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

Give me that big hug.

Give me that sweet sweet love.

Give me that warm smile.

Why don't you give me that big heart chile.

Ever since I've been young.

I found it hard to find true love.

That is until I stumble into you.

My heart fell on the table.

Ain't no wasting time on the unstable.

I swear to God my heart is stuck on you.

Give me that big hug.

Give me that sweet sweet love.

Give me that warm smile.

Give me that heart now chile.

Now that we've been together.

5 summers 4 winters.

I've learned the ins and outs of lovin you.

I trust you more than many.

Our ups and downs are good to love on you.

Give me that big hug.

Give me that sweet sweet love.

Give me that warm smile.

Why don't you give me that heart now chile.

Give me that big hug.

Give me that sweet sweet sweet love.

Give me that warm smile babe.

Give me that big heart chile.

Oh honey on my sugar sweet as Give me that big old heart.

Give me that heart chile.

Yeah so, we're Lydia Rose and the Bad Decisions.

This is my dad Joe and he's the lead guitarist pretty much the whole reason that Lydia Rose became Lydia Rose.

He's been gigging over my entire life and so music just kind of came natural for us.

I bought a drum set and found out that my oldest boy can play the drums when he was five he could play really good.

We ended up having a band with John, Jack and I playing all over and we're talking at 7, 9 and at the time 38 years old or whatever it was.

And Lydia was down in the Cities at that time.

I was living my own life completely, completely away from the music world and everything.

And I ended up moving home which I thought was going to be a three month stint I was coming home just to just clear my mind of the Cities, you know, kind of regroup and refresh.

And then I got invited by my brothers.

The whole bar was packed and I was I went, oh wow, this is really cool.

And so then it was the Raccoon Antlers featuring Lydia, okay.

And then my brothers were and I.

We wanted to go out and play still, didn't have a drummer or bass player.

So, we were two talents down for a couple years.

And then when Kyle morphed in and we were kind of finding a drummer here or there my brother would come in.

He didn't want to, he doesn't want to play full time.

He's a mechanic through and through, that's a story for another day.

But moral of the story is, you know, slowly but surely this band has come together and it works out really well as Lydia Rose and the Bad Decisions.

Because bad decisions make great stories, so.

They sure do.

I got a sick obsession.

With the little things in life.

Like kissin in the mornin.

Or back on a hillside.

But I don't need what others think are the finer things in life.

I'll just stick with my Dad and this old guitar.

And I want to see the west coast breeze.

Drifting through the trees.

And I don't think that there going to be.

So much war and people in the streets.

But the folks out in DC, don't give a damn about you and me.

I'll just stick with my Dad and this old guitar.

And head on down the road.

{Musi} I'm tired of busting my butt.

Just to barely make a dollar.

The world that I grew up in.

No wonder we're alcoholics.

Can't afford to own, can't afford to rent.

I wish 1% would just get bent.

I'll stick with my Dad and his old guitar.

And I'll head on down the road.

Still got this old obsession.

With the minor things in life.

Like rain falling on the rooftops.

Or singing on PBS live.

I still don't need what them others dream are the find things in life.

I'll stick with my Dad and his old guitar.

And I'll head on down the road.

Some days I'm writing what I would consider, you know, Janis Joplinesque music and sometimes I'm writing Pink Floydesque music and sometimes I'm writing Brantley Gilbertesque music.

I don't write like lyrics out like a poem most of the time.

I have the entire ensemble in my head.

The words come after I have already formed what the beat in my head is going to be.

So, sometimes I have the feeling of more rock and roll, or rockabilly, or something like that.

And sometimes it's straight up Sierra Ferrel, you know, it just depends on the day and the time.

We had songs that started out very slow and it was going to be a slow say love song and it turns out being a rock breakup song.

Yeah, totally.

I mean it just totally depends on depends on the time of day when how the feeling going on in my life or you know how everyone in the band's feeling too because each person that adds the element of the drums if the drums is having a bad day then the drums going to be a little bit harder, you know, a little bit more rocky maybe.

If the bass player, you know, feel a little bit slappier he's going to slap that sucker.

Most of the songs that we write the best ones are freestyled.

I have my little voice recorder app on and he starts playing I'll start singing the other band joins in or a lot of time it'll just be him and I and that's what I consider some of our best songs is not sitting down and writing it's just comes to be.

We've had some that were at live shows that we whoa save this.

Yeah.

That was cool.

We got to come back to that.

Yep.

Yeah Rolling out the window.

I'm driving down the way.

I'm going 44 in a 30.

Trying so hard not to forget your face.

And the way you're blue eyes shine so bright on me.

Well I wish that I'd a told ya.

And I wish that I could find ya.

Just to tell you how much I miss those days.

When we say goodbye.

Well I thought that I'd a die.

I wish I could go back to yesterday.

Sometimes I sit alone.

And I have a glass of wine.

I try to numb the pain inside of me.

Before you say a word.

You gotta know how bad I hurt.

I wish I could go back to you and me.

Well I wish that I'd a told ya.

And I wish I could find ya.

Just to tell you how much I miss those days.

When we said goodbye.

Well I thought that I'd a die.

Wish I could go back to yesterday.

Well time never stops.

Even if that's all you want.

We're growing and we're changing every day.

Sometimes I hear that song.

And I start to sing along.

I wish I could go back to you and then.

When I wish that I'd a told ya.

And I wish that I could find ya.

Just to tell you how much I miss those days.

When we said goodbye.

Well I thought that I'd a die.

I wish I could go back to yesterday.

Oh I wish I could go back to yesterday.

