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Love is a Garden

by Zach Winters

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1.
Give Thanks 03:03
When you wake up in the morning do you ever say thank you to God? It’s easy to be worried, but it feels way better when you are not Think about the way that the sun comes into your heart— it brightens up the window and it brightens up some of your thoughts We don’t have to be sure of everything to give thanks just to notice a kindness as we go on our way We all know the pain of living every day but watch the world change colors when we give thanks Who’s that causing all the drama in your life it may be your best friend, your mom, or even your wife, but think for a minute how it would be if they were gone and drop what you’re doing a call them up on the phone Think of all the ways that you could’ve died in your sleep— a meteor tsunami or that sugar that I slipped in your tea— but look at who woke up and made it to a brand new day and give up your worrying and join me when I say
2.
Skin 02:25
Skin is your tie to me a sweet little go between connecting the things I keep to the hidden in you darker or lighter we all crave that simple heat the love and the mystery of the one from the two Why’s it so hard to see our skin makes family and that’s a good thing baby we’re meant to make our love grow Skin is a ghost machine a loved and a hated thing but worn by the poor and king who draw lines with their clothes, but your skin can preach to me your skin calls mine to sing a song not for whispering— I would hear every note Why’s it so hard to see each shade of majesty— you’re looking good my brother We’re meant to make this love grow Why’s it so hard to see all that you mean to me for who you are my sister We’re meant to make this love grow Skin is your tie to me a curse from Adam and Eve but far from the garden we still find blood at the root
3.
Please don’t ask how I’m doing when you see me look away I’ve got a lot on my mind, babe, and I’m not mad at you anyway Just need you to hold me Hold me It’s piling up by the road side and climbing the eves of my house, it comes like drifts in wintertime and I’m feeling ready to move further south Hold me like the sun will warm the ice and break, hold me just like that hold me just like that And you can ask me tomorrow— tomorrow is another day I don’t know how much sense I’m making but I’ve got nothing left to say
4.
When the cords we bound together are starting to decay when the words “always” “forever” are starting to bend and fray when the cold comes between us more and more each day They say enough— whatcha say, what? What have we come to if love is a feeling and I don’t feel it? You and I both know that love’s worth fighting for and I’ll fight for you And people will try to convince you of things that you want to hear like “You’ve got every right to be happy— you’ve got to do what you feel” but love is a garden and it takes two to tend it day by day, baby we can mend it But they say enough— whatcha say what? Love is humble
5.
How Long 04:46
Honey I don’t know if it’s gonna take, but love, we’ll try, we’ll give it our all Sometimes we can’t catch a break, and love’s just spent beyond recall How long will you treat me like I’m nothing? How long will you hide your face? How long can a man go on forgotten carry my sorrows day by day? Dig my heart out seeking gold, my hammer raised in a crescent arc I don’t know how much these shafts can hold— the mine trembles, bones in the dark How long do we have to count our losses How long will you hide your face How long can I wrestle with these thoughts and carry my sorrows day by day? How long will we have to bear our crosses How long will you hide your face How long till you meet me in the darkness Carry my sorrows day by day [Rest]
6.
7.
Sandstone 02:59
Sandstone and burnout time takes everything paths overgrowing from autumn to spring and the things I remember the things I forget like the shape of your body when we laid down to rest Soft-sodden wilds retracing our steps the house and the heather where the birds make their nest and the things I have hidden and covered with stones the warmth of your eyes and the length of your bones I’ll give you all that I have, oh all that I have
8.
Warm 01:04
Warm under a blanket next to you with no moonshine showing through those purple curtains that you made Summer is here those witless plants are needing shade but up the trellises they’re climbing we’ll eat the fruit that they made And I want you to know that I — I’m climbing up next to you
9.
To the Well 03:49
Carry along my little one the summer is fine and you grow Love the paths you run with your friends the fruit of the vine hanging low God, where's the path I walked you've hidden from his feet The song of a boy in innocence is incomplete Carry on my little one sicknesses come and they go I'll find the path I've heard of a well where healing waters flow God, am I wrong to ask that you would comfort me But I would give anything to heal my baby Carry across my little one tide is high and I row Seas be kind to my little one I cannot hold while I row God, where's the island well I heard of long ago Show me the living well where healing waters flow
10.
Rose 04:13
Rose, she lifts her arms in the summertime sending all her love in flowers from the vine petals fall like fingers hers to mine and we move for shelter from the heat, inside And we’re gone too long Silent through the house we steal away and my heart is throbbing with so much to say lay a while we breathe as the sun sets and illuminates our rose, her arms outstretched And it grows on till the frost comes You and I will never get old (swear to me, my dear) Cold the morning comes against the house Where did summer go — when did she slip out? Rose is pruned by winter’s gardener They keep telling me I’ll be fine, but I’m lost without her
11.
Kiln 01:59
12.
White Lie 02:52
I will ever try to find it in your face oh a love that would hold me and the promises that you and I have made— a white lie on my shoulder You know I have failed for oh so long— why do I even try to defend myself? And I tell you that it’s too hard to explain— just try to control it but the fire that I told you I would give is just a pile that smoulders How can I pretend for oh so long that I have some good in me without you? How can I have hid for oh so long when it feels so good to surrender?
13.
Psalm 23 04:33
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want he makes me lie down in green pastures he leads me beside still waters and he restores my soul and guides me where I should go Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will not fear for you are with me your rod and your staff they are comforting You prepare a table before me though my enemies press in close oil of anointing you pour over me and my cup overflows And goodness and mercy will follow me all of my days and I will dwell in your house, oh God, till time passes away

