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about

Mike was playing with a band called the Fireweeds in the early 2000 teens. The band manager Hansie (Jeremy Sievert) tried selling us on playing a gig in a distant and strange (to us) place. The song is about having preconceived notions challenged by reality. A gig in a distant place that has a reputation of being a backwater. Wrong! Great gig, great people. The verses are intended to be cinematic. The first three verses are told via different characters. The first is an elderly gentleman sitting in a coffee shop in Clatskanie and looking back on his time of fighting fires during the 30's at the time of the Tillamook Burn. The second is inspired by the Fireweeds drummer. He arrived at a Tuesday rehearsal and informed the band that his wife had left him. He was placed (fictionally) in a car passing by the the coffee shop of the first verse. The third verse is in the mind of the band members as they drive to Clatskanie and passed the coffee shop. The last verse is intended as an apology to all small towns and obscure places. People and places matter. Be they grand people in grand places or those that live their lives in small towns like Clatskanie.

lyrics

CLATSKANIE

With shovel, pick and axe
We tried to hold that fire back
But it countered everything that we would try
And our firebreak never held
Near the town of Birkenfeld
And we lost our crew southwest of Clatskanie

It was early Tuesday morning
She moved out with little warning
And straight back to her mother’s she did fly
So I took that winding road
Despite my heavy load
But I lost her track so somewhere near Clatskanie

Chorus:
Oh Clatskanie
Where broken hearts and dreams all go to die
Oh Clatskanie
Why can’t we try again to find our long lost friends
Or at least we can give it one more try
In those misty fells and pines
Where I nearly lost my mind
In those shady hills southwest of Clatskanie

Chorus:

When we first heard Hansie say it
That he thinks that we should play it
I thought well that it’s a long way for a gig
But we figured it was work
So we headed for The Birk
To that little town southwest of Clatskanie

Chorus:

So as life rolls by you’ll see
Where you’ll find your destiny
In Paris or New York or in Shanghai
Or it could be someplace small
Barely on the map at all
A place that looks a lot like Clatskanie.

credits

from Too Late Too Soon, released September 9, 2022
Engineered by the talented and generous Justin Arey.
Written by Mike Moore
Lead Vocals by Mike Moore and backing vocals by Lara Carlisle and Mitch Gilbert.
Pedal Steel: Mitch Gilbert
Fiddle: Marilee Hord
Bass: Phil Hornik, Esq.
Drums: Ken Woodside
Guitars: Mike Moore
Mixed by Professor Ben Milstein
Mastered by Jon Neufeld at Treehouse Mastering

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Shorty and the Mustangs Portland, Oregon

Shorty & the Mustangs was formed in 1996. Big Tex called some of his musician friends to see if they wanted to try something new. Having grown up in Texas, western swing music was calling him home. So they dug out some old Bob Wills and Ernest Tubb records and gave it a shot. The last 10 years the band has created original material with Mr's Wills and Tubb as inspiration.See below and enjoy! ... more

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