Tomorrows American Treasures

by Michael Holland

Tomorrows American Treasures Cover Art
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about

Michael Holland, though immersed in the heart and soul of American (cosmic) music, proves esoteric in the cogitation of his music. With Tomorrows American Treasures Holland employs the tools of classic American Appalachia, folk wanderlust, jazz's improvisational freedom, and poetic romanticism in this collection of songs that delicately caresses the depths of the human spirit. He uses archetypal imagery and language in conjunction with musical form in a way that fosters a contemporary relevance different from those of today's ill-pegged "freak folk" genre. His embrace of the historic provides a foundation and validity for his honesty and sensitivity to the human condition.
The Big Fat Gap bluegrass band, comprised of some of central North Carolina's hottest pickers and players, is perfectly suited for Holland's intention and their collaboration is dead-on in its execution and creativity delivered here. Mandolin and fiddle lend buoyant optimism to "Pretty Polly." "Crystal Meth Freak from California," a song I started my day with for about four weeks, delivers the mindscape of the "freak" and is marked by a most oddly befitting keyboard solo.
The familiar conjoined with the abstract is a construct Holland uses without fail, with the exception of the narrative "Look Out for King Heartache." "Lighten up Angel" gently summons the allure, tenderness, and tone of Van Morrison ("Into the Mystic") and exudes the thematic message and sentiment of assurance and hope-"Tonight we're sleeping under the bridges but who knows what tomorrow may bring." The record's unity is augmented by the intimacy of the close-knit, live recording. The perfectly mapped sequencing provides a connectedness that delivers a rejuvenation and awakening to the essential message of optimism and hope relevant in the record's entirety. There is a timeliness to Tomorrow's American Treasures that could be overlooked by the casual listener who might not recognize that this is not just another folk/bluegrass album. Michael Holland has succeeded in creating something rooted in the historic that has special significance in the now.
-William Bryson

credits

released 31 January 2005
Produced by Michael Holland
Executive Producer Sean McCrossin
Big Fat Gap: Chris Heaney, Robert Mitchener, Andy Thorpe, John Stickley, Miles Andrews, Rick Hauchman, Ryan Cavanaugh, Bobby Britt
Special thanks to Jamie Dawson
"Since I lay My Burden Down" recorded live at Unitarian Coffeehouse, Columbia, SC 2004
Mastered by Travis Leonard at Kitchen Mastering

tags

tags: alternative bluegrass blues carrboro country jennyanykind michael holland north carolina old-time pop rock soul Carrboro

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about

This is the official site for North Carolina musician and songwriter Michael Holland. Here you can listen to and purchase ... more (if you wish) all of the recorded songs in Michael's solo catalogue.

Jennyanykind 1991-2003
solo 1999 - present less

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Track Name: Crystal Meth Freak From California
Crystal Meth Freak from California
Crystal Meth Freak, truckin it to Rhode Island
What goes in your head
has you losin it instead
Is the truth your new Goliath?
When you pick up the phone does it speak at you?
When you pick up the phone does it speak at you?

Crystal Meth Freak from California
Crystal Meth Freak, truckin it to Rhode Island
What goes in your head
has you losin it instead
Is the truth as you define it?
Is the highway home?
Is it calling you?
Is the highway home?
Is it calling you?

Crystal Meth Freak from California
Crystal Meth Freak, truckin it to Miami
What goes in your head
has you losin it instead
Here's the truth and you deny it
When you play that song does it follow you?
When you play that song does it follow you?
You Crystal Meth Freak


Out on the blocks in the summer time
Lookin high and low and feeling fine
This Crystal Meth Freak from California
Track Name: Mountains of the Moon
in the mountains of the moon where my true love waits for me
in the mountains of the moon i'll be going there real soon

many a day has passed me by since my true love dearly departed
left me here with tears to cry
alone and broken hearted

in the mountains of the moon where my true love waits for me
in the mountains of the moon i'll be going there real soon

it was nearly a year ago when our wedding bells they were ringing
now my house is blue and cold and outside it is raining

in the mountains of the moon where my true love waits for me
in the mountains of the moon i'll be going there real soon

in the mountains of the moon where my true love waits for me
in the mountains of the moon i'll be going there real soon

many a night i call her name until the morning light comes shining
like a bird with a broken wing or a cloud with a silver lining

in the mountains of the moon where my true love waits for me
in the mountains of the moon i'll be going there real soon
Track Name: Oh Pretty Polly
this old town will make you cry in vain,
it'll beat you down like the driving rain.
some folks say, "man, what are we gonna do? the money's all spent and the mortgage is due."
they get down on their knees and pray
and hope for better things and sunny days.
but I see heaven as an open road in a death trap rambling, pretty polly.

