Cold Pines and Red Dirt

I just got back from a long, long trip
So many tales I heard
But the tale that stuck deepest within
Was of the cross of Willie Hatcher the third

Now there’s poetry in this country
In its rambling roads and words
In the voices of the simple people
In the white cross of Willie Hatcher the third

CHORUS: Now Willie drove down 40 about Memphis, Tennessee
But Willie drove a mite too fast with a mite too much to drink
I passed his cross about 9pm in the cold pines and red dirt
There’s a man who’ll drive no more, Ol’ Willie Hatcher the third

It snowed as I passed through Nashville
Quilts of clouds hanging overhead
Faded barns & new construction
And Eternity and Hell

But no matter how far I traveled
No matter the miles I burned
The image that stayed so fresh within
Was of the cross of Willie Hatcher the Third

CHORUS - SOLO

I nearly tagged a fellow traveler
On black ice in Tennessee
I nearly joined Willie Hatcher
So someone else could write a song about me / X2

CHORUS &: Cold Pines & red dirt mark the miles I drive
18 wheels and a broken heart yet I’m so alive
Crossing this here traded land of patchwork farms and seed
Reminds me I’m a lucky woman, take his story with me- X2