Don’t Take The Road

“jump on the trail and off of the street, crunch some leaves under your feet”
This song started forming in my head during the climb back up to the Fowler-Hilliard hut near Camp Hale in Colorado. It was one of those rare and miraculous visitations by the muse: by the time I reached the hut the song was all written. We had gone out to ski untracked slopes we could see across the valley from the hut. The easiest way to get there was on a road used by snowmobiles. As we trudged up the road the sleds flew by us towing skiers headed for the same slopes we’d spent all morning approaching. At the bottom of the run, the road with its massive walls of snow felt like an EZ bake oven, choked with fumes and noise from the roaring sleds. So we left the road and cut our own trail entering the cool, quiet forest as we snaked our way back up in silent reverie, taking in the incredible views and feeling the deep satisfaction of making our own path under our own power. Just get off the beaten tracks and on your own feet, skis, peddles, paddles.

Barry Oreck – vocal, guitar

Rusty Holloway – bass

Bob Harris – slide guitar

Anthony Hannigan — mandolin

Originally released on Barry Oreck (2016 CD)

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  • Don’t Take The Road by Barry Oreck (BMI)

     Don’t take the road       take your foot off the gas
    Don’t take the road       you can find your own path
    Don’t take the road       Its too wide and too loud
    You can get where you’re going without following the crowd

    Don’t take the road       no need to get there so fast
    Don’t take the road       get off of your ass
    Don’t take the road       There’s an opening there
    And on your two feet you can go anywhere

     Good rotation, beat stagnation Get your feet rolling one at a time
    The more you trust your balance the steeper you’ll climb

     Don’t take the road       Get some mud on your shoes
    Don’t take the road       You’ve got everything to lose
    Don’t take the road       Keep your eyes on the prize
    And discover what you’ll find when you improvise

    Don’t take the road       It’s the easy way out
    Don’t take the road       Its not what you’re about
    Don’t take the road       You may wander alone
    But at least your choices will be your own

     If you drive the whole fleet on a slab of concrete
    Pretty soon there won’t be room for a pair of bare feet
    If the roar of the machine is never in retreat
    and all we have to breath is what they excrete
    you’ve just gotta get out of your seat

    So don’t take the road …
    Don’t take the road       If there’s another way
    Don’t take the road       There’s no turning back
    If your headed to the top take the unbroken track

    Six lane highway, or backwoods byway
    Jump on the trail and off of the street
    Crunch some leaves under your feet
    Move your body, make your own heat
    It’ll pay you for the effort, make it feel so sweet

    Out in the meadow, not the concrete ghetto
    There must be a way to get away There must be a way to get away

download the tracks at bandcamp