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High Cold Wind

by Randy Steele

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1.
Michael Goins - Nashville Drinking Song 02:29
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Nashville Drinking Song It’s my last Friday night in the lights of the big city When the sun comes up I’ll be eighty miles down the road I won’t be looking back in tears Or feeling any self pity I’ll be grinning like a cat knowing I am going home One more beer and I’m outta here I’m trading in this concrete Trading in these steel walls Going back to the country Where the skies are big and blue The only thing around here that could give me any pause Is knowing when I’m leaving I am leaving you One more beer and I’m outta here Goodbye sirens Goodbye city lights Goodbye big dreams, Goodbye wealth and fame Goodbye traffic jams Goodbye modern life Goodbye Nashville Please forget my name. One more beer and I’m outta here
2.
There's a Part of Me 03:20
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There’s a part of me There’s a part of me That I wish you knew It counts the stars at night That you and I are through Though my broken heart is badly bruised It heals a little everyday That I spend away from you I think about them summer days When I’d listen to you complain How the sunshine wasn’t bright enough The cold beers they weren’t cold enough That aged like a banana on a sill There’s a part of me That I wish you knew It counts the stars at night That you and I are through Though my broken heart is badly bruised It heals a little everyday That I spend away from you I remember that Christmas When you got a neck tattoo And your momma cried and Spent the holidays holed up inside her room She said that you can’t be buried With your family anymore There’s a part of me That I wish you knew Stays up late at night And hopes that you’ll pull through Though my broken heart is badly bruised It heals a little everyday That I spend away from you Seems like your paydays Are always just around the bend But when the bill comes It’s just me again And you’re off on some High Horse Singing ‘Hi Ho Silver in the Wind’
3.
It Happened 04:01
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It happened Well I was standing in an alley In the shadow of the valley Of the mountains in eastern Tennessee The day started partly cloudy But it ended bright and loudly With a message straight from God above to me We started at the whirlpool With this girl I knew from High School Then we skipped off down to party at The Red But those clouds began to mingle My skin began to tingle Then lightning struck me right upside the head It happened, I swear that it happened Hand to heart, eyes to god it happened to me So officer if you take me downtown You better insulate the penitentiary I came to just quakin’, shiverin’ and shaking My hair was laid out all over the ground I went home to think But I could barely sleep a wink For dreaming of that terrifying sound When I started the next morning It was raining it was storming I went to let me old hound dog out of the pen When I went to call her With that old familiar holler Boom, lightning strikes again It happened, I swear that it happened Hand to heart, eyes to god it happened to me So officer if you take me downtown You better insulate the penitentiary I woke up 3 days later On my porch holding the paper My hound dog had moved back in with my ex I barely had a dollar Nothing to drink nothing to swaller No porch no hair no dog and no respect So I went down to the credit union To find myself some breathing room I walked in I heard thunder and I’ll admit That maybe I lost it But I wasn’t trying to rob it I may be broke but I ain’t no hypocrite It happened, I swear that it happened Hand to heart, eyes to god it happened to me So officer if you take me downtown You better insulate the penitentiary
4.
A Golden Smile 01:48
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A Golden Smile If I had a golden smile If I had a golden smile I’d put it on my face darling Every time you came around But I don’t have a golden smile So it don’t matter anyhow. If I had a heart of stone If I had a heart of stone Ventricles of granite Pumping gravels thru my veins I don’t have a heart of stone So it don’t matter anyways. If I had a dollar bill If I had 10 dollar bills I’d spend it all on you darling Every last burnt red cent My money has been spent I don’t have a dollar bill. If I had a soul to sell If I had a soul to sell I’d put a sign up in my window That says ‘Buy one get one free’ Then I’d sell em your soul too So you’d always be with me
5.
Eight Thirty Eighteen 02:06
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eight thirty eight teen Frankly this whole thing has gotten out of hand Like a permanent structure being built in the sand Or a buck ass private being put in command Of a war bound USS Abraham How many times must the hammer come down Before we pick up the nail and turn this thing around It’s like we keep falling deeper and deeper into a shallow grave Anger, bitterness, deception, and strife And stupidity just seem to be raining from the sky I’m tired of being put upon and spit upon and lied to By every baby boomer in a dark blue suit The only thing I know is that I don’t know it all And I know that you don’t either Seems like the whole damn world can’t even concentrate We couldn’t hit a meatball thrown right across the plate We should be rounding bases, this shouldn’t be a challenge Instead we’re burning mountains for a couple miles a gallon If I turn off my tv, if I turn off my computer Will that stop some crazy asshole from shooting up a school The only things I know is that I don’t know at all And I know that you don’t either Will the history books say we were simply complacent We relied too much on others, we were way too patient We were misinformed or too informed or just ignored and downplayed The fact that these things ain’t going away Or will they say that we kept falling deeper and deeper into a shallow grave The only thing I know is that I don’t know at all And I know that you don’t either The only thing I know is that I don’t know at all And I know that you don’t either

