Gravel Keeps Rolling

Spoken Intro
(Acoustic guitar chugging steadily)
I’ve walked down roads where the dirt was red and the water ran cold.
A man learns real quick that every mile has a cost... and every mistake has a name.
​[Verse 1]
I put on my coat when the morning was grey
Packed up my silence and headed away
Left a cold cup of coffee sitting on the stand
And three small silver coins in a dead preacher’s hand
The engine was humming a tune I once knew
About a girl down in Austin whose eyes were dark blue
I ain’t seen her since back in sixty-nine
Before I crossed over that state line.
​[Chorus]
And the gravel keeps rolling beneath my worn soles
Trying to fill up these iron-cast holes
Oh, the black dust will settle, the thunder will cry
As the train whistle blows and the shadows go by
Lord, forgive a poor sinner who’s running out of road.
​[Verse 2]
I stopped at a tavern off Highway Forty-Four
Counted five rusty nail holes right through the front door
The barkeeper looked up, didn't say a single word
Just poured out two fingers of the bitterest third
There was a card game in back, men with dust on their boots
Trading their hours for cheap whiskey and suits
I didn't join in, though I had gold to spare
'Cause the ghost of my father was sitting right there.
​[Chorus]
And the gravel keeps rolling beneath my worn soles
Trying to fill up these iron-cast holes
Oh, the black dust will settle, the thunder will cry
As the train whistle blows and the shadows go by
Lord, forgive a poor sinner who’s running out of road.
​[Guitar Solo / Instrumental Break]
(Boom-chicka-boom rhythm picks up, muted electric guitar licks)
​[Verse 3]
Now the sun's getting low and the shadows stretch long
And the pine trees are singing a lonesome old song
I ain't proud of the trouble, the fights, or the scars
Or the nights that I spent looking up through steel bars
But a man made of iron is bound to get rust
When he spends all his living years walking in dust.
​[Bridge]
I hear that low whistle ringing out far
Guiding the lost under one distant star
I’m dropping my burdens right here in the mud
'Cause redemption ain't cheap, it was bought with pure blood.
​[Chorus]
And the gravel keeps rolling beneath my worn soles
Trying to fill up these iron-cast holes
Oh, the black dust will settle, the thunder will cry
As the train whistle blows and the shadows go by
Lord, forgive a poor sinner who’s running out of road.
​[Outro - Spoken]
(Acoustic guitar fades down to a single steady strum)
Yeah... keep moving down the line.
Don't look back.
(Final low guitar strum)