Get all 12 Harp Family Recordings releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Big Trail & Other Ballads of the Tuscarawas, Trails, Awake, Awake (Reawakened), Awake, Awake 10th Anniversary, Highway Songs, Greenland Whale/North Star, Again I Glorify, The Harp Family Hymnbook: Volume II, and 4 more.
1. |
Silver Frost
02:32
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I crossed the river in the Autumn bloom
I crossed the river when the world was new
And all things were holy, all things were true
I crossed the river alone
I crossed the river in the summer heat
On the banks of the river, I laid down to sleep
I dreamed that the water turned red at my feet
I crossed the river alone
I crossed the river in the driving rain
I found the table where the choice had been laid
A pacifist’s Bible, a soldier’s steel blade
I crossed the river alone
I crossed the river in the silver frost
I crossed the river when all was lost
I sat on the banks and counted the cost
I crossed the river alone
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2. |
Fifty Steps
02:50
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Christopher Gist
Left Fort Pitt
In 1750, in Fall
Washington’s man
Survey the land
Answer the general’s call
Was it austere,
That rugged frontier?
Did you place a wildflower
in your book?
Did you tell Daniel Boone?
Did you sing him a tune?
Did he long for a personal look?
The wild white men
Like a river, rolled in
Eyes turned whiskey red,
With goods to barter,
Deeds and charters,
Cash on the barrelhead
The trees all weep
White Woman’s Creek
A new wind howls on the land
The sway of the wheat
The chaff and the heat
Cling tight to the Unchanging Hand
Reverend Post
With Holy Ghost
In 61, to preach
Take 50 paces
A garden of graces
A man must work to eat
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3. |
Bouquet's March
01:52
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4. |
Schoenbrunn Song
02:51
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The sun shrines bright on the Allegain
Brother David and the mission train
Head west, hard pressed, labor pains
Taking shelter from the pouring rain
Taking shelter from the pouring rain
Two tall trees stand in the sun
Intertwined, they grow as one
From their roots a lifeblood runs
From their roots comes Schoenbrunn
From their roots comes Schoenbrunn
Sister Anne, from the City of Peace
A word of hope for the least of these
A word of truth to bless us with
A word of wisdom from the deaconess
A word of wisdom from the deaconess
John Heckewelder rolling in
A caravan of our Delaware kin
Sing a song to welcome them
The river is wide and the gate is thin
The river is wide and the gate is
Brethren, put your swords away
Let us all give thanks this day
For all the good the Lord has made
A guiding hand that doesn’t wane
A guiding hand that doesn’t wane
Hew the timber, split the wood
Take the hand of brotherhood
Taste and see that the Lord is good
Taste and see that the Lord is good
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5. |
Jesus, Still Lead On
00:50
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6. |
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I was young and steadfast, into the wilderness I roamed
A Bible in my hands, a fire in my bones
Across seas and battlegrounds, deep hardships I endured
To escape the cruelty in men and to somehow be its cure
Together we pray
Always in my thoughts, the motherland still lingered close
The trees and fields of home hung around me like a ghost
But my heart was reserved for something greater, something more
My blessed Savior, and that bright, bright shore
Together we labor
In this hollow world of sin there’s no fleeing war’s red tide
We crossed the ocean but found it waiting for us on the other side
Driven from our lands, beaten and starved in cruel exile
We would set our holy house to flame, so it would not be defiled
Together we suffer
Miracles abounded when I walked the Forbidden Trail
I placed my weak hands on their heads and they were somehow healed
The fever left that had for so long had kept them bound
They arose like resurrected ones and moved around
Together we rejoice
And in my dark night, when my soul is tossed in fear
As on that ship so long ago that brought me here
I see the hatchet head, I see them marched in rows
I see my brethren out there and they’re dying in the snow
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7. |
Gnadenhutten
02:58
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8. |
O' Goshen
03:16
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Clouds loom heavy and low, the snow is bound to be heading our way
The harvest has passed. Does nothing good last?
Must everything wither or stray?
