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Downhauler

by Marc Douglas Berardo

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1.
Ruby 03:22
It's been a while since we last talked Last time I saw you our world was in flames we were dancing on the edge of darkness kicking down doors and taking names Ruby, I know your soul is battered But giving up now is a big mistake There’s a second chance lurking around every corner And a beautiful morning about to break Look at that sunrise over yonder Look at all that hope hanging in the sky Look at all that road laid out before you another day has come and you find yourself alive so Come on Ruby walk with me in this light I can see that you've been stumbling drifting around searching for grace But some of that drifting is taking it's toll I can see it in your face You can wallow in 10 years of troubles hide away expecting doom But you are going to have to get yourself up tomorrow and get out of this room bridge weaving around like a whiskey dancer under the cover of the night but darkness has got to give With the coming of this morning light Look at that sunrise over yonder Look at all that hope hanging in the sky Look at all that road laid out before you the night has passed and you’ve survived so Come on Ruby walk with me in this light
2.
Neal got out in 96 Worked the Michigan plants on the straight, married Jenny, lived in the sticks Just getting by the best they can keeping a few steps ahead of where they began At night, Neal goes out to have a smoke out in the tiny yard under the giant oak He takes a deep breadth and closes his eyes And sighs He prays: Give me something, give me something that I can feel Give me something real Neal says: “Jenny everyday when I walk out the door I loose track of what it is I’m walking out the door for When I punch my card I want to punch the wall But I know that punch won’t do nothing at all You see darling there is a dark fear in my heart sometimes and voices in my head that I can’t trust Maybe we can feel something real in starting over leaving this whole town in the dust At night I trace my finger on a map from Cape Ann to Bimini from Santa Cruz to Hampton Bay Close my eyes and drop my finger down on any dot along the way and I say Give me something Give me something that I can feel Give me something real Jenny says: “ Maybe something real is what you already know whether you stay Neal or whether you go Maybe something real is wherever we call home and if you let me in maybe I can make you feel less alone sure life gets hard and it’s not always fair and there is injustice and bullshit everywhere but inside of us there is valley with a river bountiful and true and if you let me in Neal I will be waiting there for you to make you feel something Something beautiful and true Feel something shiny and new My love won’t let you down Like this oak tree here I am planted on solid ground and I am here to stay Now Neal’s eyes were locked up in a stare looking at Jenny and the late day sun dancing on her hair For a moment he felt a welling up inside but he choked it back and let it slide And as he turned to walk into the house he turned around and said: “Jenny when you are standing right in front of me There is nowhere else in the world I need to be” Then he smiled and walked inside And Jenny leaned on the giant oak tree said a silent prayer Took a deep breadth Closed her eyes And sighed
3.
Sixteen years of long lining swordfish that is my job The rest of my life I’m only wandering on the dry land in a fog When I’m home I’m only sitting outside parked out in the drive Knocking back a six back working on a shotgun high I’m going to that place again I’m going away Little bit of liquor bottom of the deep end I’m gonna stay At the bottom of the bottle bottom of the deep Leave me here to wallow leave me here to sleep Up on land I’m no damn good I would be a better man if I could So don’t wake me, let me be Until it’s time to go back to sea When I am home with my wife its fight after a fight Talk about money and scream all night Then I look to the door and I’m ready to bail out feels like I’m breaking out of the jail Sipping whiskey at the wheelhouse at the end of every day Living in my mind and wasting away Bottom of the bottle bottom of the deep Leave me here to wallow leave me here to sleep Here on land I’m no damn good I would be a better man if I could So don’t wake me let me be Until It’s time to go back to sea Well, I’m never going quit the fishing, fishing is all I know Like my father’s father before me when you get the call you got to go I know I’ll never quit the drinking I don’t think I ever will find enough whiskey to fill That hole down deep where the water is cold Bottom of the ocean bottom of the deep Pray to the lord my soul to keep Here on land I’m no damn good I would be a better man if I could
4.
The Beachhead Lounge was closing down The bottles were stacking up, the day was done Smoke Gun Jack stood up and walked out of the bar Lit up a smoke like a an old time movie star Leaning on his hands staring at the sand the color of gold Smoke Gun Jack was feeling old Sixty years of living makes it harder to bend Tired bones need time to mend CH/ Now he man is alone in his mind Where daydreaming is free and so is sunshine -So these days Jack daydreams all the time Got the handle Smoke Gun When he ran the Cuban Gold He brought it in and the money just rolled The very last Captain at the pirate dance Back when the game was still adventure and romance With his sweet lady Chloe always by his side it was good to be alive But the wildlife is known to pass a few bad checks And Jack cashed his when his Chloe died in a boat wreck Ch bridge When Waves would roll out and reach the distant shore Sometimes I would walk old jack home and let him sleep it off on my floor We never did say much we just let it be It was just me and smokegun and the quiet sea Smoke gun Jack fingers the glass of Patron. It’s 5 o’clock and He is home Staring out into the Matanzas Bay Letting the warm winds blow him away Smoke gun is gone again
5.
Cuba 1953 04:24
6.
Havana 04:01
