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MIssissippi Stories, Vol. 2

by Highway 80 Stories

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1.
I Start Each Day With Coffee 03:16
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I start each day with coffee At night a double shot of rye In between I do my best To just get by A masterpiece is the sunrise The golden moon is poetry I love livin' in this cabin It's got everything I need Each day may seem the same But they're infinitely not Tiny ripples on the surface Reflect the hand of God The first days of October Crisp clean air of fall Kicking through a drift of leaves Friday night high school football I'll chop a little oak and ash For burning in my stove Hunt and fish in the evening Down in the cedar grove Each day may seem the same But they're infinitely not Tiny ripples on the surface Reflect the hand of God Some days I think of Lucy The memories are still fresh After these last seven years There's feelings I can't express I start each day with coffee At night a double shot of rye In between I do my best To just get by © 2022 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
2.
Vernon and Molly 03:43
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Vernon had his whiskey business And his V-8 coupe But he felt something was missing He wasn’t sure just what to do Wasn’t sure what to do There was a party at the river Vernon drove by real slow Molly was tall and slender He felt something inside let go Something inside let go Vernon was old enough to be her daddy Molly was wiser than her years She wanted more than what a small town could deliver Vernon was her ticket out of there Her ticket out of there Once a month he went to Memphis Delivering a load of shine He did okay with his whiskey business And showed Molly a real good time They had a real good time They were always seen together Then her belly began to show Vernon said let’s put it on paper She said I’m ready, let’s go I’m ready, let’s go Vernon was old enough to be her daddy Molly was wiser than her years She wanted more than what a small town could deliver Vernon was her ticket out of there Her ticket out of there Molly gave him three kids Two sons and a daughter She had plans beyond his Vernon never fought her He never fought her Molly took over the business Began selling pot and more Vernon stopped going to Memphis Spent his time down at the store Spent his time down at the store Vernon was old enough to be her daddy Molly was wiser than her years She wanted more than what a small town could deliver Vernon was her ticket out of there Her ticket out of there © 2019 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
3.
Molly On the Mountain 05:32
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Molly was at her cabin on the mountain Thinking ‘bout her life, and all she’d done A jelly glass of Vernon’s tobacco whiskey Sparkled in the late October sun She thought back to the day she married Vernon Raney Not yet 21, June of ‘58 Three months pregnant, walking down the aisle To a man more than twice her age Molly on the mountain, don’t wanna come down Molly on the mountain, don’t wanna be found Molly on the mountain, gonna leave it all behind Molly on the mountain, knows it’s time The cabin had a chill, she built a fire With the last of the wood Lonnie’d split Lonnie’s gone, his brother Ronnie too Molly blamed herself for all of it She’d grown harder through the years from that life Harder, than she could describe The pot and drugs, the men she fought, some she killed All she’d ever done was survive Molly on the mountain … Ginny was the one who turned out okay Molly sure loves those three grandkids She made sure to keep Ginny away from it all That’s one good thing that she did Lonnie’s Donald and Vern, went to East Mississippi Took off when things got hot in Vicksburg They’re selling pills and meth to the kids at Starkville That’s what they learned from her Molly on the mountain … Molly’s great grandma, Mamie, was a conjure woman She knew plants for curing or killing dead Mamie passed it down to Molly’s grandpa Motts That’s where Molly got it, was what they said Molly pressed the jelly glass against her cheek It was time to drink that whiskey down She looked into the woods, found that old maple tree Watched a yellow leaf drift to the ground Molly on the mountain … © 2019 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
4.
Nathaniel Knox Was An Ulster Man 03:39
