Information/Write-up
Tufts, a veteran folk artist and respected session musician, finds ample expression for his multi-instrumental and songwriting capabilities on his fifth solo release. A smooth, warm voice, expert handling of guitar, dobro, and 5-string banjo, and a welcoming, investigative aesthetic blend into classic songs of family, memory, love, and the mystery of life. Eight originals and two covers (including John Martyn's "Sweet Little Mystery") range from wistful to upbeat, bespeaking this Singer-songwriter's craft. Tufts is also a champion eco-warrior, and makes a plea in him liner notes to "stop Environment Canada and the Ministry of Natural Resources [Canada] from cutting down our forests and exporting our water." He further suggests that listeners "refuse unrecycled material," a brave - and appropriate - stance in today's paper-packaged and printed market. So here's to Tufts, and to excellent, thoughtful substance.
-MTB, Napra
Call me an American chauvinist, but "country" has always called to mind "Nashville" or "Austin" - not "Ottawa." Now Walk On from Terry Tufts has changed mind. In a dreamy ramble through 10 originals and covers, Tufts proves that his roots go as deep as those of all the Hanks and Dollys on this side of the U.S./Canadian border. He displays a wry, Nashville-ready wit with lyrics like "You got a habit of bein' so sweet…the best kind of woman any man could wanna meet…hope nobody knows this but me." Canada's national treasure Willie P. Bennett wails away on mouth harp and joins Peter von Althen on drums, Ken Kanwisher on Bass, and a cast of seemingly thousands to keep the uptempo "Look To Yourself For Heaven" chuggin and "Swing Her About" swinging. Every so often, Tufts and company dip into the deeper pool from which all good country music is made, with meditations on death and eternity like the haunting "In the Eleventh Hour" and the homage to his father, Floyd, on "My Father Would Say." The covers include John Martyn's "Sweet Little Mystery" and a suitably corny "Deep Purple."
PMW, Dirty Linen
Photographers: Terry Tufts; Ian Tamblyn; Sophie Hogan; Ian Carter; Rose Bolton; Paul Latour; Kathryn Briggs.
Personnel: Terry Tufts (vocals, acoustic guitar, dobro, banjo); Fred Guignon (electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, lap steel guitar); Dan Whiteley (mandolin); Marion Linton (violin); Willie P. Bennett (harmonica, Jew's harp); Ian Tamblyn (keyboards); Ken Kanwisher (bass instrument); Peter Von Althen (drums, percussion).
Liner Note Author: Terry Tufts.
Many Miles Away From You
“The way Ian recorded this puts a ragged street band in my mind, a parade of sorts, coming towards you up over a hill and then disappearing passed me over the next one.”
Woke up from another memory
Had to treat it like an enemy
Only way to keep some sanity
Only way to carry on
Took a healthy share of cold abuse
Had enough of that and that’s the truth
Tried to reason, hey, but what’s the use
Better off to walk away
Walk on.
Whole affair was just a crying sham
Shoulder up the loss and share the blame
Let her fly and shoot her down in flames
Turn around and head for home
Best dispense with the amenities
Common sense the only remedy
Walk an hour out the Kennedy
Turn around and head for home
Walk on.
Another year about to pass you by
Duck your head and take it on the fly
I’ll be sailin’ through an empty sky
And many miles away from you.
Don’t you feel a fool for movin’ slow
As time goes on, who’s really gonna know?
I’ll be walkin’ down an open road
And many miles away from you
Walk on.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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Hope Nobody Know This But Me
“Hormones On Parade.”
I can't keep no secrets 'cause I don't tell no lies
Hope nobody knows this but me
I plain up and lose my breath when you walk by.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
And I swear, I just about lose my feet,
Can't find my voice and my heart skips a beat,
Add a big goofy grin, now your picture's complete.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
CHORUS
You got a habit of bein' so sweet.
You're an eyeful, for sure.
Got ev'rybody beat.
You'd be the best kind of woman
Any man could wanna meet.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
You catch wind of this one and I know you're gonna laugh
Hope nobody knows this but me
'Be worth it just to hear the sound of that.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
Oh yeah, if it's ever revealed
What you do to me and the way that I feel...
You could charm the arm right off the chesterfield.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
CHORUS
You got a habit of bein' so sweet.
You're an eyeful, for sure.
Got ev'rybody beat.
You'd be the best kind of woman
Any man could wanna meet.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
SOLO
Oh yeah, just as sweet as you please
You brought a proud man right down on his knees.
You found the cure for the big fool's disease.
Hope nobody knows this but me.
