Tales From the Homestead

The Telling Kind is the 12th track on Tallsome Tales. Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, organ, piano Karl Hoffmann - bass, lap steel, baritone

Belinda Bonita is the 11th track on Tallsome Tales. T'was at my best friend's wedding dance I first laid eyes on her I walked right up asked her to dance such was her allure We moved across the floor with a ballroom dancer's grace I knew that she would be mine when I felt our first embrace Belinda Bonita o come dance with me tonight Belinda Bonita o until the morning light There is no one else who can take your place You're my only heart's desire Belinda Bonita o come dance with me tonight We pledged our love eternal exchanged our wedding rings We felt like we were floating high as if we both had wings We glided down the aisle o'r the threshold we did pass Our new life lay before us I love my darling lass I came home after work one day not all that long ago Belinda's bags and clothes were gone I looked both high and low Not a farewell message could be found have I gone completely mad Or was Belinda just a dream of a love I never had Was Belinda just a dream of a love I never had Belinda Bonita o come stay with me tonight Bonita Belinda o until the morning light There is no one else who can take your place You're my only heart's desire Belinda Bonita o come stay with me tonight O come dance with me tonight O come stay with me tonight Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, percussion, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, baritone guitar Joe Fanning - acoustic guitar, mandolin

The Scarlet Oak is the 10th track on Tallsome Tales. Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, piano Karl Hoffmann - bass Heather Hardy - violin

To Be Home Again is the 9th track on Tallsome Tales. I left my home when I was just seventeen I knew all there was to know I packed my bags and drove as far as I could No one to tell me where to go Got me a job selling gas and cigarettes Graveyard shift was all I could find Married the first gal paid attention to me No one to tell me I was blind Oh to be home again It was heaven to me It was my sacred ground for years Been gone so long Makes it hard to see Just what that home meant to me Thirty years of trying to make my ends meet Creditors been knocking at my door My wife and kids walked out on me a lifetime ago Grief and sorrow burns me to the core I had not seen my folks for all these worn out years But there was nowhere else I could turn They took me in with open arms and love to spare Asking for nothing in return Oh to be home again It's heaven to me I've found my sacred ground right here It's taken o so long for Me to see Just what my home means to me Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, organ, piano, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, guitars, mandolin Joe Fanning - electric guitar Don Armstrong - banjo Björgvin Benediktsson - harmony vocals

Why Not Marry is the 8th track on The Carnivaleros' Tallsome Tales release. We've been sweethearts since we were twelve years old So why not marry me Our secrets are unlocked all our stories told Why not marry me We can live in the house that my folks passed down Be so fine just you wait and see Would be a good life I'd provide for thee Why not marry me Yes, we've been together for all these years But I cannot marry thee I know your sisters and your brothers, aunts and uncles, too I cannot marry thee I know you want to settle in our little hometown With a wife raise a family But I have to move along need to see this world I cannot marry thee Sometimes a friend's just a friend And we carry on Lovers come and go like time It's hard to find a friend That will stick to the end Won't cross that line We'll both be fine It's been so many years since you left this town You never did marry me You traveled o'r the world didn't let you down Never did you marry me I'm living in the same house in my little hometown Laid down roots like an old oak tree But I've loved you every day since you went away Never did marry me Yes, I've traveled here and there seen this big old world Never did I marry thee I feel like I've been on a tilt-o-whirl Never did I marry thee But I miss your little house on the edge of town It's taken years of trial and error to see That I've loved you every day since I went away I might still marry thee I might still marry thee Sometimes a friend's just a friend And we carry on Lovers come and go like time It's hard to find a friend That will stick to the end Won't cross that line We'll both be fine Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, percussion, vocals Catherine Zavala - vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, guitars Joe Fanning - electric and acoustic guitar Don Armstrong - banjo