These faded pictures of those colorless streets Only make me want to go down Why I feel the need is a mystery to me But I know I need to walk upon that ground I need to walk upon that ground I have never known poverty I have always lived in luxury I do not know what real freedom is Because I have always been free I have always been free Havana Havana I hear you are calling out to me Havana I hear you calling out to me My father walked those streets in 1954 As a young man in the Marine Corps The locals there all called him “The Hurricane” He blew through town like a driving rain He blew through Havana like a driving rain He told me stories that only filled my head and showed me pictures that only led me to this feeling that I need to chase All of the ghosts of that ancient place Havana Havana I hear you are calling out to me Havana I hear you calling out to me So take me to your impenetrable town And let me have my look around To bring back something real And something true Ohh Havana just a little piece of you Ohh Havana maybe just a piece of you
7.
Better Days 03:33
There is a thousand ways to get yourself lost There is a million ways to find bad luck Some days there is no mercy for the weary The best-laid plans only leave you stuck There is a light out on the horizon There is refuge the end of the day Where the wayward and wild are not forgotten And the 4 winds will blow your troubles away CH STOP! Head homeward through the haze There you will find better days Out beyond pain and fear and misery There are better ways in the land of dreams and second chances Where salvation is found You must surrender and lay your troubles down And when you’re ready You will be standing on solid ground Katie took her first hit back in Tulsa And it rattled that woman to her core So she chased that dragon to the end of the earth Until she couldn’t chase that beast no more Last night under the Florida stars As the shuttle left Canaveral for the deep Katie dropped that pipe in the sand And stood up on her own two feet There is a mystic imagined river Some have sung about a glory train That will carry the beaten the trouble sinner Rolling thunder out of the pouring rain
8.
Time To Go 04:07
My name is Colton. I am an overland driver Rolling while the world rolls by Loosing a little more tread with every ride Lost in thoughts of my wife back home Three kids and a yard Never thought that living the easy life Was going to be this hard I’m counting off these last 100 miles That will take me home tonight until I see that familiar door And that shining front porch light And as I lay me down to rest I will dream of watching my children grow and dancing Annie across the floor Before it’s time for me to go You don’t realize how fast time moves When you’re always moving down the line You look up and half your life is gone And you’ve left only ghosts behind But there is fragile beauty In every dream in the swirling colors and faces of the actors in those movie scenes
9.
Lonely Town 04:27
Out on the river the Pawcatuck River Another day ignites Working boat slowly moving out to the ocean in the gray morning light Billy works third shift and passes this way on his way home from the brewery As he stares across the water he thinks back to the time that he used to feel free Chorus It’s morning in lonely town here in this in lonely town You stare out without a sound every morning in lonely town Feels like there’s no one around in this lonely town DCG Billy got married to his lady Ramona in 1971 They used to run wild until they had their first child And life’s pressure put them under the gun Bills were mounting times they were rough’ Instead of the heart of the matter they fought about little stuff So they took to their corners and started to let in the silence Chorus They were living in lonely town together in lonely town Bringing each other down in the quiet of lonely town Not enough love going around here in this lonely town DCG
10.
11.
Ruby Reprise 00:46
12.
The afternoon of the storm I stood on sunset hill Looking through the pouring rain as the Great Salt Pond was filled BEYOND the point the sea was wild And the gulls were diving down Into the churning spray Of the block island Sound Michael was from an island family Lived here most his life I met him in the hotel national We talked into the night But just before twi-light faded As we watched the storm return to sea He stopped to collect his thoughts This is what he said to me’ Ch “The more you live the more you learn Winds will always blow and tides will turn But we are only temporary and like this storm We are only passing through” Michael had a wife and two children Ran charter boats from salt bay After sixty years of making plans He is living for today He said: “With the storms come the changes This rock is only shifting sand When I was a boy that shallow harbor Used to be dry land Br Waves will beat the shore Wind will blow Time will erase all footprints When we go the world will keep turning on and on the world will keep turn on the sun when we are gone Michael said Memories are photographs in black and in white the shape of the world is what you know until another storm ignites Ferry boats will keep arriving The people here will come and go And from my point of view on the stool That is all you really need to know Ch “Changes that come when the storm does blow it is the maker’s way to let you know We are only temporary …temporary We are only passing through”
13.
Show me something beautiful Show me something fine Show me a place were I can rest my mind Take me where only angels have left their traces Take me only to the quiet place I have run ragged out there I have run wild I have run the highway mile after mile after mile To your boxed in cities and your flatland towns Through the endless rumble, rattle and shotgun sounds Roll me to the river Take me to the water rock me on the sea Take me to the quiet place inside of me Give me peace, comfort and your silent company Show me only the quiet places I am wasted, I am spent I am burned out broken up and bent That highway music is only static in my head And tonight I have lost the heart for it, tonight I’ve lost the thread
14.