CHORUS
How be we build us both a mem'ry or two?
Take a walk of the water, anything that you wanna do.
You pretty much set the standard,
Bet the farm that you wrote the rules.
Hope nobody knows this but me
You got a habit of bein' so sweet.
You're an eyeful, for sure.
Got ev'rybody beat
You'd be the best kind of woman
Any man could wanna meet. .
Hope nobody knows this but me.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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Look To Yourself For Heaven
“I fell asleep in an airport during a layover due to a blizzard while trying to get North. In this dream I had an argument about the cause and effect of religion with Yushua Bar Yusef.”
In a dream I went walking with the Christ at my side
And he did offer up himself as one in whom I could confide
And it all seemed fairly awkward
And gave me cause to hesitate
When I told how disappointed I’d become with things of late
I raged and rambled for hours tearin’ holes in all His laws
Hopin’ He might give a reason back or even a just cause.
All for glory and power, all for coin and ego too.
We been all down in the trenches.
Tell me Lordy where were you?
And when he tried to offer comfort
I got callused and confused.
I just saw red. I shook my head and I gave back my abuse:
CHORUS
Look to yourself for your Heaven.
It’s here on Earth that we will learn.
He put his hand down on my shoulder
And He gave me back my due.
Said: “I only raised the questions, boy, the rest was up to you.
I never planned to be a cure-all, only plant a couple seeds.
It was Me that had the notion. It was you that had the need.”
‘N then I thought of all His suffering
And all the blood He’d shed
And as He slipped back into the ether,
He turned to me and smiled and said:
CHORUS
Look to yourself for your Heaven.
It’s here on Earth that we will learn.
Look to yourself for your Heaven.
It’s here on Earth that we will learn.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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In The Arms Of Margaret Ann
“Same old same old.”
Oh Margaret how you shook me,
How you took me by surprise
When you turned down all the lights
And then you opened up my eyes,
Left me lying with a longing that I've yet to understand.
Tell me now, how will I ever love again?
I call your mem'ry here before me
To stand accordingly accused
Of senseless acts of random kindness
And of leaving me confused.
Were the words I used too open?
Did the words get in the way?
Oh Margaret, tell me what drove you away?
CHORUS
And it's oh but for the grace of love and roses,
Oh but for the sound of a loving word,
Oh but for the warmth of her in the morning,
I'd be a happier man I'm sure
For now the heart no longer beats inside
The hole here in my chest
And empty mem'ries live where love no longer can
And I will likely not find peace and my soul will take no rest
'Til I'm lyin' back inside the arms of Margaret Ann
Got a lump down in my throat that sits just like a bitter pill.
Got a hole here in my chest I know I'm never gonna fill.
Got me stumblin' where I'm standin',
Half a man with half a mind.
Oh Margaret you have gone and left me blind.
CHORUS
And it's oh but for the grace of love and roses,
Oh but for the sound of a loving word,
Oh but for the warmth of her in the morning,
I'd be a happier man I'm sure
For now the heart no longer beats inside
The hole here in my chest
And empty mem'ries live where love no longer can
And I will likely not find peace and my soul will take no rest
'Til I'm lyin' back inside the arms of Margaret Ann
'Til I'm lyin' back inside the arms of Margaret Ann
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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In The Eleventh Hour
“I think this is about dying and going back to the Earth. This is a greater aspiration for me than anything a paper Heaven could offer."
In the eleventh hour in the dark of night
I will fear no god made of wrath and might,
No paper god made of written word,
No magic myth in the stories I've heard.
CHORUS
Just wanna wrap myself so warm and deep
In the grace of the one I love and sleep
In the hands of the earth so green and blue,
And lie with the one I love so true.
In the eleventh hour before day's end,
Don't wanna worry, don't wanna depend
On the price of a dollar or the weight of a debt
Or the start of a day that ain't started yet.
CHORUS
Lie back and dream s'all I wanna do
And rest with the one I love so true.
Far from the noise of the telephone's scream
And lie with the one I love and dream.
In the eleventh hour as my eyelids fall
Don't wanna try to make sense of it all.
Don't wanna take the blame, don't wanna be concerned.
Don't wanna have to apply all the things I've learned.
Just wanna close my eyes and float down stream
And drift with the one I love and dream
'Bout the life and love I long to keep
At peace with the one I love and sleep.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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One
“This is for my wife Kathryn, a fine pianist and composer who has a wonderful sense of humour..thank goodness.”
If anybody ever tried to say
How lovin’ you was gonna be this way
I’m pretty sure I might’ve called ‘em crazy,
Put up a fight and won.