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Nathaniel Knox was an Ulster man A staunch Presbyterian Sold his labor for a six week voyage With a wife and two small boys Traced his line to 1621 To his great-great-grandad Tristan They came to Ulster from County Galloway Nathaniel Knox sailed away It was a small thing that he took A list of names in a holy book Every Knox that’ll come along Will write more names of his own Nathaniel Knox went to Carolina Took his grandson Jeremiah Who was the first Knox American-born In seventeen seventy-four It was a small thing that he took A list of names in a holy book Every Knox that’ll come along Will write more names of his own It ain’t rained for six weeks now Jeremiah watched his fields turn brown One minute he’s cooking molasses from sugar cane Then everything he’s built goes up flames Matthew Knox was Jeremiah’s grandson He left Carolina for Meridian Mississippi soil is rich and dark Matthew Knox has an Ulster heart It was a small thing that he took A list of names in a holy book Every Knox that’ll come along Will write more names of his own © 2020 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
5.
Miss Lucy Keith 06:08
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I buried Lucy yesterday After thirty-two years together But I am getting ahead of myself I mean to tell you how I met her My name is Cowan Cooper Been a grifter my whole life I was making a pretty good living With cards and dice I come from Jackson, Mississippi Born in 1843 But I cared nothing about Preserving the Union or slavery While other boys fought and died I bought myself out of the war Dealt poker in a Vicksburg saloon And lived with a whore I met Lucy in 1885 By then the war was twenty years gone I was tired of the gambler’s life But it’s all I’d ever known Miss Lucy Keith was the talk of Vicksburg Her flashing green eyes and long red hair They said she can look right through you Made you feel like you weren’t even there I was intrigued by this young lady And would appear wherever she went Until one night I found myself At a camp meeting, under a tent Now I was raised up in the church But learned more songs in less sacred places There was a feeling in that tent A light radiated from all the faces I sat down next to Miss Lucy Keith She kindly indicated to me the hymn We shared a Sacred Harp Leaned in close and sang “Jerusalem” I can’t explain what came over me The singing mixed with Miss Lucy Keith’s perfume From the fragile scent of lilac I felt myself rising up in the room In the weeks after that night I was often seen with Miss Lucy Keith My former friends couldn’t understand And stared at me with disbelief I threw away my cards and dice Having no use anymore for them A wretch such as I had been saved When Lucy Keith and I sang “Jerusalem” So now you’ve heard my story And it’s all I have to tell I walked away that old hymn book Somewhere, it’s sitting on my shelf Those shaped notes may be old-fashioned I hope there’s still some power left in them Save your old Sacred Harps My life was changed when I sang “Jerusalem” © 2020 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
6.
Meridian 05:17
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Crawford Harper was in Starkville Mississippi State He’d be the first in the Harper family Who might graduate His Grandpa Willie lived in Meridian Crawford spent the summer, wanting to earn He’d heard about two fellas with a business That’s how Crawford met Donald and Vern The Raneys were from North Georgia Moonshiners back in the hills When they came down off that mountain They were selling pot and pills When Crawford met up with the Raneys Vern gave him a duffle bag full of meth Told him how much money to deliver Crawford could keep the rest One night Grandpa Willie found his stash Asked him, “where’d you get this money?” Crawford said, “don’t worry, old man, I got it working for somebody” Willie Harper had marched at Selma Five miles from the same plantation Where his ancestor had been a slave Going back six generations Willie asked, if that somebody Might be named Donald and Vern Crawford grabbed his duffel bag Told him, “it ain’t none of your concern” But see, Willie’d had a visit From the Raneys late one night Crawford owed them money That had to be made right Willie Harper was a welder Vern said, “you’re gonna have a partner” Willie looked at him with stone cold eyes Said, “only name on that sign is Harper” Under his welding gloves Willie kept his service forty-five He told Vern, “if you think I won’t use it, You’re in for a surprise” When Crawford came home, his grandpa told him “The Raneys won’t be ‘round no more” He took that duffel bag and torched it Into a pile of ashes on the floor Crawford Harper was back in Starkville Mississippi State He was the first in the Harper family To graduate © 2019 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
7.
Robert Dodge 04:15
