Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus
Ray of Hope 1 I Never Give Up (3:10)
2 Thornton Ave (2:55)
3 End of a Dream (2:34)
4 Old County Rd (2:15)
5 She’s So Disappointed (2:43)
6 Finally Let You Go (2:15)
7 Wrong End of Love (3:07)
8 Permanently Blue (3:06)
9 Hole in His Heart (2:39)
10 (Ballad of the) Oxbow Inn (4:14)
11 I Turn To You (3:13)
Produced by Ron Flynt
Jim Patton: acoustic guitar, vocals
Sherry Brokus: vocals
Ron Flynt: bass, keyboards, acoustic guitar, vocals
Rich Brotherton: acoustic guitar, mandolin, cittern
Scrappy Jud Newcomb: acoustic guitar, resonator
Warren Hood: fiddle
John Bush: percussion
© ℗ 2010 Jim Patton/Sherry Brokus PO Box 93081 Austin TX 78709-3081
(512)280-8455 pattonbrokus@gmail.com, http://www.pattonbrokus.com
Produced, recorded and mixed by Ron Flynt at Jumping Dog Studios, Austin TX
Mastered by Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital Audio, Inc., Austin TX
Cover and art by: Matt Eskey
Photo by Mike Penard
John Bush plays Gon Bops congas & percussion
Spiritual adviser: R. Gene Munger
All songs written by Jim Patton except:
“Hole in His Heart” and “I Turn To You” by Jim Patton & Frank Mirenzi
Sequenced by JP, Jeff Talmadge, David Broyles w/an assist from Lee Cadorette
Jim & Sherry would like to thank everyone who played on the record, played in the band, recorded us, promoted us, gave us airplay, loaned us money, came to the shows, listened to the songs, bought our records, put us up for the night, or otherwise helped us on our way. You are too numerous to mention individually, too important not to mention at all.
The Rest of the Band: Mary Cutrufello, Richard Bowden, Sweet Mary Hattersley, Stuart & Hilary Adamson, Karen Mal, David Glaser, Doug “E” Rees, Larry Passalacqua, Jon Sanchez. We are blessed to have you part of our lives.
Above & Beyond: Jeff Talmadge, John & Candy Harsany, John & DL Conquest, Brian & Pam Kalinec, Charlie Stewart, Geoffrey Himes, Pigeon O’Brien, Lisa Grey, Vanessa Lively, Daktari, Lisa Fancher, Randy & Gaye, Austin & Connie, Todd & Meg, Lady Janet, Joe & Bev, Cash Edwards, Liz Rouse, Will T Massey, Valerie Fremin, Peg Miller, Curtis@Evangeline’s, K.C. Clifford, David Broyles, Paul Barker & Artz, Effron White, Tommy Byrd, Don Cunningham, Dana McBride, Andy & Katie, Mike & Jo, Danny & Rene′, Kathryn & Alan, Bill Wence, Duggan, Greg@NeWorlDeli, Terri Hendrix, Mary Battiata, Kevin Elliott, KUT, KGSR, WDBX, every club that’s booked us, every house concert that’s given us a home, every station that’s played our songs, and the incredible music community of Austin, Texas.
“False hope is still hope”
– Jon Dee Graham, Austin TX
( the official motto of jondeeco ™)
I Never Give Up
(Jim Patton)
I never give up
I’m just a stubborn fool
Oh, I get down sometimes
Just the same as you
I’ve believed in dreams
That would not come true
And I’ve lost some friends
I didn’t mean to lose
But I never give up
Not me
Sometimes I get so angry
Sometimes I get confused
Sometimes I get so worried
I don’t know what to do
But I never give up
Won’t let my spirits fall
I will rise above
I will stand up tall
Some people try to drag you down
And bring you to your knees
Sometimes a ray of hope
Is all the light you need
It’s been a long hard road
But I’m not nearly through
I’m gonna live my life
Like I set out to do
Cause I never give up
I always get back up
I never give up
Don’t you
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Thornton Ave
(Jim Patton)
I took a walk down Venice Beach
Through our old neighborhood
I wondered if you live there still
Or if you’ve vanished now, for good
You blazed a trail I followed once
When I was just a youth
When you lived down
On Thornton Ave
I’d hitchhiked from Seattle
Just ‘cause I was on the coast
Isadora’s Towers
Are what I remember most
Sun going down into the waves
From a penthouse view
When you lived down
On Thornton Ave
Endless conversation
Ideas burned so bright
Anything was possible
If you learned to do it right
You sold a painting to Beau Bridges
Your dreams were coming true
When you lived down
On Thornton Ave
Life was still a carnival
You liked the scary rides
Even in a hurricane
You liked to stand outside
You swore allegiance to a way of life
In search of truth
When you lived down
On Thornton Ave
The last time that I saw you
There was madness in your eyes
The last time that I saw you
You wouldn’t say goodbye
You’d had too much to drink
You couldn’t see my point of view
So I moved out
Of Thornton Ave
Endless conversation
Ideas burned so bright
Anything was possible
If you stepped into the light
You almost made it to the sun
Look how close you flew!