about

A firefighter who first took up the banjo to decompress and pass the time between emergency calls, Randy Steele has clearly gone beyond and exceeded even his own expectations. Based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, he released his debut disc, Songs From the Suck in 2016, followed by an EP titled Moccasin Bender two years later. He quickly gained a stellar reputation in the process. Now after a five year absence he and his band High Cold Wind — consisting of Steele himself (banjo and vocals), Tyler Martelli (guitar), Faye Petrie (fiddle, vocals), John Boulware (mandolin), and Justin Hipp (upright bass) — return with a self-titled, five-song set that affirms the fact he’s still at the peak of his prowess.

That said, High Cold Wind is a mostly unassuming effort, its songs sharing happenstance and humility in equal measure. A Golden Smile consists of nothing more than Steele singing solo, accompanied only by his banjo, while even those tunes that feature the band as a whole are, for the most part, relatively restrained. Still, there are exceptions. The rollicking Eight Thirty Eighteen, allows for a notable uptick in the tempo, being that it comes across as a trucking song meant to be shared while hitting the highway. There’s a Part of Me follows suit, a song that brings to mind one of several Townes Van Zandt songs in its not-so-fond farewell to city life while choosing to enjoy the comforts of the country instead.

“Goodbye Nashville, please forget my name,” Steele declares while bidding his goodbye.

It’s a moving and memorable offering in other ways as well. Nashville Drinking Song might seem like an otherwise bitter break-up song were it not for the fact that it’s conveyed through an easy sway and sashay. “There’s a part of me I wish you knew,” Steele sings, giving voice to the heartache he’s suffering in the wake of a lover’s departure. On the other hand, It Happened is full of happy-go-lucky circumstance and circumspect, a tune that gives Steele cause to celebrate even though he finds the results aren’t always in his favor.

Clearly then, Steele remains a decidedly down-to-earth individual, a man for whom making music is still a source of joy and jubilation. Ultimately this High Cold Wind comes across like a calm and comforting breeze.
Lee Zimmerman
Bluegrass Today

credits

released April 13, 2024

Banjo/Vocals: Randy Steele
Fiddle/Vocals: Faye Petree
Mandolin: John Boulware
Guitar/Vocals: Tyler Martelli
Upright Bass: Justin Hupp

Recorded and mixed by Brett K Nolan at Soundry Studio

Mastered by Adam Brown

Photography by Mandy Rhoden and Zoe News

Artwork by Michael Goins

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Randy Steele Chattanooga, Tennessee

Banjo pickin' Singer Songwriter from Chattanooga Tennessee and frontman for Slim Pickins Bluegrass

2018 NewSong Leaf Festival Songwriting Competition Finalist. 2017 Blast On the Bay Upcoming Artist
16th Annual IMA Bluegrass Song Fan Winner for 'Mobile Soon"
16th Annual IMA Bluegrass album of the year Nomination
for "Songs from the Suck" ... more

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