ends don't meet and we work all day,
it's a troubled life in a troubled way.
crops is rotten and a house in ruin
in a ghost town with nothing doing.
when people come together to sing and to pray and get slice of heaven in a special way.
but I know out there is a promised land, we're gonna get there while we can, pretty polly.

oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh together the sites we'll see 'cause it's heaven right now, pretty polly.

oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh together the sites we'll see 'cause it's heaven right now, pretty polly.

oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh pretty polly won't you come with me 'cause we're traveling now, pretty polly.
oh together the sites we'll see 'cause it's heaven right now, pretty polly.
Track Name: Lighten Up Angel
on this cold clear morning
you come walking up slowly
but you drift through the night like a lightning bug
your time seems slow
it seems unending
i need you so
i never knew i would

on this beautiful evening
i can hear your heartbeat
and it skips like a light across the universe
where does time go?
and where will it lead us?
come on let's go
we don't need no one.

ah, you lighten up angel!
don't tighten up angel!
oh, lighten up, lighten up!
don't tighten up, tighten up!
oh, lighten up, lighten up!
don't tighten up, tighten up!
oh, lighten up, lighten up!
don't tighten up, tighten up!
Track Name: Lazy Summer Day
Lazy in the grass it’s a summer day
Feel the air while you’re breathing
Don’t blame it on the heat…never goes away.
You treat it like your lifestyle.


Hey there, what you doin?
Do you like your lifestyle?
Don’t leave me here in my ruin
Stay with me awhile

Don’t stay at home, now, see what I’m doing
Come on along, come out for awhile
Don’t let your fear, babe, be your undoing
You’ve got some other style, some other style.

Lazy in the grass it’s a summer day
Lazy days never ending
Daylight quits in a golden drink
But the nighttime ain’t complaining
Track Name: Look out for King Heartache
Every Morning I go out on the street
Say Hello to the people I see
Flowers blooming its early spring
Bell in the steeple go jing-a-ling

I spy a man who seems down on his luck
His look says that’s the way the thunder shook
Had it all baby but now it’s bust
No where to turn, man, who can you trust?

I pass some friends by the old town well
They sass and wonder how the future gels
They say, tell us the future, man, how will it look?
Is it some forgotten movie or an unwritten book?

The days that wane, how they seem such a bore
Now that every day becomes such chore.
Don’t worry about the end, the end is cake.
Along the way, brother, look out for King Heartache.

Look out for the man / Watch out for King Heartache when he comes
He’ll catch you by surprise/ No stone unturned, no one left alive.
Look out for the man.

I take a walk by the Barrel D Arcade
Though no one knows it that’s where futures are made
Maybe I’ll find some comfort there
Two antique sofas and a rocking chair

I’d tell her the future but it never gets that far
I know my place by what she keeps me apart from
She says, I don’t need love, man, I don’t need a lick
Cover your eyes when King Heartache starts to kick

Look out for the man/ Watch out for King Heart ache when he comes
He’ll find you in your room/ He’ll mediate your hours of gloom
Look out for the man/ Watch out for King Heartache when he comes
He knows where you always hide/ He’ll pounce on you, he’ll scratch out your eyes

Look out for the man, Look out for the…..

All that’s left is we live with what we trade
But who can tell if the choice has been made
I know it’s not what you call living right
What keeps you cool in the day, won’t keep you warm at night.

Don’t take away that we’re left in a trance zone
But tell me what is left to take a chance on
You feel so strange when you let the words slip
Don’t be surprised when King Heartache comes to rip!

Look out for the man/ Watch out for King Heartache when he comes
You’ll find you do what he says, and no money can keep up appearances
Look out for her man/ Watch out for King Heartache when he comes
He’ll keep you in his claws; he’ll drink the tears when they start to fall.
Track Name: Nobody Loves Me, Nobody Cares
when your day is done and you want to get right
when your day is done and moving into the night
you can find me down by the riverside

when your day is done and your feeling down
when your day is done move yourself all around
you can find me where my friends are found

nobody loves me, nobody cares
nobody loves me, nobody cares

got to get down to the riverside
got to get down to the river tonight
i'm gonna cast a lure from here until the sweet bye and bye.
gonna find a bend where the water is fine
gonna find a bend where the water is fine
catfish calling, think i'll drop a line.

nobody loves me, nobody cares
nobody loves me, nobody cares

nobody loves me, nobody cares
nobody loves me, nobody cares
Track Name: Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring?
tonight we're sleeping under the bridges
but who knows what tomorrow may bring?
tonight we're waiting in the wings
but who knows what tomorrow may bring?
it'll bring the good times, and the laughter, beneath the sunlight, mmhmm.
it'll bring the good times, and the laughter, beneath the sunlight, mmhmm.

tonight we're sleeping under the bridges
but who knows what tomorrow may bring?
tonight we're waiting in the wings
but who knows what tomorrow may bring?
but who knows what tomorrow may bring?