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Robert was born on a plantation Charlie Dodge’s youngest son The Dodges lived in Albemarle Six generations before Charles A Dodge had fought with Washington That’s how their freedom was won Charles left Virginia for Mississip’ He’d heard there was cotton to pick Charles was good with his hands He set up a blacksmith stand Put his money in a crockery pot Saved enough to buy his own spot In the year nineteen-aught-one Robert wanted his own freedom He didn’t like plantation work Picking cotton made his hands hurt He got a guitar by trading his shoes Started making money playing blues He was known in all the juke joints From Clarksdale to Friars Point When he was living in Greenville Took up with a gal named Lit’l Lil Til her husband found them both in bed And he hit Lit’l Lil upside the head He came at Robert with a knife Robert ran for his life Shouting, “I don’t mean a thing to her I’m just a poor songster” He ran to Memphis on his bare feet Found a hoodoo shop on Beale Street A conjure woman sitting at a boiling pot Said her brew would bring him luck She gave him a bag made of jute Filled with graveyard clay and snakeroot Added some cat’s teeth and colored glass Would make him play his guitar fast He found his way to New Orleans His fingers flew across his guitar strings There was a train would take him North To Chicago and Detroit Robert was born on a plantation Charlie Dodge’s youngest son The Dodges lived in Albemarle Six generations before Charles © 2020 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
8.
Sons of Dixie 06:38
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By now they'd set up in Mi'sippy Charlotte and her sons Jack Patton was on a oil rig Off the coast of Galveston She named 'em for a mystic kin Shrouded in tales of glory Nathan, 'n' Bedford, 'n' Forrest The subject of this story Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed Oh, there was a sister, too But she don't figure in this tale Naw, Forrest is the where things went But tonight he's in a Vicksburg jail No need to wonder what he did Same as always: a still and shine His name may've been Patton But he's a Raney by design Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed Same silent stubborn look Same native competence Making money outside the law For a Raney just common sense He was marked 'n' carried with him A not so hidden indelible scar: Like all southerners, th' only Americans Who ever lost a war Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed Like every southern boy Forrest held In his sacred memory Th' hour before Pickett's charge When there was still a dream of victory His shoulder held a permanent chip An ancestral grudge against mankind Bound by an old fraternal feud His side the one maligned Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed He loved brawling, believed in God Feared the fire of hell Living outside the bonds of men Closed in a personal citadel He was born with the Depression Came of age with bebop and beatniks Fast cars and fast women And always whiskey … if the shoe fits … Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed And the shoe fit very well It's one that's well-worn It's all the Raneys held on to Long after family ties were torn But tonight he's iin a Vicksburg cell Smoking, lazy on the cot Waiting for someone to come with bail Maybe they would, prob'ly not Look away, look away Sons of Dixie be not dismayed © 2023 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

about

This second volume of songs set in Mississippi shows us Levi Hooper several years after losing Lucy, and we meet his Scots-Irish ancestor Nathaniel Knox. We find out how Vernon Raney and Molly Motts met, how Molly gradually takes over the Raney whiskey business, becomes a drug queen, and after losing everything, how Molly dies. There a song about a riverboat gambler who meets, falls in love with a distant relation to Lucy Cooper, and eventually undergoes a religous conversion and completely reforming his life.

One song describes how two young men, just entering college, get caught up in a drug enterprise only to be rescued by their elderly grandfather. We also learn about a Raney who is haunted by ghosts of the Civil war.

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released November 18, 2023

David Leone: guitar, vocals

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Highway 80 Stories Whitleyville, Tennessee

Frank David Leone was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and has lived in the South his entire life with the exception of eight years in NYC.  Leone has also lived and worked at music in Dallas and Nashville.  He currently resides in rural Tennessee with his wife and three cats.
His songs have been recorded by Lee Ann Womack, Chris Knight, Rebecca Lynn Howard, and Joy Lynn White, among others. ... more

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