It’s like the boulevard on Sunday night,
Slow and steady through the traffic lights,
Glowin’ green, not a red in sight
And straight on outta town.
Funny thing ‘bout you ‘n me (is we’re a)
Mathematical mystery.
No need to argue or to prove to me
That one and one make one.
Chorus
I wanna hold you like the valley, I wanna cool you like the river,
I wanna soothe you like the forest, I wanna love you ‘til forever,
I wanna shade you like the mountain, I wanna warm you like the sun,
I wanna light you up like starfire. I do believe you are the one.
You are the one.
If anybody’d ever need to know
What it is that makes me love you so
I’d scuff a boot and tell ‘em “I don’t know.
Feels kinda right somehow.”
We got it good more ways than I can count,
Good fittin’ boots ‘n rigs ‘n saddle mounts.
Ain't been a better time I can recount.
It’s good to know that now.
Bless the weather, babe, and bless the day
I got the chance to kinda step away,
Have a look at all your words ‘n ways,
How one and one make one.
This kind of lovin’s got a special style,
An open hand and an easy smile,
Gets up early and it goes for miles
Then cuts a bee line home.
Chorus
I wanna hold you like the valley, I wanna cool you like the river,
I wanna soothe you like the forest, I wanna love you ‘til forever,
I wanna shade you like the mountain, I wanna warm you like the sun,
I wanna light you up like starfire. I do believe you are the one.
You are the one.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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Swing Her About
“A friend pitched this to a country radio station before the album was released to see if it would fly. They felt it would alienate the country audience because it was about sailing as opposed to, say, horse racing?. I stand amazed.”
Flag in the water. Flag in the water
That kind of movin’ don’t get much hotter
Leadin’ me on like a lamb to the slaughter
Down by the helm and takin’ on water
Wound up tight. Set to spin
Talkin’ ‘bout the mess I’m in
God bless the weather, God bless the wind
Swing her about. Do it again.
CHORUS
I’m gonna chase up the captain’s daughter
I got a toe rail down in the water
I’m gonna follow up wind ‘til I caught her
Swing her about. Swing her about.
Damn the notion. Damn the luck.
Saw her comin’ but I just forgot to duck
Down goes the boom. Out go the lights.
Down for the count. In for the night.
Woke up wearin’ tell-tail signs
Sheets in tatters and tangled lines
Ain’t felt like this since I don’t know when.
Swing her about, boy. Do it again friend.
REPEAT CHORUS
BRIDGE
Set her course by God, by guess.
Took me on board, I was impressed
Heaven only knows what’s best
SOS I must confess, yes.
Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and gasoline
Runnin’ on adrenaline. Fastest one that’s ever been.
Spinnaker a-passin’ her just askin’ fer a massacre.
Swagger like a buccaneer just addin’ to the atmosphere
Flee the pack through the cracks. Steerin’ like a maniac
Beat it back to the shack, Jack, after the next tack.
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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My Father Would Say
“About the smartest person I ever met.”
Every day’s an endless chase in the search of a simpler lie
Slow rage for the short wage
As the dreams people dream fade and die
And I’m ill at ease and still so hard to please
N’ long ago I just stopped asking why.
After so many turns of the wheel I’m still learning
N’ so afraid I’ll get left high and dry.
My father would say
“Who do you think you are?”
My father would say
“With an outlook like that you won’t get too far.”
And of the few things on Earth of value and worth
I’ll still have at the end of the day
There’s the mem’ries I’ll sleep with and things
My father would say
The home we built’s a fine quilt with patterns of simple design
Close weaves, true beliefs,
Water on the boil, laundry on the line
And time and again when my patience is spent
Keeping up with outrageous demand
I can still feel him standin’ with a strong guiding hand and
Telling me “Do the best that you can.”
My Father Would Say
“Slow down and take your time.”
My father would say
“Take a good look around and enjoy the climb.”
And of the few things on Earth of value and worth
I’ll still have at the end of the day
There’s the mem’ries I’ll sleep with and things
My father would say
In the years gone since he passed on, shipping out and sailing away
I’m still met with such regret
For things not asked, what I could not say
Tonight there’s a chill moving South through the hills
And the Hunter’s Moon shines up above
I got a head full of music and a heart full of mem’ries
Weavin’ ‘round me that speak of his love.
My Father Would Say
“You knew that all along.”
My father would say
“Deep within your heart, deep within your song.”
And of the few things on Earth of value and worth
I’ll still have at the end of the day
There’s the mem’ries I’ll sleep with and things
My father would say
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W.T. Tufts
Little Engine Music
SOCAN
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