The Die Was Cast is the 7th cut on Tallsome Tales. That Man you think you fell in love with That man you think is here to stay Can't see your house is made of glass Dreams only of his past Can't take you where you want to go Long ago, the Die Was Cast There was a time he said he did love you There was a time that movement seemed so slow But the cards came tumbling down when he told you Cut your losses, I love you no more Don't expect him to lay down beside you Don't expect him to say it's all okay At best all he can give to you Is a fraction of his past Can't take you where you want to go Long ago, the Die Was Cast Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, guitar Joe Fanning - acoustic guitar, mandolin

Justified Fitting End is the 5th track on Tallsome Tales by The Carnivaleros. Was you sent or did you just went Asked the preacher 'cross the table from me I told him it was neither I was backed up to a wall Certain things are meant to be I had to kill my father he was beatin' on my mother Some old fences just will not mend It was an unexpected, loosely-jointed, understated, overrated, Jaded but sophisticated, justified fitting end My Ma was a-raisin' my sisters and me In a shack on the edge of town She always did her best to keep food on the table Even though Pa was not around But he'd show up now and then in the heat of the moment Reeking of a backwoods still He'd been in a rage every day gone by Since they laid him off down at the mill He knocked us all around but my Ma got it the worst Only so far a body can bend Until his unexpected, loosely-jointed, understated, overrated, Jaded but sophisticated, justified fitting end There was a time things weren't so bad When we were knee high to a man But that must've been just a child's perception Don't remember when they got out of hand Now I'm doin' time on the local state dime I did what I had to do My Ma would've died and the bruises on my sisters Were a spectacle of black and blue I’m a peaceful man most every day But when the trouble just would not end I had to do something 'cause my ma and my sisters Had not the strength to fend If I had to do it over it would come out just the same Some old fences just will not mend It was an unexpected, loosely-jointed, understated, overrated, Jaded but sophisticated, justified fitting end Gary Mackender - accordion, organ, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass Les Merrihew - drums Joe Fanning - electric guitar Mitzi Cowell - slide guitar Björgvin Benediktsson - harmony vocals Carla Brownlee - bari sax Mike Coyle - trumpet Michael Oliver - trombone Greg Mackender - horn arrangements

The Purple Door is the 6th track on Tallsome Tales, a funky song for a film yet to be made. Gary Mackender - drums, organ, piano Karl Hoffmann - bass, percussion Ed DeLucia - guitar

Tales From the Homestead is a podcast series created and hosted by Björgvin Benediktsson, which takes you behind the scenes of Tallsome Tales, the sixth release from The Carnivaleros. Every episode, we deconstruct a new song before playing it, giving you the inside scoop on every cut off the album. You'll learn about the inspirations behind the songs and how they came to be - the fun stories, the cautionary tales, and the tragedies. Along the way, you'll learn how even the smallest of ideas evolve into full-fledged production with humorous anecdotes about the talented musicians and technical wizardry that aided them along the way. If you want to be notified of new episodes, please click this link to subscribe: https://forms.aweber.com/form/97/152003397.htm

Let’s Dance is the 2nd track on Tallsome Tales by The Carnivaleros. Björgvin Benediktsson interviews songwriter Gary Mackender and mixing/mastering engineer Karl Hoffmann about the inspirations behind the song and how it came to be. Walkin' down on 6th Street, done paid my daily dues Could feel some crazy rhythms in the soles of my shoes A barker grabbed my arm and shouted come check out the show They'll kick your ass across the floor, they're playing the Zydeco Well, I hadn't heard those sounds before so I thought I'd take a chance The music grabbed a hold of me, come on let's dance! I died and gone to heaven, my body drenched in sweat The backbeat was relentless, the squeezebox reeds were wet The bottom on that bass guitar could make a grown man weep As the drummer kicked it in to gear and started digging deep Well, I hadn't heard those sounds before so I thought I'd take a chance Let the Zydeco wash over me, come on let's dance! Gary Mackender - accordion, organ, percussion, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, guitars, background vocals Joe Fanning - electric guitar, background vocals Les Merrihew - drums, background vocals Björgvin Benediktsson - background vocals Carla Brownlee - bari and tenor sax Mike Coyle - trumpet Michael Oliver - trombone

