's for the kids, the trash is hid
but once that lesson itself has been learned
it gets easier and easier to burn
when you know you're right, you'll heat the night
to the temperature knowledge ignites: 451
Fahrenheit 451
4. This Winter Night
The wind's been building snowmen
They stand where they've been blown
This is the first old-fashioned winter
This love of ours has known
It's the kind our parents talked about
With their glasses full of wine
Exaggerations mingle, sentimental
For a simpler, colder time.
So leave me in the springtime when the crocus is in bloom
But stay with me this winter night and warm my lonely room
The weatherman's in heaven
It's the best he's ever seen
Record-setting Doppler weather radar
Spins like laundry on the screen
The snow stays on like family
When the invitation's cold
Coming back for second helpings
Telling stories that are getting old
When the winter drives you crazy
The snow might keep you sane
Cuz at least it's not December
And at least it isn't rain
So leave me in the springtime when the crocus is in bloom
But stay with me this winter night and warm my lonely room
5. Simple Fascination
A hundred and twenty paces past the signpost
Pick up the trail and follow to the east
Up to the old abandoned ring of houses
Standing in stony silence and in peace
Like the sleepless ghosts of dancing children
Misty fingers reaching toward the sea
Blanket the hills of heather, spilling whiteness
Over the blackened soil like breakfast tea
And you and I, in simple fascination
Stand side by side in the growing rain
A hundred and twenty paces past the signpost
Follow the sound of water to the west
Stopping to ask O'Malley his permission
He offers (in toothless Gaelic) his "God Bless"
Down a winding road of trash and treasure
Rusting red and dying, growing green
Soak in the water falling over heather
Drink in the pounding river, washing clean
And you and I, in simple fascination
Stand side by side in the growing rain.
6. Leather Shoes
Leather shoes, black and brown
Empty eyes, soles worn down
A thousand shoes spread across the floor
And the caption tells of a thousand thousand more
Fifty years since they were found
Empty eyes, soles worn down
So close your eyes, hold the rail
Stick your neck out and inhale
The smell of leather tongue and heel
So familiar, so real
At the smell of leather your defenses fail
So close your eyes and hold the rail
You've seen the pictures, you've read the words
Of the survivors, and you have heard
The fevered speeches of that famous man
With the little moustache and the master plan
Still it shakes you and you're unprepared
For the smell of leather in the air
Leather shoes, black and brown
Empty eyes, soles worn down
Empty eyes, soles worn down
7. Up Through the Snow
twelve months later she's had time to think
she's written it down on her body in ink
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow
at the tattoo parlor when they said it would hurt
she couldn't help laughing out loud
as she took off her shirt
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow
in the small of her back in the color of spring
on the first anniversary of this terrible thing
one small crocus reaches out for the sun
a promise that winter is ending and spring has begun
she carries it with her wherever she goes
a portrait of life coming up through the snow
8. Andy's Wedding
The rain came but the sunlight stayed
So we were hiding from the raindrops in the shade
And the string quartet still got paid
Though we made jokes about the sour notes they played
And the world was like a knock upon the door
So distant and insistent and so easy to ignore
And the best man's toast was made
And an orchard full of champagne glasses prayed
At Andy's wedding
Then the dance began and the bridesmaids grinned
And the groomsmen got ambitious in their gin
And the same requests kept pouring in
Til the DJ got the vinyl out and he began to spin
Tunes from 1954
And we hopped and bopped to the lemon drop and scuffled up the floor
From the dearest friends to the furthest kin
We were singing, we were soaking to the skin
At Andy's wedding
You said it didn't matter that it didn't match the pattern of your dreams
Noone could have planned it, cuz noone understands
It just comes rushing in and busting out the seams
Then the night was done and the guests were fried
The cummerbunds undone and the ties untied
The bride and groom disappeared inside
We were standing on the porch waiting for a ride
It was all the best of what's in store
A reunion and a union
Nothing less and something more
And we had to laugh with a kind of pride
That we'd been drinking drinks with the father of the bride
At Andy's wedding
9. Too Hot
It's too hot to work, too hot to think
Too hot for everything
Excepting just to lie around and stink
It would be fine, it would be nice
If we could slip into our swimsuits
Fill the cooler full of ice
Pack some kind of a picnic
With a blanket and a bottle of wine
Drive off into the country together
Find a shady tree for spending some time in one spot
Cuz it's hot
It's too hot to eat, too hot to stand
Too hot for packing up that picnic
In the way we might have planned
I'm getting nasty, getting mean
My head's been pounding
Since it got too hot for drinking my caffeine
So I'm looking for some kind of transfusion
To get the coffee level up in my blood
Until you find a suitable French Roast donor
I'll be chilling with the pigs in the mud
'til it's not quite so very hot
It's too hot to read, too hot to sleep
Too hot for counting scratchy woolen
Knitted-sweater wearing sheep
Too hot for sheets, too hot for clothes
Baby stop me when you see
How far this logically goes
Slide on over beside me
And we'll break this fever tonight
Fighting fire with fire
It might just work and it might just not
If it's too hot
10. Summer Doesn't Have a Reason
Got my coffee can of crawlers
How'd you like some yellow perch?
