Shadow of the Pine

Intro - 0:00
(Sole dreadnought acoustic guitar picking a slow, low-end pattern, joined after four bars by a low upright bass rumble and soft wooden percussion pulse)
​[Verse 1 - 0:25]
There’s a silence in the timber
When the evening starts to fall
And the cold wind through the timber
Seems to answer every call
I have walked these shaded bottoms
Where the moss begins to hang
Listening closely to the stories
That the old-timers sang.
​[Verse 2 - 0:55]
Took a path across the bottom
Where the river cuts the clay
Left the noise of distant highways
For the end of every day
With a pocket full of memories
And a coat worn thin and dark
Every mile leaves a footprint
Every winter leaves a mark.
​[Chorus - 1:25]
(Upright bass thickens, low clawhammer banjo joins under the acoustic stride)
And the shadow of the pine
Stretches out across the land
Holding time within its roots
Like the sand inside your hand
Let the world keep on turning
Let the rivers run wide
I will stand here in the silence
With the night by my side.
​[Instrumental Interlude - 1:55]
(Fast clawhammer banjo roll interlaced with twin fiddles staying in the mid-register over steady 4/4 upright bass beat—8 bars, 88 BPM tempo push)
​[Verse 3 - 2:20]
(Tempo settles back to 74 BPM; instrumentation drops back down to solo acoustic and deep vocal)
There are miles behind my stepping
There are songs still left to sing
Not bound to any shadow
Nor the fortune of a king
Just the truth of simple timber
And the clearing up ahead
Where the story meets the quiet
And the final words are said.
​[Chorus - 2:50]
(Full ensemble swell; deep, rich baritone lead with subtle low-octave harmony)
And the shadow of the pine
Stretches out across the land
Holding time within its roots
Like the sand inside your hand
Let the world keep on turning
Let the rivers run wide
I will stand here in the silence
With the night by my side.
​[Outro - 3:20]
(Acoustic guitar pattern slows to an alternating thumb-pick, slide guitar softly fades)
With the night by my side...
Just the timber and the timber...
(Final low D acoustic chord let ring out to complete silence at 3:55)