When you lived down
On Thornton Ave
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
End Of A Dream
(Jim Patton)
The world that you’ve lived in
Used to be blessed
You thought you were special
Above all the rest
But you came crashing down
Like a pyramid scheme
And it looks like you’ve come to
The end of a dream
You don’t know what went wrong
You’re not sure what to do
You never thought
This could happen to you
You were the best of the best
The cream of the cream
But it looks like you’ve come to
The end of a dream
At the end of a dream
At the end of a dream
Your friends try to tell you
It’s not as bad as it seems
But the world is coming
Apart at the seam
And it looks like you’ve come to
The end of a dream
© 2002, 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Old County Road
(Jim Patton)
I’m going down Old County Road
Soon as I cash my paycheck
There’s gonna be a party tonight
Down Old County Road
Nick’s gonna bring a jug of wine
Jim Brady’s bringing candy
We’re gonna have a real good time
Down Old County Road
There’s gonna be a keg of beer
And chili on the stove
And somebody’s gonna fall in love tonight
Down Old County Road
They’re gonna have a real good band
They sound like the Rolling Stones
They’re gonna sing some songs they wrote
About Old County Road
I’m gonna stay up all night long
Make some memories
Nobody’s gonna get to sleep tonight
Down Old County Road
I’m going down Old County Road
Soon as I cash my paycheck
There’s gonna be a party tonight
Down Old County Road
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
She’s So Disappointed
(Jim Patton)
She’s so disappointed
In the story of her life
Her fairytale is over
She still feels like a sailor’s wife
Even when her man was home
He might as well have been at sea
Now she’s so disappointed
And he’s still running free
She’s so disappointed
In just about everyone
She was her daddy’s Princess
She was his special One
But up until the day he died
He saw her as sixteen
Now she’s so disappointed
Sometimes it makes her mean
Nobody gives her credit
Or takes her seriously
Nobody knows how hard it is
That especially goes for me
She’s so disappointed
Some days she can’t get out of bed
She’s so disappointed
She’s been so easily misled
She has affairs with married men,
Old high school boyfriends
Now she’s so disappointed
Cause they haven’t changed since then
She’s so disappointed
In how blind men can be
She’s so disappointed
Especially with me
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Finally Let You Go
(Jim Patton)
Well, I finally let you go
I just wanted you to know
You may believe that it’s not so
But I finally let you go
No, my new love’s not like you
My new love’s straight and true
All that’s left for me to do
Is to wave goodbye to you
I’d been holding on so long
When the dream was dead and gone
After everything went wrong
I still kept holding on
But I finally let you go
I just wanted you to know
You may believe that it’s not so
But I finally let you go
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
(Working On the) Wrong End Of Love
(Jim Patton)
He met her for breakfast at the Honeybee
Out on Ritchie Highway
She just ordered coffee, black,
He didn’t touch his eggs
She kept looking at her watch
While he was studying at her face
Working on the wrong end of love
He thinks of how they started
All the laughs they shared
While she thinks about the dreams that died
Or ended up nowhere
They wonder how they got here
And why life is so unfair
Working on the wrong end of love
Like a condemned man eating his last meal
Everything’s so bright; everything’s unreal
While she can’t even remember how she used to feel
He paid the check, left a dollar tip,
She was already out the door
He caught up with her by her Dodge
Outside the High’s Convenience store
He talked like he thought he could change her mind
If he talked a couple minutes more
Working on the wrong end of love
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Hole in My Heart
(Jim Patton & Frank Mirenzi)
There’s a hole in Jenny’s heart
Where Johnny used to be
She tried to fill it up
With his memory
She turned to drink
She turned to drugs
She turned to God
With her obsessive love
Jenny’s got a hole in her heart
Jack quit drinking
When he finally bottomed out
He put himself back together
But something got left out
Some odd piece he could not fit
Some worn out part that finally quit
Jack has got a hole in his heart
He’s got a hole in his heart
That the wind blows through
He’s got a hole in his heart
He’s eternally blue
Jack has got a hole in his heart
Nick moved down to the beach
Then he just gave up
