Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing, by Kassi Valazza (2024)

1.

I’ve been out on the road drinking coffee In every truck stop and every same little town I watch the clouds disappear cause their embarrassed By the blue that follow them around In the clouds I stop to wonder what you’re doing Are you sitting on your porch singing songs About the dreams that you had while you were sleeping How I wish that I was sleeping in your arms We’ve got a room in the city It’s yellow walls keep me company Did you think I’d be out here feeling lonely? If I said I thought so too it’d be a lie When I talk to you it’s hard to be withholding And I was born to chase this blue out of my eyes In the still I often wonder about your breathing I rise and fall to its rhythm late at night Clay canyons turn to plaster in my grieving And our ceiling overtakes the sky We’ve got a room in the city It’s yellow walls keep me company Shadow mountains and the pale green rivers Drifting in and out of windy highway sounds Copper colors and some lonely search for meaning Keep me comin back and turning right around We’ve got a room in the city It’s yellow walls keep me company

2.

Some awful rapture of noise held you capturedAnd broke my stare You said it came from there, up there on the stairs No more than a second that mystery beckoned your feet to climb While I stayed behind, I held worry on my mind You don’t know how fire works it burns too slow you’ll lose it You don’t know how fire works It dies until you feed it You dug through the floorboards for some kind of folklore you heard before The newspaper was torn and the match burned bright How I couldn’t fathom this loose hanging phantom your fingers wore So yellow in hue, It was nothing I knew You don’t know how fire works it burns too slow you’ll lose it You don’t know how fire works It dies until you feed it You laugh at my temper your eyes like December so cold and blue You were smiling too, I was jealous of you Still to this day you’ve been lighting your way with the pages you burn While others read theirs first, see how bright you can shine You don’t know how fire works it burns too slow you’ll lose it You don’t know how fire works It dies until you feed it Come some lonely evening when these embers go leaving Me bitter and cold We’ll watch our bodies grow old, you’ll hear me whisper you were right You’ll laugh at my sorrow so empty and hollow I was such a foolThat I knew better than youMaking up all those rules You don’t know how fire works it burns too slow you’ll lose it You don’t know how fire works It dies until you feed it

3.

It’s times like these I wish I couldn’t keep you,Tucked within the corners of my mind Still today I wish I never claimed toWalk a straight line anytime I like I wonder if I called you, would it be alright to say I loved you Morning hasn’t broken since I told you I could use some time to make it right Now you’re just a whisper, just a notion Just a story I can read at night The clouds move slower then they ever seemed toStill they find a way to pass me byMy friends though they wonder what I’m used to To love a man who never treats me right I wonder if I called you would it be alright to say I loved you I tried to take the time to love another Just a friend that I could cling to tight His eyes they spoke with hunger and devotion But they’re not the eyes in the corner of my mind I wonder if I called you, would it be alright To say I loved you

4.

Michael blames his broken foot on lost time Sitting by the window watching planes go by In the morning light, in the morning light Rock n’ Roll pours out the radioTaking shape of sunken hills and ufos Watching planes go by, watching planes go by In the early morning here she comes Watch the sky break open see her run Watching planes go by Watching planes go by Michael take it slow and sweet soon you’ll be on your feet Autumn leaves turn to yellow and green turns to jealousy Watching days go by, watching days go by Ego trips like sunken ships washed ashore Salted galleons bold and brass you can’t ignore Feel the rivers rise Feel the rivers rise In the early morning here she comes Watch the sky break open see her run Watching planes go by Watching planes go by

5.

Where you been to? Where you been to? Said the cold covered ground Natures growing without my knowing I’d like to be somebody else I’d like to be somebody elseStill my love for you it grows Still my love for you it grows Those holy prophets With empty pockets Only visible to you Their silver bow strings play songs of old kings And they play in the light of the moon Hear them play in the light of the moon And still my love for you it grows Still my love for you it grows Songs are chosen And often broken Try to put it together againBut winters lonely and someone told me That the fames gonna get to your head That the fame’s gonna get to your head still my love for you it grows Still my love for you it grows

6.

