http://youtu.be/-clukLFabq8 When the first shadows start to fall at the end of the day, when the early stars begin to twinkle, in that tiny window between daylight and dark when the cicadas and crickets start to sing, my heart can get a little heavy. Something deep inside my chest sinks, but then, a moment later, something else rises. I’ve never really been able to nail down the exact words but sorrow/hope comes close. As I let go of the day and lean into the night, there’s shift that moves from sadness to a certain kind of faith, an embracing of the night, trusting in the hand that guides what’s next. If I stay still and listen, these thoughts and feelings can lead to a conscious realization of my mortality, and an awareness of those souls who have passed on. We are here for only a short while, and what if our journey in this life is about learning to give and receive love?

What if our struggle with love is the way, the only way… we learn to love better? If you believe that your soul is traveling through this world but bound for elsewhere, if you believe that maybe we are called to be more than strangers fighting for our own survival, if you believe that just as others have mattered to you, you might in turn matter to others no matter the struggles you’ve had, then maybe you’ll agree that we are all just Walking Each Other Home.

Walking Each Other Home, was written with my good friend Gretchen Peters, and is one of three collaborations with Gretchen on this album.

Lead Vocal, Acoustic Guitar - Mary Gauthier Electric Guitar - Guthrie Trapp Upright Bass - Viktor Krauss Drums - Lynn Williams Piano - Jimmy Wallace Background Vocals - Ashley Cleveland, Darrell Scott and the McCrary Sisters

LYRICS: WALKING EACH OTHER HOME

I’m just now getting round to letting go But you had your suitcase packed a long time ago The road got rough and you got ahead of me I tried to pull you back, now I know you had to leave

We put each other through a world of hurt Maybe that’s the way it is on this side of the dirt Nobody wants to be alone I hope you’re happy now, I heard you found someone

I don’t know how this story’s supposed to go I don’t know a lot of things that other people know But it ain’t about the money, ain’t about who’s right or wrong We’re all just walking each other home

Somewhere between Cain and Able, that’s where we live It’s only human to take more than you give To reach for a fix to fill you up Take away the pain oh but that’s not love

I don’t know how this story’s supposed to go I don’t know a lot of things that other people know It ain’t about the money ain’t about who’s right or wrong We’re all just walking each other home

Ain’t for me to say what’s bad or good In the end I know we did the best we could