O’ Goshen, the hills are empty and gray
O’ Goshen, Goshen
The cattle once grazed on the hillside, we put our feeble hands to the earth
Through drought and flood, cloud and sun,
We’ve known glory, baptism and birth
O’ Goshen, the last shall be the first
O’ Goshen, Goshen
Sing us a hymn that Joshua penned, sing and we’ll be gone again
Ashes and wood mark the old neighborhood,
And ghosts of what life might’ve been
O’ Goshen, your memory hangs on the wind
O’ Goshen, Goshen
O’ Goshen, the sky is turning dim
O’ Goshen, Goshen
Somewhere deep in the trees, a grave is unseen, untended and still
Henry, my son, my brother, my blood, may you find the path over the hill
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9. |
Jesus, Still Lead On
00:45
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10. |
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11. |
Garden of Separatists
03:38
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I dreamed of a garden
With narrow paths of green
At the end of the paths
Stood a towering tree
The branches were wide
As wide as the sea
I dreamed of a garden
With narrow paths of green
The brethren were singing
As they walked the thin lines
Planting and working
In the shade of the pine
And their voices resounded
On the river like chimes
The brethren were singing
As they walked the thin lines
There was laughter in the garden
There was music and care
Everyone was equal
Everything shared
They broke bread together
In the warmhearted glare
There was laughter in the garden
Music and care
When I woke from my dream
Silence filled the air
No singing was heard
The streets were all bare
I looked in the garden,
There was nobody there
When I woke from my dream
Silence filled the air
The people have scattered
Along the levee
But the flowers still bloom
And here stands the tree
The Christ still remains
And the paths are still green
The people have scattered
Along the levee
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12. |
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Look out yonder, down the tracks
Here comes the Iron Horse
Turn the page, the Industrial age
Is a comin’ here in in force
So long Sal, your old canal
I believe has run its course
Look out yonder, down the tracks
Here comes the Iron Horse
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13. |
John Funston
00:53
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14. |
Roll, River
03:57
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In came a steady stream of mill towns and factories
Innovation on its way. The foundations laid
Passing by the tollhouse man. Place some pennies in his hand
Watch the river lap the shore. Ask for nothing more
Roll, river, roll/ Fall upon us
Turn, river, turn/ Tuscarawas
Generations come and go, caught up in the ebb and flow
Narrow smokestacks reaching high, silhouette the sky
Sharpen up your plowman’s blade. Till the ground where choirs prayed
Houses fill the hillside now and the river ground
Run, river, run/ Come anoint us
Flow, river, flow/ Tuscarawas
Shutting down the locks for good; gather dust out in the wood
The locomotive had its time. Now its past its prime
Build the courthouse brick by brick. Wind the clock and hear it tick
May the judges that you find be fair and just and kind
Roll, river, roll/ And restore us
Roar, river, roar/ Tuscarawas
When your day finally comes, have your time under the sun
None of this is guaranteed. We are wind tossed seeds
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15. |
Jesus, Still Lead On
01:08
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Jesus, still lead on
Till our rest be won.
And, although the way be cheerless,
We will follow, calm and fearless;
Guide us by Your hand
To our Fatherland.
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16. |
The Flood of 1913
04:29
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The sky turned black on Easter Sunday
The sun faded away
Rushing water poured down from a black sky
The river overflowed over the train line
My neighbor downriver owned a fishing boat that he took out sometimes
He pulled down the tarp, joined up on the rescue line
He followed all the boats down into Tintown
All the lines of telegraph were washed out
Powerlines and bridges swayed, swayed, were swept away
The canal eroded down to bits of murky, muddy clay
Rushing water swept down through the valley
Rushing water poured down through the alleys
The flour mill whistle rang/ you could hear it for miles away/ 15 miles or more
They worked for 5 straight hours/ carrying bags of flour/ up to the 2nd floor
I saw a hen house floating too/ with a rooster on the roof/ feathers brown with clay
And the sky finally cleared up/ the rain slowly died away/ slowly died away
And what was left of the canal was washed right out of town/ the end of the river days
I lived on the river on a small island of mud and thatch
The people in the county called me River Rat
Stranded people, parents, sons and daughters
I helped the people get across the water
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17. |
The Big Trail
03:11
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I was only 19, following a jet stream
January wind chill, driving down the Big Trail
Driving down the Big Trail
Going for a short drive, following a tree line
Hugging every guardrail; riding on the Big Trail
Riding on the Big Trail
Moving through the old towns;
rolling wild and north bound
Factories and tall tales; all along the Big Trail
All along the Big Trail
Wild horses, mine shafts;
parties on the warpath
Listen to the drums pound,
all across these coal grounds
Picks and shovels, TNT,
rifles at the ready
Hard hand on a steam drill; working on the Big Trail
Working on the Big Trail
Rolling down the highway, coming up on midday
Just over the hillside, over where my (hands caught fire…
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