I was praying today that I was a wolf And I was a long long way from home You asked for a tree whose roots wouldn’t grow So I drag my feet heavy across your floor I’ll ride you down breaking the earth Bitter in doubt But we’ll make it workYour voice was still as a mountain, below Echoing church bells was my approach Red colored hand by the side of the road I’d rather be lonely than on my own I’ll ride you down stomping the earth Bitter in doubtWhat’s your love worth I was hoping today that I’d dig a hole With hands on your knees you watch me work Down in the ground it’s empty and cold I’m burying secrets I haven’t told I’ll ride you down stomping the earthBitter in doubt but we’ll make it work I was praying today I was a wolf and I was a long long way from home

7.

I’ll leave it up to you said the woman by the door No matter how you choose it’s all the same Has it always, has it always been this way? She works for the Highway and she doesn’t seem to mindThat the road all around is filled with debris Empty cans cigarettes she laughs alone at what she seesShe says the rhythm of the headlights bouncing off those concrete walls creates a light in the spaces too dark to see Jealousy you get the best, you get the best of me She lost a bet down at the roadhouse she said her face holds canyon lines Wearing down all the Whiteness in her teeth But she’s smoking cigarettes and she’s broke as she can be What do they know? What do they know? The sun sets its chin on her Highway so black and bare When she hears a song like an old friend coming toDark corners turn to canyons just like she always knewWhat do they know? What do they know? What do they know? What do they know?

8.

With your note stuffed in my pocketA smile spread across my faceI pretend it doesn’t matter When I read that you wont stayI guess I could have left the light on Or stayed awake to see you home But good intentions go unnoticed And I fare better on my own I was struggling to walk a straight line When I met you months agoI thought by now I’d be much better At being loved and letting go But words can start to look familiar When all I wanted was a change But I found a home with in it And I loved you all the sameI guess I could have left the light onOr told you I was so unsure But still the wind it blew you my wayAnd it didn’t matter anymore I let the silence come between us And I let my pride take its place But I’ve still got your note for reading When your gone and on your way I guess I never had no patience For doing things a different way I guess I could have left a light on With a smile on my face

9.

As I was laying on my floor Hiding dreams from the t.v. I heard a knocking at my door While my eyes faked sleeping Outside the door your feet were found I didn’t move or make a sound I’ll cover up your welcome song Drown it out completely And sure as hell you’ll see me run On feet thought to be forgiving Into the door you sang so clear Into the floor I disappearAll that you give all that you give It leaves you so tired All that you give All that you give It leaves you so tired I’ll build you up I’ll build you downThe circle always spinningLike tired eyes sit small and round Or tiny time bombs turning You give it back and it comes unwound Nothing you keep stays as it’s found All that you give All that you give It leaves you so tired All that you give All that you give It leaves you so tired

10.

And now I see the wind Coming from Northwest And I hear those honkers againOn their rounding quest Over lords valley I roll like a ball And in the wind I hear them callWild goose loose goose I count them all Yonder stepping that old white walking wolf Hungry as always Long legs and long legs and tail And a long long wail I had an old goose and I tried to keep her But she awake and I the sleeper She flew away and left me the weeper But there ain’t no chill cold wind Blowing through our love nest And I hear your heartbeat againIn the wilderness I had an old goose and I tried to claim her It’s only in the wildness can you name herIt’s only in the wildness can you tame her

EU customers, to save $ on shipping please order from LOOSE MUSIC

There is a cult-like fascination growing around Kassi Valazza following the self-release of her 2019 debut album Dear Dead Days and her surprise 2022 EP Highway Sounds. She is seated squarely at the vanguard of new American songwriters strengthening and broadening the sound of country music as she tours with celebrated acts such as Melissa Carper and Riddy Arman. The Southwestern native resides in Portland, a hotbed of songwriters producing albums that both bear the torch and bend the arc of American roots music.

Valazza’s forthcoming new album Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing is a spellbinding collection of songs that dangle like protective magic talismans, catching dreams and glinting light. She hypnotizes listeners with a sturdy, yet gentle, voice and painterly songwriting imbued with an independent spirit. Though her music plays country cousin to British folk, calling to mind greats like Sandy Denny (Fairport Convention) and Karen Dalton, a Southwestern American streak carves its way through these solemn, sweetly sung melodies like a canyon.