Got my tackle box and bobbers
We'll be home in time for church
So roll your dress up to your knees
Leave behind your Sunday shoes
Dance around this brook just as
graceful as you please
What's a city girl got to lose?
Summer doesn't have a reason
Summer doesn't tell you why
You can't analyze the season
It's a secret you can't buy
Summer doesn't tell you why
Somewhere the cars and trucks are fighting
Down that dark and lonesome freeway
But while the fish and flies are biting
That all seems so far away
How you wound up swimming, no one knows
Something must have happened to your feet
Check the trunk, you'll find a change of clothes
And there's a blanket on the seat
Kind of like a picnic on the seat
I guess this looks a bit suspicious
Kinda like I had it planned
Eating out and chasing fishes on a Sunday
I think the Lord would understand
11. Standing on Your Porch
Well I guess I should have called first
But it was easier to walk
And lately I can't trust the thing I might say
When I start to talk
I lost my mind on Monday
So it's been kind of a mindless week
And lately I can't trust the things I might say
Every time I start to speak
I don't really want to say the things I want to say to you
I've gotta take a minute more or so here now
Just to think this whole thing through
I want to find a way to say the things to make you think
You want to think you want me too
It's not really what I meant to say
But still it might be true
I guess I should have called first
I've got your number by the phone
I could have picked up the receiver
Could have listened for the tone
I could dial your number slowly
Count to five and say a prayer
But I was worried you might not be home
And I was terrified to think you might be there
I don't really want to say the things I want to say to you...
I'm glad you like the flowers that I brought, I thought you might
I thought you might have time for something
Well I know it's really nothing but I think you're really something
And there's something I should say
I think you're really something and I'd like to take you far away
I guess I should have called first
I could have written something down
I could have practiced through it slowly
So I could get the stupid message down
I'm so glad you're never going to hear this
I can't believe I almost rang the bell
But it's kinda like a dress rehearsal,
Standing on your porch talking to myself
And your neighbors haven't seemed to mind me
Standing on your porch.
