Threads CD

Produced & arranged by Joni Bishop / A collection of warm, country-folk arrangements of 13 original songs about love, family, and roots. It includes many of Joni’s most representative songs to date, and is supported by some of Nashville’s best musicians including Tammy Rogers (Dead Reckoning Records) on fiddle & mandolin / Steve Grossman (Gibson-Miller Band) on drums / Chas Williams (Wynonna) on dobro / and Adie Grey & Jill Grossman on back-up vocals...an Americana classic!  

Tracks:  * Threads  * A River & A Road * Stone By Stone * Portrait Of A Fool * Mississippi Moonlight * Ain't That Love * Waterwheel * Wild Blossoms * Blue Bouquet * Grandma's Garden * Down To The River

Lyrics

THREADS
 
There's an old patchwork blanket, my Grandma handed down
It was torn and just a little tattered, but all these years it's kept me warm

I would sit sometimes for hours watching her sewing those colored scraps
Full of joy and full of wonder and all those questions that children ask

Will it all fit together?
Brown & Yellow, Black, White & Red?
Will the pieces make a pattern
When you gather up all those Threads?

There were squares and triangles and pretty pieces from dresses she once wore
In every size and shape and color and I said Grandma, now, tell me are you sure?

Will it all fit together?
Brown & Yellow, Black, White & Red?
Will the pieces make a pattern
When you gather up all those Threads?

Now, there's no ending to my story, though Grandma's handwork was finally unfurled
'Cause the design goes on forever, a patchwork blanket that wraps around the world!

And it all fits together
Brown & Yellow, Black, White & Red
All the pieces make a pattern
When we gather up all those Threads

Words & Music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ACSAP / Adm: MCS America, Inc.


A RIVER & A ROAD
 
You and I, we're like a river & a road
Side by side, touching as they go
Where we meet is never far
Parallel is what we are
Winding, binding, a river & a road.

You stay where the road signs show
I just trust the feeling, I let it flow
Now and then we might seem lost
But farther down our paths will cross
In perfect timing,binding, a river & a road.

I raced on a head and left you behind
But what I was chasing was here all the time
So let me lean on your shoulder
And love will flow over

You and I, we have found a home
Rolling together, we're never alone
In fact we are quite the same
One direction, different names
Entwining, binding, a river and a road.

Words & music by Joni Bishop & Sally Barris / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP, Adm: MCS America, Inc / c Wrensong Publishing Corp. BMI

STONE BY STONE
 
My father was a builder
He took pride in the things he made
With every nail he hammered
A little corner-stone was laid
And if the life of things was measured
In patience, sweat & tears
Then the house that I grew up in
Would be around a million years

'Cause he built it stone by stone by stone
Made the foundation good and stong
He turned that house into a home
Brick by brick, stone by stone.

I never really thanked him
When we were busy being kids
For the bookshelves in my bedroom
And all the broken toys he fixed
But if love was somehow measured up
In memories, I suppose.....
That ol' house that i grew up in
Would be the one I love the most

CHORUS

A mansion will crumble
And a castle turn to dust
Unless it's built with a labor of love...

Now, our things are all in boxes
But I still can't quite believe
That we found the house we've been dreamin' of
And we're movin' in next week
And tho' we don't have much of anything
Except this love that's yours & mine
If we build our house from the inside out
It's gonna stand the test of time!

If we build it stone by stone by stone
Make the foundation good and stong
We'll turn this house into a home
Brick by brick, stone by stone
Brick by brick, stone by stone.

Words & music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm: MCS America, Inc.


PORTRAIT OF A FOOL
 
I went out today and bought a pretty box of paints
And a canvas in a hand-carved wooden frame
I'm gonna paint myself a masterpiece in blue
And call it my Portrait of a Fool

I'll paint eyes that didn't see that I was wrong
And empty arms that still can't believe you're gone
And two hands that let a good love slip
Right through their foolish fingertips
And I'm gonna call it my Portrait of a Fool

A picture's worth a 1000 words they say
Just take one good look at me since you went away
And you'll see a life-size masterpiece in blue
A sad and sorry...Portrait of a Fool

A picture's worth a 1000 words, it's true
Just take one good look at me since I lost you
And you'll see a a real-life masterpiece in blue
Someone who walked out on love...a Portrait of a Fool.
I'm gonna paint my Self-Portrait of a Fool.

Words & music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm: MCS America, Inc.

MISSISSIPPI MOONLIGHT
 
All along the Mississippi, sun goes down like marmalade
Folks get out and they dress up pretty, walk along the promenade
Cajun moon and a fiddle tune is all you need to feel alright
And when that band plays dixieland you're bound to dance all night

Chorus: 'Cause when that Mississippi Moonlight's shinin' on the water
You'll get caught in the spell of the delta tonight
So Darlin', put on your new shoes let's step out to the music
That they're makin' on the Bayou 'neath the Mississippi moon.

The days are long and the days are lazy, waitin' for that sun to set
Moon comes out and the nights get crazy in front of that Hotel Lafayette
Cajun songs play all night long and folks come out and spend their pay
On a bottle of wine and a good ol' time and they dance the night away

Chorus

Jean-Pierre combed his hair
And he walked on up to sweet Claudette
Took a chance, asked her to dance
Said "voulez-vous dancer?"...
She said "OK"

Chorus

Words & music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm:MCS America, Inc.

AIN'T THAT LOVE
 
It can move a mountain, melt a heart of stone
Make a man give up his money, make a king walk away fron his throne
It's the rarest of treasures this world has ever known
But you try to hold it too tightly and it's gone

Ain't that love, pure and simple
Ain't that precious stuff
And ain't it just amazing, all the wonders that it does!
So precious, pure and simple
Aint that love.

