Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.

Fix that tie Dan - lose that smoke - and stand up straight.

You say yes ma'am - do your best Dan - and don't be late.

You got a new wife, new job, a baby too.

When you're a Buckley that's just what we do.

When I was a young lad you were strong dad and off to work.

Down the road and, in the yard and, with railroad dirt.

You'd come home tired and beat when you fell asleep the sweat came through.

Said you're Buckley and that's what we do.

Just be careful don't you cause us shame.

All you carry through life is our name, is our name.

Let's raise a cheer to celebrate their 50 years of married life.

He leans to kiss her and he whispers in her ear you've been one hell of a wife.

You stood by me through everything I put us through... she told him cause I'm a Buckley and and that's what we do.

Yeah that's what we do.

Well our band's name is Cavan's Crossing.

And two neighbors and their cousin played with me I joined them about 15 years ago.

When we play out our main song list is probably about 30% Irish I think and then we play classic rock and some country, but some originals as well.

So when we're not playing out, Patrick, another member of our band, along with Timmy Gibbons.

Patrick and I both have home recording studios so we like to record our own originals of which you'll hear tonight.

But it's hard to get jobs now, you know, in brew pubs that's our main place to play we love brew pubs who doesn't and Irish music and beer drinking go together really good don't they?

But since covid and the, you know, downturn in the economy brew pubs, you know, aren't having bands as much as they used to so we're finding it hard to find, you know, venues to play at.

But we continue on, it's our hobby, you know.

Basically it's what comes from our soul.

We like doing the Celtic music, we like doing a little bit of everything.

One of the main strengths of our band is the fact that all of the people in the band have different passions musically.

I come from more of the hard rock and heavy metal genre, the 80's music.

Emmett comes from more of the 50's, 60's, 70's.

Well, I don't know if the 50's, I don't like the 50's, but I grew up of course like everybody my age with the Beatles and all the classic rock which I'm entirely sick of, I don't listen to classic rock, but as I've gotten older my favorite influences for songwriting, which I really like to be, is people like Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett, John Prine, guys like that I really like that kind of songwriting, with Rodney Crowell being my favorite, I think he's the greatest songwriter in America.

So I'm not saying I pattern myself after him but I certainly he influences me, yeah, he's a great songwriter.

And then we have Pat and Tim who they both are more on the progressive sort of Cities97 sort of station kind of music.

So it it all kind of flows together when we write and create.

Like to know how I spend my time since you left this poor heart of mine.

Loneliness just seems to drag me through a daze.

I think of things now that I sure miss.

It's your smile and your sweet sweet kiss.

I should have listened to the better way of you.

You're the one who always kept things straight.

I had my fun had to stay out late.

Good time Charlie good time friends is the life I knew.

Guess you had all that you could take.

Not seeing that was my last mistake.

I should have listened to the better way of you.

Better way of you.

How you kiss the kids good night.

Better way of you.

How you rise at first morning light.

Better way of you.

How you always kept our future right in view.

Better way of you.

How you filled this house with love and how you prayed to the Lord above.

I should have listened to the better way of you.

You come back girl I know you'll find.

I've changed my ways and changed my peace of mind.

I'm up at dawn I'm off to work in bed by ten.

You'll be surprised at this change in me.

You got my word now here's the guarantee.

Come back you'll find me in the better way of you.

Better way of you.

How you kiss the kids good night.

Better way of you.

Now I rise at first morning light.

Better way of you.

Now you know I've got our future right in view.

Better way of you.

How I'll fill this house with love.

Better way of you.

I give praise to the Lord above.

Come back you'll find me in the better way of you.

Please come back home and you'll find me.

Back you find me better way of you.

Please come back home and you find me.

Back you find me, in a better way of you.

So my writing process, and Pat and I talk about it quite a bit, are pretty different than one another.

Where I, you know, it sounds strange I've heard others say the same thing where I hear it in my head, I have a subject matter, I've written a lot of songs too about my wife and they just come naturally in my head and I have to run down to my studio and write it down.

I get it done in about 15 minutes, for the most part.

So those are that's what influences me is my family, my friends, and it's just and it just appears in my thick head, you know, where other people will play and there's no right or wrong way, you know, other people will play with different you know chord progressions or melodies or time signatures and build a song around that, where I just kind of hear in my head right away, you know, and go down and write it, you know, and there's no right or wrong way.

I mean Patrick's written some wonderful songs but his style is different than mine but we collaborate really well together.

One of the songs that Emmitt and I wrote together we literally came together in our living room one night and we were, he was messing around with a guitar riff and I'm like "Wait a minute we need to we need to write this down, we need to put this into a song."

And it ended up as Bended Knee which is one of the songs that we're doing tonight.

Yeah.

And basically my inspiration for the lyrics in that song were various you know he done me wrong sort of Hallmark movie sort of things and yeah so it influenced the song.

And I actually happened to be listening to music for a play that's being written by a friend of mine and it's kind of a who done me wrong sort of play and one of the songs that they were doing kind of influenced me and got me into this mode where I was thinking, you know, a dark dusty smoky jazzy area, you know, with the street light and the fog moving around.

