Justice in the Red Clay

Verse 1

the train whistle cut the fog like a dull blade

i stepped off onto boards gone soft with rot

rusted tie-plates and hemlock needles under my boots

watching the rails stretch out toward the limestone cliffs

my father's coat is heavy with the damp

and my pockets are empty of everything but a grudge

the air smells like wet iron and woodsmoke

(wet iron and smoke)

Pre-Chorus

every step on the gravel sounds like a judgment

Chorus

i came back to laurel county for a reckoning

to find the man who traded my name for a lie

but the mountains don't care about a drifter's pride

(they don't care at all)

justice is just a hole in the red clay dirt

Verse 2

found the cabin sitting crooked by the creek

he was on the porch holding a sleeping boy

the kid had my crooked jaw and my restless hands

my brother looked up and didn't reach for a gun

he just showed me the marks where the fever took my mother

and the ledger where he paid my debts in blood

the wind pulls at the storm-washed boards

(storm-washed and gray)

the truth is heavier than the lead in my belt

Chorus

i came back to laurel county for a reckoning

to find the man who traded my name for a lie

but the mountains don't care about a drifter's pride

(they don't care at all)

justice is just a hole in the red clay dirt

Bridge

i could pull the trigger and reclaim my ghost

or i could walk back to the tracks and let it go

the boy moved in his sleep and called out a name

it wasn't mine but it sounded like mercy

a theology of dirt and second chances

Final Chorus

i'm leaving laurel county without a word

leaving the man who lived the life i threw away

the mountains keep the sins of the fathers tucked inside

(tucked deep inside)

redemption is the train that finally leaves on time

Outro

just the sound of the wind through the hemlocks

(leaving on time)