Tanglewood Tree, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, Cottonwood Art Festival, 2000

(check out twoodburn's channel for more Dave & Tracy)

If you like what you hear, I encourage you to check out Tracy's solo work, which is superlative, along with the four amazing albums recorded by this remarkable duo:

WHEN I GO (1998)
TANGLEWOOD TREE (2000)
DRUM HAT BUDDHA (2001)
SEVEN IS THE NUMBER (2006). Note: This is essentially the duo's re-recording of Dave's debut album SNAKE-HANDLIN' MAN (1995), which Dave released before he met Tracy. I believe they were working on this at the time of Dave's death, with all tracks recorded, and the collection was subsequently mixed and mastered over the intervening three or four years following Dave's passing. It's a gem of an album (as is Dave's debut, which is, sadly, out of print).

Please visit TracyGrammer dot com for more information. (I'm not affiliated with her in any way. Just a huge fan.)

love is a tanglewood tree in a bower of green
in a forest at dawn
fair while the mockingbird sings, but she soon lifts her wings
and the music is gone
young lovers in the tall grass with their hearts open wide
when the red summer poppies bloom
but love is a trackless domain and the rumor of rain in the late afternoon

love is an old root that creeps through the meadows of sleep
when the long shadows cast
thin as a vagrant young vine, it encircles and twines
and it holds the heart fast
catches dreamers in the wildwood with the stars in their eyes
and the moon in their tousled hair
but love is a light in the sky, and an unspoken lie
and a half-whispered prayer

i'm walkin' down a bone-dry river but the cool mirage runs true
i'm bankin' on the fables of the far, far better things we do
i'm livin' for the day of reck'nin countin' down the hours
i yearn away, i burn away, i turn away the fairest flower of love, 'cause darlin . . .

love is a garden of thorns, and a crow in the corn
and the brake growing wild
cold when the summer is spent in the jade heart's lament
for the faith of a child
my body has a number and my face has a name
and each day looks the same to me
but love is a voice on the wind, and the wages of sin
and a tanglewood tree

love's garden of thorns, how it grows
black crow in the corn hummin' low
brake nettle so pretty and wild
and thistles surround the edge of the
dim dark hour as the sun moves away
lamenting a lost summer day
who nurtures the faith of a child
when nothing remains to cover her eyes?

my body has a number, maybe my face has a name
each hour like each hour before
this longing is a voice on the wind
she cultivates the wages of sin
in a tanglewood tree

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Dave
• Carter
• Tracy
• Grammer
• Tanglewood
• Tree
• live
• texas
• folk
• 2000
• cottonwood
• art
• festival

[toddstark]

Delightful. Thanks for posting this.

[Babyblue177]

Thanks a lot!

[lindalouandmichael]

Wow! What a treat!

[soixantepeach]

it's so cool to see some new old footage of dave and tracy here on you tube!