Yeah as we were writing it we all had the same thought in mind, you know, the same direction to take it to a jazzy bluesy smoky room type thing, you know, and so that worked really good.

And so inspiration comes from numerous places of course so here we're just tooling around in their living room just on a, remember it was a stormy winter night, and so in between songs we were playing I just worked on a riff and she liked it.

I said you want me make a song and she said sure so we had it written about 15 minutes.

One of those songs that just flows out of you like a river.

I'm coming out to catch you baby.

I know you've been sneaking around.

I ain't going to take no maybes.

I know you're out on the town.

I know you're out with your baby.

It's time you face the facts.

No longer gonna be waiting.

I ain't coming back.

You think you're something special.

You think you're what I need.

Come crawling back to me.

On bended knee.

I seen it in your eyes for too long.

I caught you looking away.

Her smile on you is so strong.

Nothing can make you stay.

You think you're something special.

You think you're what I need.

Come crawling back to me.

On bended knee.

On bended knee.

Came crawling back to me baby.

Said you've changed your ways.

Got down on bended knee baby.

Said you're here to stay.

You think you're something special.

You think you're what I need.

Come crawling back to me.

On bended knee.

You think you're something special.

You think you're how I bleed.

Come crawling back to me.

On bended knee On bended knee.

On bended knee.

On bended knee.

Not this time baby.

I'm bringing a photo of my wife, she passed away two and a half years ago, so since I was playing in bands at 18 on she was at every one of my shows, every one.

She would not, you guys know that since I moved here, she was at every one of my shows.

She would not leave, she'd stand there and smile and I'd smile back at her so I had to have her here today, too, so if I can put the photo back there, it'd be good.

Today I walk through the flowers that grew so incredibly high.

Could have sworn I heard the voice of the walrus was singing hello and goodbye.

Now forever with heartache, forever with tears, forever and never a clue.

Forever I miss you forever I fear forever and ever blue.

A boy off and away on red wagon.

The engine that pulled was his dad.

Not a thought of creating this memory but always expected to last.

Now forever with heartache, forever with tears, forever and never a clue.

Forever I love you, forever I fear, forever and ever blue.

The good times are more than remembered.

With feelings few words could describe.

The thoughts of the endless surrender when never reported to try.

Now forever with heartache forever, with tears forever, and never a clue.

Forever I'm sorry, forever I fear, forever and ever I'll be blue, forever and ever blue over you.

Forever and ever blue.

I've always said this, you know, where if you write a song that's popular and people will sing it along with you a lot of other artists will say "Ah, they sold out."

But I've always had this philosophy that it's easier to write a song nobody likes than write a song everybody likes.

I think the greatest achievement for songwriters is when you're playing a song that's become popular in front of an audience and they're singing back to you your words, your song, that you made it then.

You know what so I don't agree with that sellout thing to a whole, you know, to a degree I mean we're in it to please people, make money.

If I wanted to just please myself people might say "Boy that's terrible," you know.

But, you know, we do Patrick and I, when we record and we produce our songs, we all keep that in mind.

We try to have hooks in our songs, we try to have little accent notes and things that really.

I sent you guys a few I think, you know, and so we really pride ourselves on doing that where we just don't strum through a song and that's it, you know.

We, Patrick and I, work really hard to produce it well so.

And I think too if it hits somebody, for me, I like it when people can resonate with a song when it speaks to their soul and when it basically it brings out a part of their life that they're living through and they can feel it like we're feeling it and that's to me that's special.

Yeah we're all not that different, you know, we all have the same aches and pains and glorious moments and so to capture a song that other people identify with the same aches and pains or achievements that's a good thing to do, you know, so we focus on that, especially, as I said, in the production of it, so.

Patrick and our band worked with a young lady who committed suicide and it really moved Patrick, so Patrick showed me a song he was working on one day to honor this young lady.

So it's called A Lonely Lovely Girl, so Pat and I collaborate on it.

He came up with the premise for the song and a lot of the chord structure to begin with.

My nephew committed suicide so we're all very familiar with it, it's a painful subject, you know my sister's dealing with it every day, so that song we're really proud of and yeah we work hard on that to make it so she'd be honored when she listens to it, yeah.

She wonders of times to come.

Fears from the isolation.

Tomorrow comes nothing done.

Time to put her best dress on.

Battle her inner demons.

Game face on.

Let's have fun.

From inside the picture what do you see?

Life's beauty just out of reach.

Life's a gift, sweet DeVine.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Alone in her bedroom she dwells.

Sees all the change and divisions.

Afraid of what is out there.

Lonely lovely girl.

Don't let the world cloud your dreams.

Life's beauty just out of reach.

Life's a gift take your time here.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

You never listened, paid no mind.

Eyes wide open all the time.

See the pictures, paint the lines.

Your imperfections what define.

So break those chains, those chains that bind.

Inner beauty lies inside.

From inside the picture what do you see.

Life's beauty just out of reach.

Life's a gift, take your time here.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

Lonely lovely girl.

She's so lonely.

Lonely lovely girl.

Always lonely.

Lonely lovely girl.

She's so lonely.

Lonely lovely girl.

Always lonely.

Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.