Rudy Got Caught Again is the 3rd track on Tallsome Tales by The Carnivaleros. Björgvin Benediktsson interviews songwriter Gary Mackender and mixing/mastering engineer Karl Hoffmann about the inspirations behind the song and how it came to be. Rudy got caught in the barbed wire again He was running from the man with a bottle of gin They took back the bottle but left him on the hook So he could think about all the things he done took Rudy got caught again He'd been flirting with the law since the day he turned ten About the same time his pappy got sent to the pen His days turned into nights and his nights turned into days Might take an act of God to change his wicked ways In his dreams he was a different man Had a home, some kids, and a wife But that path was never meant to be A life of crime was his only life Now he's serving five to ten in the federal pen He was in the right place but the wrong time again He swears he didn't know after all of this time His buddies in the bank were committing a crime Rudy got caught in the barbed wire again He was running from the man with a bottle of gin They took back the bottle but left him on the hook So he could think about all the things he done took Rudy got caught again Rudy got caught in the crossfire Rudy stumbled over the tripwire Rudy thought he was a high flyer Rudy got caught again Rudy got caught again Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass Joe Fanning - electric and acoustic guitars Björgvin Benediktsson - harmony vocals

Young Danny Lee is the 4th track on Tallsome Tales by The Carnivaleros. Björgvin Benediktsson interviews songwriter Gary Mackender and mixing/mastering engineer Karl Hoffmann about the inspirations behind the song and how it came to be. Young Danny lived at the edge of town Only fifteen years was he While lending a hand to his father Jack Climbed up the roof to see Time Stood still as if transfixed By the knife of memory In a room below Jack raised his gun And shot young Danny Lee O, he shot young Danny Lee A cold wind on the prairie The day young Danny died The small Kansas town was turned upside down For he was his father's pride O, he was his father's pride Old Annie Danny's mother Healed animals by trade His father Jack a stoic man Had nothing much to say His brother and two sisters Too young to understand Moved on through life not knowing What Danny might've been What Danny might've been On the edge of that small Kansas town Tucked back all dark and gray The husk of their house still remains As if they walked away The furnishings all smell of mold Their clothes in disarray Dead vines all scattered 'cross the roof Where Danny Lee did lay Where Danny Lee did lay A cold wind on the prairie The day young Danny died The small Kansas town was turned upside down For he was his father's pride O, he was his father's pride Gary Mackender - drums, accordion Catherine Zavala - vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass Joe Fanning - acoustic guitar, mandolin

Liquor, Vice, and Sin is the 1st track on Tallsome Tales by The Carnivaleros. Björgvin Benediktsson interviews songwriter Gary Mackender and mixing/mastering engineer Karl Hoffmann about the inspirations behind the song and how it came to be. It was early in the morning all the bars were shut up tight Sidewalks were a glistening, not a taxi found in sight Dog barking at a lamppost but nobody was there Old man propped up in the alley with a thousand yard stare One more night to roll the dice and gamble for the win One more night in paradise of liquor, vice, and sin The wailing of the trains as they thunder thru the night Devil kicking up the dust under a dimly lit street light A broom was slowly being pushed from sidewalk to the street A distant siren chases ghosts of folks you'll never meet One lone man was dragging rubber barrels to the bin Eight grinning cats jumped out as the bottles tumbled in One more night to roll the dice and gamble for the win One more night in paradise of liquor, vice, and sin Wake up in the morning and wonder where you are There's a stranger next to you and a beat up old guitar Burnt out candles by the bed some soggy cigarettes A couple empty bottles several classic rock cassettes It seems like I've been here about a hundred times before As I slowly find my clothes and make my way towards the door One more night to roll the dice and gamble for the win One more night in paradise of liquor, vice, and sin One more night in paradise of liquor, vice, and sin Gary Mackender - drums, accordion, organ, toy piano, percussion, vocals Karl Hoffmann - bass, guitars, background vocals Joe Fanning - baritone, ukelele, background vocals Björgvin Benediktsson - background vocals