photo: Jenny Henderson

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hope's cafe - about the songs   ORDER NOW!

HOPE'S CAFE (the whole song)
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"It starts out as a simple story, small like a grain of sand, and transforms into a sort of world prayer. I have always loved those kind of songs. It was one of those freezing cold, dead of winter days. I was sad, and thinking about a lot of things in the world that I wished were different. I sat by the wood stove, picked up the guitar... and there was 'Hope.'"

BETTER OFF GONE
"Coming together, drifting apart... We all know a little about that. There are the sad songs. Then there's this one. Might be the way Roger Miller would have said it-walking down the road with a half a grin, whistling."

HARD TO SAY GOODBYE "You always wish you knew exactly what to say to make someone who's hurting feel better, but sometimes all you can do is be there and say, 'yeah, it does hurt'"

MORE THAN SHE TAKES "I've been a guitar-playing fool most of my life, and loved it! After this phat groove was laid down by drummer Rick Leab, I called up another guitar-playing fool (Jim Pitoniak). We had a ball with it."

WHAT I DID THEN (30 sec. excerpt)
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"It's another true story. I still think of her from time to time - like when I smell the summer field, or the moon is hanging just right. Young blood is fierce and flaming... It was great!"

SOMEONE TO HOLD (30 sec.excerpt)
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"There are so many different ways for a song to say 'lonely.' I laugh at this one when the chorus comes. It jumps up on the kitchen table and yells at the top of its lungs, 'where's my lover.'"

THIS OL' PONY "I had a rocking horse when I was a kid - I loved that thing. I even had a holster, boots, and a cool hat. Later in life I traveled to Argentina, and we rode deep into the Andes. And out of all the horses I could have been on, mine was named 'Pony.' I still ride today, but I'll never match the miles I traveled as a small boy in our living room on my very first 'pony.'"

THE CALL OF THE WILD "It's a wonder we lived through all that... fast cars, loud music, and countless other things not disclosed. There's no going back (and it's a damn good thing). But sometimes..."

WHERE THE FLOWERS DON'T GROW "It was spring. I was planting the garden. It's never less of a miracle to me what one little seed can do. Suddenly, as I knelt in that fertile ground, the line that runs through all human hearts became the same as my row of seeds. I walked into the farmhouse, and with the dirt still under my fingernails, wrote this tribute to the down and out."

FINALLY COMIN' HOME( the whole song )
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"I was suspicious of this song for a long time because it took about as long to write as it does to sing it. After putting my suspicions to rest, all I could say was, 'That's so cool.'"

LOVE WILL DO THE REST FOR YOU (30 sec.excerpt)
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