Well thank God I can't go back to yesterday.

Being a father daughter duo first and foremost before, I guess a family band first and foremost.

It is something that there is no way to encapsulate the natural way that it just progresses and goes by itself I mean.

My dad and I understand each other on levels that are unspeaking that we don't understand how we understand.

Going back to when we play with her little brothers, I'm playing with my boys my daughter right, we don't have to even talk I can tell you what Jack is thinking, I can tell you what he's thinking in his head without even looking at him just by listening to what he's playing.

So I would say the duo is very much so natural organic it's not even we don't think about it we practice, don't get me wrong, but we're adding new stuff necessarily it's not like nailing down XYZ because it flows no matter what.

Whereas when you have a full band and you got different people, different life experiences, different musical experiences, you know, whatever, you kind of have to go through it's a bit more uniform I'd say you know.

In my experience of being able to kind of just go in and do with my brothers versus it's a different learning experience it's a different sound experience the finished product is completely different when you're bringing in different sound, and it's a lot more rocking.

I mean we, it's fun, it's so fun having the full band I think that it's I would say the acoustic duo is good for small venues, intimate settings, but if you want to rock the house down, you got to have Lydia Rose and the Bad Decisions.

Well he blessed me with a curse.

Got me wishing I could come back down to earth.

I've been tripping the pills and on my hurt.

That's what I'm saying.

Blessed me with a curse.

Well he blessed me with a curse and now he's saying goodbye.

He's an evil man.

With an evil eye.

I guess I shoulda known it.

I was down on my knees.

I was so demented.

Then I called to Doctor said give me some pills.

The hurt won't quit and it never will.

The doctor fixed me up and then he sent me on my way.

I've been saying thank God for that day.

When you bless me with the curse.

Got me wishing I could come back down to earth.

I've been tripping on the pills and all my hurt.

That's why I'm saying.

He blessed me with the curse.

You know he came and then he said goodbye to me.

He's an evil man he don't need to be free.

I guess I shoulda known.

A dirty player only plays what he knows.

I lost my way.

I lost my way.

I came back home on a cloudy day.

I've been home since and I can't complain.

Bless me with a curse.

Got me wishing.

Come back down to earth.

I've tripping on the pills and on my hurt.

That's why I'm saying.

He blessed me with a curse.

Well now it's 5 years down the road.

And I'm still cursed oh why.

I don't know if it'll ever subside.

Now I'm doing better I got back my time.

I don't care about the evil man I've.

Grown to accept it.

A part of my life.

A time of reflection.

Stronger's what it made me.

He could knock me down but he could never break me.

He blessed me with the curse.

Got me wishing come back down to earth.

I've been tripping on the pills and on my hurt.

That's why I'm saying he blessed me with a curse.

He blessed me with a curse Well blessed me with a curse.

Oh he blessed me with a curse.

Well he blessed me with a curse.

Well a curse.

Yeah oh oh yeah with a curse.

Yeah with a curse.

Music has saved my life and I think a lot of musicians can agree with that.

Without the sound of music, the sound of silence would be tough to deal with, you know.

I sing because it ultimately I mean I was it was bred into me, my dad has been musically driven his entire life since he picked up guitar when he was 12 years old I mean.

And so my whole life growing up I watched these big rock singers on stage and I thought that was so neat.

And I'd go up there and I'd sing, five little speckled frogs, sitting on and, you know, and that was my, that was my bar shows as a kid.

And then I have my two younger brothers.

You were doing that in a bar.

Yeah, my two younger brothers they also, you know.

Five years old playing in front of four, five hundred people.

I saw them playing with my dad and I thought this is so cool I think that, you know, and I can remember back to my first show jumping up and I wasn't.

There was actually more to that, that I was losing my voice that day.

That's how that happened.

It did not hurt at all like yeah you want to sing and you were a little bit hesitant about it you were like scared.

I had my cell phone up with Wagon Wheel, I had the words for Wagon Wheel up on my phone and I'm shaking and but I remember getting down and I went I need to do that again.

Can I get you to come back?

Yeah I need to do that again and again and again and it's addicting the feeling of being on stage.

When you were in high school we played all the time at home.

At home but I never sang on stage until that random day that I, you know, jumped up.

So music is just within me it's totally it's built into my entire family dynamic I would say, so.

Can I add to that?

Definitely.

I come from a line of musicians and some of my uncles, grandparents were very very talented musicians and one of them said to me one time, I don't know if he was joking or I don't know how it even came up, but he said you know what the meaning of life is, and we were in the middle of a jam and he said the meaning of life is to enjoy the passing of time, and there is no better way than to enjoy the passing of time playing music with my kids.

He told me he's leavin.

I asked him why he had to go.

Don't wanna deal with your attitude no more.

I cried.

I let those tears fall night by night.

He says don't you see.

These crazy dreams that I have got to go achieve.

Let me tell you I've got dreams too.

They'll blow your socks off like some dynamite.

I left that night.

Went off to prove.

I's worth all the hype.

Started playin.

Those honkytonk bars.

To fund my habits I kept in the dark.

He got clean.

Started singing too.

Wrote about a girl he called his Betty Boop.

The years have passed.

I still think of him tho.

I made it out.

To one a his sold out shows.

I can't be mad.

Couldn't keep my nose clean.

I lost control of my own happy ending.

But he.

He's where he's meant to be.

Too bad he's known to a song about me.

Betty Boop.

That name still haunts me.

I hate that stinking fool.

Wooh-oh oh Betty Boop.

I'm so sick of being that Betty Backroads is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund with money by the vote of the people, November 4th, 2008.