12. Bittersweet
Your baby face
and your musical hands
Your love of life
And your steadfast aversion to plans
Had always seen you through
Until she called to tell you the news
Step back, slide into the bittersweet
It's a heavy fate but a precious weight
And it takes you completely inside
To the bittersweet
Now you're on the phone
Booking stage after stage
Gotta make it pay
To keep your hands out of minimum wage
To take that second job would be defeat
Nine months left to make ends meet
The old apartment
Is gonna have to make do
Put the bikes in the basement
To make way for Winnie-the-Pooh
Another wrinkle in your Kerouac style
Welcomed with a smile
With a smile
13. Golden Time
The sunset on the lake toward Wisconsin
Is heaven's kiss goodnight
And all the world is clear and bright and new
At the touch of the light
It's magic for a quarter hour
A hint of the divine
Take these moments gratefully, hold them dear
It's Golden Time
Everywhere she goes she can see him there
Everywhere he goes he can find her
Every word of love is a kind of prayer
And each breath of life together
Is Golden Time
He sees it in the grace of her motion
Such a bountiful surprise
She sees it in the laughter that always greets her
In the flash of his eyes
Sunsets fade away into memory
They dazzle and they're gone
But for those who light their own way
with faith and love
The Golden Time goes on
14. Transistor Radio
Many years ago
Maybe a hundred, I wouldn't know
My Dad was a boy living by the sea
Sleeping in a room with no TV
Always planning plans
Sharp as a tack and good with his hands
He built it himself and when the lights were low
He'd play that old transistor radio
When the night falls turn the dial
A little baseball for awhile
Dialing in the Sox
Just like a safecracker tumbling locks
Takes a delicate touch shared by thieves and boys
Who need to tune in gold over background noise
The static of the stars
Whistle of Venus, the whisper of Mars
That crackle and hum never twice the same
Sliding in and stealing seconds out of every game
Fifty-seven stations
Stereo power amplification
It's louder than life, but it doesn't stand a show
Against my Dad's transistor radio
Against my Dad's transistor radio
Maine singer/songwriter Jud Caswell has got a keen eye for detail, a head full of far-away, and a heart full of home. In 2006 he burst on the national scene, winning the legendary Kerrville New Folk competition. His songs have been taught at Berklee, recorded by Judy Collins, and named “#4 Song of the Decade” by New York’s WFUV. Jud left the road to raise a family where his own roots go deep. He draws inspiration from the land like Mary Oliver, pushing gently into the specific until it unfolds into the universal. He paints his landscapes like Wyeth, with a reverence for humble beauty. And with a voice fresh as water over granite and soft as a pine needle bed, he wields his instruments with the matter-of fact deftness of an old woodsman with an axe.
"...one of the leading singer-songwriters on the current scene... highly original (and) wise beyond his years. Caswell sings with charming warmth. By the end of the CD you want to know this man." -Rich Warren - Sing Out!
“Jud Caswell is much more than a great singer and guitar player, Jud's songs take you into the storyteller's world with clear images and characters that come to life for the listener.” - David Wilcox
“Caswell's fluent, warm, honey-like melodies and his undoubted skill with his six-string both constitute aural delights... Jud Caswell is a rare and eloquent song poet who truly deserves your time and your God-given listening apparatus... 9 out of 10” - Arthur Wood - FolkWax
“Jud is a marvelous writer. He astonished me at Kerrville with a perfect song, 'Blackberry Time.' I use it as an example in my Berklee lyric writing classes.” - Pat Pattison
“Clever, well-groomed lyrics, percussive guitar playing and a powerful yet tender voice... reminded me of Ellis Paul in intensely personal songs that offer slices of life and lovely imagery…” - Dirty Linen
“Take a little bit of Paul Simon, mix it with James Taylor, Bob Dylan and Shawn Colvin, and you’ve got Jud Caswell…Caswell’s lyrics have soul… this is music you will listen to over and over again.” - Port City Life
“Jud Caswell captures the American experience through carefully crafted songs while instantly setting a tone of "we're all friends here" with his audiences. He is truly a new songwriter to be treasured.” - Scott Hayward - Tupelo Music Hall
“I sat there, warm cup of tea in hand, watching the flame on my candle flicker and listened to his soothing voice and guitar telling stories of life... Jud's stories are our stories. And sitting there, I was connected with this room full of humans who were moved by our common experience. Jud’s quiet, rich voice held us suspended. I filled up on chocolate desserts and listened to his 17 years of songwriting experience tell my life.” - Jackie Kelley - South Shore Express
“Jud Caswell is an enormously talented lyricist, composer, performer, and producer. It's only a matter of time before he's discovered by the rest of the world; you should discover him now.” - Mainetoday.com
In the past, Jud has performed at:
Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, TX
The Bluebird, Nashville, TN
Sisters Folk Festival, Sisters, OR
South Florida Folk Festival, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Wildflower! Arts and Music Festival, Richardson, TX
Suwannee Springfest, Live Oak, FL
New Bedford Summerfest, New Bedford, MA
Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
Tupelo Hall, Londonderry, NH
Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
Suwannee Springfest, Live Oak, FL
Boston Folk Festival, Boston, MA