New Cut Road

(album: As Is - 1981)

Coalman Bonner was a fiddle playing fool.
He was a backwoods rounder and a breaker of mules.
Coalman Bonner's got a wor' out bow,
He been playing two days down a new cut road.

Now Coalman's little sister said 'you better act right,
Your Daddy's going to Louisville, He'll be back tonight.
He gonna get another wagon and a good pair of mules.
Oh, we gonna move to Texas, We just waiting on mules.

Now Coalman's Daddy, he pulled up in the yard
He said 'back up your lives kids, it's getting' too hard.
Kentucky's alright but there's too many people
Well, just the other day, I thought I saw a church steeple.

Now Coalman said 'Daddy don't you worry 'bout me,
I'm gonna stay here in Kentucky till the day I dee
I'm wanna drink that sour mash, I'm gonna raise that mare
Ya, I got me a woman with a foxy red hair

We all been moving west since the day he got married
I'm getting' off the wagon, I'm too old to be carried
I'm gonna stay in Kentucky where the blue grass grows
I'm gonna play it all night down a new cut road.

Now Coalman's Daddy said, "What's it all coming to,
Young people these days are just stubborn as mules."
He can't make um go, he's too old for that
It's that damned ol' fiddle and that bowler hat.

Now Coalman's Momma said, "Let the boy stay,
'Cause he's raised up solid, he can find his own way
But as for me, Honey, I'm with you
Well I always thought Kentucky was just passing through.

Coalman's little sister, she started in a cry
And her Daddy shook his head for the very last time
Coalman's Momma said, "Somebody gotta do it,
Wouldn't be no Kentucky, less you didn't stick to it, Coalman.

Coalman Bonner stood on the porch of that cabin
Watched um all go to Texas in a covered wagon
He pulled out his fiddle and he rosined up his bow
And he played a little tune down a new cut road...