about

LOVE IS A GARDEN // This album was written in the trough between two waves. My wife & I had recently ventured into a life of music as our way of earning a living in this world, and we were pondering a long-held dream of moving to another country for our kids to learn to speak Spanish while I worked on new album. At one point I couldn’t imagine when a window might open for us to make a year-long move to a foreign country on our variable, musical income. But after touring with To Have You Around across the United States and knowing I had written most of a new work, we realized it could be as good of a time as any to go (we made some spreadsheets too). So we packed up our van and drove to Mérida, Yucatán, in southern Mexico.

It was a year of heat and humidity —a year of Saturdays spent at a cenote, swimming and resting as a family —a year of la comida Yucateca (totalmente diferente y tan deliciosa) — a year where we learned to sleep in hamacas through the night —a year of working from a small, sweaty side room and collaborating long-distance with artist friends across the US to bring fullness to these songs —a year of being welcomed and embraced by our Mexican neighbors and church community.

In the inner courtyard of many homes in Mérida, full of fruits and flowering trees, is a garden. And gardens are an image of so many things: love and growth; seasons and loss. Even though Yucatán has a year-round growing season, the trees know the time of the year. The plumerias came in early spring. The orange-red flamboyán trees bloomed in early summer. Some heliconia stayed till October. And a small flowering tree with tender white flowers bloomed only in winter. Everything has its time. Seasons bring healthy rhythm into life, remind us where we’ve been, make us set certain things aside for a time...

As I write this, we’re freshly back from Mexico. Our kids speak Spanish, and we’ve brought this new album back to share with you. And some hamacas. I hope you enjoy and can find some rest in the garden that is this collection of songs, grown with friends and family and seasons and love. — ZW

credits

released October 16, 2019

Aaron Strumpel: trumpet on Give Thanks and Rose, flugelhorn & trumpet on Hold Me
Amber Mattfield: violin on Hold Me, Sandstone, To the Well, How Long, Psalm 23 & Kiln
Caroline Hardin: violin & viola on Rose
Everett Hardin: cello on Skin, Rose & Psalm 23
James McAlister: drums on Skin, Kiln & Psalm 23
Jason Barrows: some electric guitars on Skin & Kiln
Jay Kirkpatrick: dobro on Sandstone
Jesse Proctor: drums & percussion on Give Thanks, Sandstone, How Long, To the Well, They Say Enough & Warm
John Lucas Kovasckitz: piano on Rose & Skin
Lane Winters: vocals on Give Thanks, Rose & Psalm 23
Nathan Culberson: electric guitar on Sandstone, How Long, To the Well, White Lie & Psalm 23
Zach Winters: acoustic, classical, and electric guitars, bass, ukulele, beats, claps, tambourine, accordion, piano, banjo, vocals & sternum

All songs written, produced & mixed by Zach Winters
Stem-Mastering by Dave Wilton
Additional Engineering by Glenn Deuel (piano on Rose)
Photography by Theresa-Grace Thomas (cover)

Mostly recorded in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico with other recording & remote collaborations in Oklahoma, Washington, Missouri, North Carolina, California, Indiana, Tennessee & Colorado.

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