SKATING I shouldn’t be out skating. Storm is passing thru Out here in the darkness where I last saw you Standing neath that street lamp. Standing cold and wet Only light and shadow and regret I shouldn’t be out skating tho the traffic…read more

SOMETHING JUST BROKE Key E Bo Diddly Beat Something just broke and I think it's my heart It wasn't an arrow, It wasn't a dart Might been a meteor that tore it apart Something just broke and I think it's my heart Something just broke…read more

GHOST TOWN Key C C Em F G C I live in a Ghost Town somewhere on the edge of space C Em F G Everything is dusty and everything is in it's place Am Em F G C All the doors hang open and when it rains I shake C Em F G C I live in a Ghost…read more

COAL FEVER Key D D D sus D D D sus D When I got the fever I was eight years old Mamma called the doctor. So the story is told G G sus G G G sus G The doctor’s diagnosis made her blood run cold D D sus D D D sus D A He said I’d been infected…read more

I wrote this song with Lisa Aschmann. HICKORY STIX Billy Mac and Don McCray drive to work each dawn at six Down the mountain to the factory, makes handles outta hickory stix Their job is easy labor, hanging handles on the line That drags…read more

The lyrics of this song, as they pertain to plot, are my exact memory of the event. I had spoken to the kid maybe a minute before the "action" started about how the pressure of the water was very strong. He was nestled down with his back…read more

PERFECT When I said, “She’s perfect,” I meant she’s Perfect for me You might not see her that Perfectly When 1 and 1 is 2 and 2 and 1 is three, that’s math and on math we all agree But Perfect has a sliding scale on which we all find our…read more

THE SWING When I was a child we'd drive 200 miles To Gramma’s in the Spring I’d hop out of the car. Run to her back yard. Gramma had a swing The times have changed... And when I became a dad I took all the rope I had And tied it to…read more

Since my ear found your voice And my eye found your face All the sights and the noise Will never erase The song I started singing The song I sing today... (C) 2019 Royal T Music

From a poem by Pete Thompson. CALEB’S REPRIEVE The crowd is restless/It’s a quarter to noon They’re here for a hangin’/And it better be soon Sun beating down/The law’s not in town Hangman’s dirty boots tappin' slow… Dragged from…read more

DELI When they close down the deli at Walmart They discount the mashed potaters About 10, that's when I go in Sometimes a little later...

(C) 2019 Royal T Music

My buddy Lu Mitchell went the way of a song yesterday... Sad. MISSING LU I will miss you, now that you’re gone I will miss you, as I carry on I held your hand up a step or two Now I will miss you. I will miss you There are those who…read more

JACKIE I remember that summer in the evening heat When they brought the skating rink to Tehachapi I asked Jackie when they said, "Couples, please." It was an easy way for a boy and girl to meet And then, when school started, at lunch…read more

I have a new love Of course she doesn’t know How can a work of art Know when lovers come and go And when the artist is the art! My eyes are the eyes of the beholder And my eyes are the eyes of the world… …when the artist is the art…

IZZY She had a Martin guitar and an old Ghost pedal I could tell by the way she banged that thing she’d been brought up on metal She was finding her sound. All ninety five pounds With an attitude that said, “Dude! You’ll be seeing me…read more

About "If I'd Been A Lutheran *" If I had been a Lutheran I might have married Jodi Ferris Learned hillside irrigation and I’d have learned to weld And all the city fathers would have slapped me on the shoulder and all the city mothers wished…read more

A very short song.

(C) 2018 Royal T Music

DOG AT THE GATE I’m just a dog that stands at the gate Not knowing it’s lot. Not expecting it's fate Unable to see the truth in it's face Not accepting the fact that she's not coming back We were watching TV and she was weeping They…read more