He says he hasn’t
But he lies about all that stuff
Too many debts
He could not pay
Too many dreams
That slipped away
Nick has got a hole in his heart
He’s got a hole in his heart
That he just can’t fix
He’s got a hole in his heart
And it’s making him sick
Nick has got a hole in his heart
He’s got a hole in his heart
That the wind blows through
He’s got a hole in his heart
He’s eternally blue
Nick has got a hole in his heart
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Permanently Blue
(Jim Patton)
She never told me anything that happened
Her past was like a scar upon her face
I knew her reputation just in passing
Something somehow ended in disgrace
Even when her Irish eyes were smiling
Even underneath a Lover’s Moon
Even when I was at my most beguiling
She was permanently blue
Something in her voice was so familiar
Something in her sorrow spoke to me
As though the two of us were never strangers
As though the two of us were meant to be
I’d like to tell you how pure were my motives
But you and I know that would not be true
I pretended to myself I didn’t notice
She was permanently blue
I asked her for a dance
She said: I don’t dance
But I’ll sit and drink awhile if that’s ok
Eventually I asked
If I could walk her to her car
Eventually she let me walk away
Cause even when her Irish eyes were smiling
Even underneath a Lover’s Moon
Even when I was at my most beguiling
She was permanently blue
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
(Ballad Of) The Oxbow Inn
(Jim Patton)
I was up at the Oxbow, playing guitar
When I first met Sherry, standing at the bar
She’d had too much to drink
She asked me if she could sing
And I told her: “Sure!”
“We can play anything!”
Now my brother was mad
He played guitar in the band
And we had a rule:
“Let no Stranger sit in!”
Still, she knew the words to “Cowgirl in the Sand”
And he knew the chords, so we started to jam…
And she sang all right
Her voice was strong
She got a little confused
When we went on and on
But the next time we saw her
She sat in again
My brother agreed with me
Or else just caved in
And that was the moment
That changed my whole life
Cause that was the place
Where I first met my wife
Let’s drink to the night that I let her sit in
Let’s raise a glass to the Oxbow Inn
Now I never much cared for the Oxbow Inn
It was a place we could play, but I never fit in
It was way too expensive for all of my friends
We got fired and I didn’t see her again
The band broke up; we started a new one
My brother and me went auditioning women
And she was at Dave French’s house with a friend
We ended the night at the Oxbow Inn
But I wasn’t with her
I ended up with her friend
But let’s raise a glass to the Oxbow Inn
Let’s drink to the night that I let her sit in
Let’s raise a glass to the Oxbow Inn
Down Ritchie Highway, in Arnold, Maryland
She didn’t get the job
She ended up second
She kept calling my Mom’s house
To see if she could sing backup
Then one day the new girl didn’t show up at all
And my brother said: “Hey, let’s give Sherry a call!”
Thirty years later
She’s still in the band
Whattya say?
Let’s give her a hand!
It still took us a while to get it together
But we became friends and our road changed forever
I asked her to a party but she could not attend
I was pretty sure she had an old boyfriend
Then we had our own party one night after practice
It started to snow and I said: “That looks dangerous!”
“Why don’t you just stay with me for the night?”
“Just to be safe” and she said: “All right”
I don’t need to say more
The rest is now history
Let the reason and why
Remain shrouded in mystery
Let’s drink to the night that I let her sit in
Let’s raise a glass to the Oxbow Inn
Because that was the moment
That changed my whole life
That was the place
Where I first met my wife
So let’s drink to the night that I let her sit in
Let’s raise one more glass to the Oxbow Inn
In Arnold, Maryland
© 2010 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
I Turn To You
(Jim Patton & Frank Mirenzi)
In this world
Full of trouble, pain, and sorrow
In this world
Full of pain and misery
When I’m lost
And I can see no light before me
I turn to you
In my hour of need
I turn to you
When outside the battle’s raging
I turn to you
When the hard rain starts to fall
I turn to you
When I don’t know where I’m going
When the wind blows cold and hungry in the darkness
I turn to you
In my time
I have climbed the highest mountain
In my time
I have sailed the deepest sea
In these times
When I’m lonely and uncertain
I turn to you
In my hour of need
© 1986 (Independent Alligator Publishing Co) (ASCAP)
Jim Patton & Sherry Brokus 