about

Downhauler: One of ten: Favorite New Releases for 2012-XM/Sirius Radio-The Village with host Mary Sue Twohy.

"Downhauler just blew me away. What a great collection of songs!"-John Platt-Host of Sunday Breakfast, WFUV FM, NY.

"Downhauler's sound has an affinity with the Californian folk-rock of the 1970's. The CD targets a mature audience.Narrative simplicity in the best sense of the word.-Johnny's Garden Magazine, Netherlands-Rein van den Berg
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The Horizon Music Group is proud to announce the February 2011 release of Downhauler, the new album from songwriter and keen observer Marc Douglas Berardo. This new collection of songs continues Marc’s collaboration with long time producer Prof. Dick Neal (Hoe,The Mockingbirds). The CD features performances from among others: Nashville multi instrumentalist Liam Bailey (Bill Frisell, Rodney Atkins), the signature harmonies of Brother Chris Berardo (Chris Berardo and The DesBerardos), Violinist Larry Deming (Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, James Taylor) and Americana Music sensations
RED MOLLY on the soulful ballad “Quiet Places.”

Regarding the new CD, Marc says: “All of the lyrics on Downhauler are, in some way, about searching for home, the possibility of renewal and the promise of adventure. I began to write this particular set of tunes over a few days while staying in the Castillo Real Hotel in St Augustine, Florida. The Spanish influence of the old town and the hotel got me to thinking about exotic locations like Cuba and Bimini. I started looking at maps and picking other places to go. I definitely had some travel fever. The characters in the songs are all at some kind of crossroads or transition (Ruby, Smokegun Jack Daydreams, Something Real, Havana).They are contemplating about making a life somewhere else, lighting out for new places and rectifying where home was for them (Time to Go, Everything Will Be Alright). I made up a few more numbers up about some of the people that I have gotten to know in and around my own home base of Westerly, RI (Bottom of the Bottle, Passing Through, Lonely Town). After a while, they felt like they belonged together on a record. They felt connected.

Downhauler debuted @ #20 on the Folk DJ Radio Chart, April 2011

2011 Nominee "Best Vocalist"-Motif Magazine, Rhode Island.
2010- Finalist-Sisters Folk Festival-Sisters, OR
2010- Honorable Mention-Rocky Mt Folks Fest-Lyons,CO
2010- Honorable Mention-Telluride Troubadour Contest,CO

"Stunning, sharply drawn Americana song portraits."-Motif Magazine.
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"Berardo drops a gem with DOWNHAULER! He is back from his travels with a cargo hold full of treasure. Like Hemingway, he draws his characters with pithy phrases."-Roger Z-More Sugar Magazine.
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"Berardo sounds like a fishing town Bruce Springsteen."-Fairfield County Weekly.
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released February 22, 2011

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Marc Douglas Berardo Westerly, Rhode Island

Marc Douglas Berardo combines songs that mine lessons gleaned from real life situations presence that uses humor and storytelling to lead an audience into an almost spiritual experience. It’s brings to mind James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Guy Clark or Steely Dan with a hint of Mark Twain or Hunter S.Thompson. It’s a night of laughter and emotion that gives the audience a renewed sense of possibility. ... more

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