Now we can complicate it, give it others names
We can endlessly debate it, but it is and will always remain
Just as tried and true and constant as the twilight or the dawn
But you try to hold it too tightly, and it's gone.

Chorus

Now the world can keep its money, all its silver and its gold
I'd rather have the treasure of lovin' arms to hold

'Cause it can move a mountain, dry an ocean of tears
It can bring two hearts together, keep 'em faithful through the years
And it's still the rarest treasure there is or ever was
So precious and it found it's way to us
Precious, pure and simple ain't that love
...ain't that love...
And ain't it just amazing, all the wonders that it does!
So precious, pure and simple
Ain't that love.

Words and music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm: MCS America, Inc.

WATERWHEEL
 
I was just a barefoot kid with lots of time to kill
I'd spend my summer afternoons down by Walker's Mill
The river would slowly wind and the waterwheel would turn
For this 9 year old country kid there was a lot that I would learn
And that old millkeeper used to sit there all day long
Talkin' to the river and singin' this here song

He said "Now, Life's like a waterwheel
Keeps turnin' round, that waterwheel
River runs, river flows
Round & round & round it goes
And it keeps on turnin', like a waterwheel

Now, I remember later, a little farther down the line
That waterwheel kept spinnin', it turned a few more times
And me & Bobby Joe, we'd go down by the riverside
And we fell in love with the moon above shinin' down one summer night
There we made a promise for forever and a day
Now it's just a memory that the river washed away

Ain't it just ike a waterwheel
Keeps turnin' round, that waterwheel
River runs, river flows
Round & round & round it goes
And it keeps on turnin' just like a waterwheel

The years have come and gone, they tore that old mill down
And everything has changed, I hardly know my own hometown
But I still wander down there every now and then
I hear that old millkeeper's song whistlin' int the wind

He said "Now Life'slike a waterwheel
Keeps turnin' round that waterwheel
River runs, river flows
Round & round & round it goes
And it keeps on turnin' just like a waterwheel
It keeps on turnin' just like a waterwheel

Words & music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm: MCS America, Inc.

 
WILD BLOSSOMS
 
Twelve lovely roses in a blue crystal vase
All arranged so neatly, every petal in its place
I can't deny their beauty, but they will never move me
Like those wild blossoms by the banks of the river
Like those wild blossoms by the banks

They raise their arms to heaven and they bend in gentle rain
They grow in sweet abandon, their passion unrestrained
And give themselves completey, tossing caution to the wind
I want to live to love you like those wild blossoms by the banks of the river
Like those wild blossoms by the banks

So what can I offer, how can I express?
My heart wants to love you with everything I have
Not like captured roses that wither in my hands
I want to love you like those wild blossoms by the banks of the river
Like those wild blossoms by the banks....
So free and open like those wild blossoms by the banks.

Words and music by Joni Bishop & Lisa Aschmann / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP, Adm: MCS America, Inc. / c Nashville Geopgraphic ASCAP

VIVA LA LOVE
 
Bullfrog in the swamp serenadin' his girl
Oysters in bed busy makin' pearls
The crows in the pine trees, all snuggled up
All the world over Viva La Love!

Roses are red, darlin', violets are blue
Sugar is sweet, now ain't that the truth!
I don't know who wrote it but I'll tell you what
All the world over Viva La Love!

Long live romance and the moon up above
May there always be lovers somewhere fallin' in love...

And here on the porch swing it's just you and me
Oh, what an evening! Now, don't you agree?
Here's to whoever invented the stuff
All the world over Viva La Love!

Words and music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm:MCS America, Inc.

GRAMDAMA'S GARDEN
 
Grandma had a garden, a little patch out in the back
She gave that garden love and care and the garden gave it back
In the springtime there were roses, in the fall stalks of corn
I can't forget what Grandma said about the secrets of growin'

It takes sun and the good Lord's rain
Sometimes a strong back and a guiding hand
Most of all you've got to know
It takes love to make a garden grow

Grandma read the Bible, I still recall a verse or two
About the harvest being plentiful, but the laborers are few
She said 'Don;t you shy away, child, put your hands down in the earth
Because to make a sprout grow strong and tall is gonna take a little work'

It takes sun and the good Lord's rain
Sometimes a strong back and a guiding hand
Most of all you've got to know
It takes love to make a garden grow

Now, Grandma was amazing, 'bout as strong as a tall oak tree
And every flower in the garden cried when she left at ninety-three
But I know that she'd be happy to see I got some flowers of my own
I take the chldren through the garden, teach 'em all the secrets of growin'

It takes sun and the good Lord's rain
Sometimes a strong back and a guiding hand
Most of all you've got to know
It takes love to make a garden grow

Words and music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm:MCS America, Inc.

 
DOWN TO THE RIVER
 
There's a mighty river that flows right through here
It's deep and never-ending and the water's crystal clear
And if you wanna find the place where that mighty river starts
You gotta look a little deeper, to the bottom of you heart

Let's go down to the river, honey, let's jump right in
We can walk down to the water and let the river pull us in
Let's go down to the river, the one I'm thinkin' of
Let's dive into the waters of the mighty river of love

Some come to the river and they try to build a dam
To hold the waters back or to keep the waters in
But the river's strong and mighty and it'll wash away the walls
And the power of love is great enough to make all the fences fall

Chorus

Now, I know the Mississippi can move a lotta sand
And I know that canyons are carved by the Rio Grande
I've crossed the wide Missouri, stood on the banks of the Ohio
But that river of love I'm speakin' of is the mightiest river I know

Chorus

Words and music by Joni Bishop / c Mountain Glen Music ASCAP / Adm:MCS America, Inc.