Free Country

“Alias James is a rough and tumble character, a renegade rocker whose take on Americana brings him into that special sphere where Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson chose to reside while inventing what came to be called outlaw country music.” – Goldmine Magazine

The best news is how powerful songs like “Another Last Chance,” “Catch Myself,” Kickin’ Up a Shitstorm” and “Where You Used to Be” are. There is a feeling like there was in the mid-1970s when artists like Waylon Jennings, Billy Joe Shaver and a few others said the hell with how things were being done in Music City and decided to do it their own way.” – Bill Bentley

He has good dark lyrics & creative poignant lines. “Kickin’ Up a Shitstorm,” is striking, while “Where You Used To Be,” is distinctive & penetrating, a great country song…simply great. There’s no doubt James has been influenced by many genres within the country frame. Alias has his Merle Haggard & Buck Owens solidly in his soul. He has value-added.” – Americana Highways

Free Country is traditional country for tomorrow, and as close to the real thing as modern times will allow. Well done. MIDWEST RECORD

 From reviews of the first single “Hell (If I Don’t Cry)” – 

“It’s impossible to not clap and belt out along with the chorus.” – THE COUNTRY NOTE

Hell (If I Don’t Cry)” boasts an infectious chorus enhanced by a traditional country-leaning production, with enough steel guitar to make any listener instantly fall in love with the song. I can’t wait to see where Alias goes.” – OK COUNTRY

Hell (If I Don’t Cry),” is a bonafide country-rocker & first single released. That will get feet moving & bosoms shifting in their peasant blouses. Love it.” – John Apice

Videos

Catch Myself Debuts This Week on “Country Fix,” Heartland-TV and more:

NASHVILLE, TENN.— With family roots in Bakersfield, CA, one of Alt Country’s most promising new artists, singer/songwriter Alias James’ latest release, Catch Myself, is getting great recognition. With more than 150K views on YouTube, the video quickly caught the attention of multiple television and streaming networks. Catch Myself will be available for viewing in over 120 million additional households as it makes its premiere on The Heartland Network’s “Country Fix” show, beginning the week of April 29, 2024. Catch Myself is already in rotation on American Music Channel, Canyon Star TV, CMCTV, Dave Caley’s Country Park, Gone Country Corral, My Jam Country Network, among others.  – Read Entire Press Release Here –

Photos

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Credits

ALIAS JAMES

FREE COUNTRY

produced by Alias James
engineers: Alias James, JP McLean, Pablo Quintero
mastered by Mark Fuller
album art: Mariah Lander

Alias James: vocals, guitars
Dave Zirbel: pedal steel
JP McLean: bass
Ezra Lipp: drums
Jenee Fleanor: fiddle on “Free Country” and “Temptation (Vision To The Blind)”
Candy Girard: fiddle on “Shenandoah Farewell” and “Blues Up”
Prayer Chapel singers: chorus vocals on “Temptation (Vision To The Blind)”

contact: ravenhoodmusic@gmail.com

Lyrics

ANOTHER LAST CHANCE

end of the summer comes slow until the day

chilly wind starts to blow

but it takes forever until you know

you could have it all and never know

 

and it’s another last chance

comin back again

comin by like a satellite

and how long has it been since you had

somethin makes you want to stay

up all night

 

life in the saddle means broken bones

that take forever but somehow mend

and it’s been forever since you been alone

watchin a dream go round the bend

 

are you gonna hang on

to a world that’s gone

and bury me not on the lone prairie

is it a last chance

or just a cowboy song

that keeps you hangin on

to wait and see

 

and it’s another last chance

comin back again

comin by like a satellite

and how long has it been

since you had

somethin makes you want to stay

up all night

(c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

FREE COUNTRY

he said I’ll be in your dream

if you’ll be in mine OK

she said boy open your eyes and tell me

whose dream it is anyway

 

it’s a free country

and you can see what you want to see

it’s a free country

 

she said boy you got a ghost town heart

empty streets and swingin doors

and I’ll let you know when I find what it is

I might be lookin for

 

it’s a free country

I can go where I want to be

it’s a free country

 

late night flashin lights

hands on the hood

what you doin here anyway

guess you must’ve misunderstood

hey even if you look like me

it’s a free country

 

team ropin champ in a one horse town

dreaming of the rodeo

ain’t nothin what it used to be

and California’s sayin let’s go

 

he says it’s a free country

ain’t nothin stoppin me

it’s a free country

it’s a free country

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music/ ASCAP)

TEMPTATION (Vision to the Blind)

bout a half past crazy

slow motion fallin from grace

 

just a touch and just a taste and just a night sweat

just a dream about the wasteland and can’t get

 

walkin on a thin line

holdin back the ocean

 

through the battle through the war better levitate

wake up lookin for something to get your head straight

 

pushin down on me

maybe to you it don’t matter

how it’s gonna be

if someone’s life gets shattered

 

temptation

I can take it

temptation

 

there’s a man in prison

says he wouldn’t do it again

 

comin at you like a twin tornado

all you need now is an anchor and a halo

and you’re like a vision

to the blind

 

it’s a lonesome world

sometimes for everybody

and what’s it gonna hurt

if they never know

 

temptation

I can take it

 

is heaven callin

or am I fallin down

from my perfect cloud

if nothin’s broken

why am I hopin

you are comin back around

 

temptation

I can take it

temptation

and you’re like a vision

to the blind

 (c) 2022  ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

CATCH MYSELF

dirt road and a two room shack

only thing keeps me comin back

then I catch myself

go on and be all you can be

last thing you said to me

and then I catch myself

 

could it be that I’m mistaken or

maybe it’s the world that’s breakin

like a heart can’t handle the memory

like a bullet through my soul

leavin an empty hole

 

leaves tremblin in the tree

I can feel it coming over me

and then I catch myself

out of the corner of my eye

I can see you holdin up the sky

then I catch myself

 

sunrise I wake up callin

sundown and I’m still fallin

and I know that’s all that it’s gonna be

like everywhere I go

and everything I used to know

 

hold my fever down

hold on

come on baby

hold on

 

it’s all good as it can be

when you’re ridin right next to me

and then I catch myself

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

KICKIN UP A SHITSTORM

the weather woman’s laughin like it’s gonna be just another day

and the sun comes up and everybody sleep walkin in a dream

and they don’t know how but it always turns out OK

wonder what’s gonna happen when there’s nothin moving on the screen

 are you gonna wake up

when it starts to shake up

and the lifeline to your eyes

starts to break up

are you gonna wonder

when you hear the thunder

and it starts kickin up a shitstorm

wonder what you gonna get under

 

the old man says boy can you pass the mirror test

when the zombies come you know you’re gonna have to wake up

do you wanna push a button pop a pill kiss the screen like the rest

what you gonna do when your last good reception starts to break up

 

see it on a hashtag

gonna be a big drag

when it blows up in your face

like a fucked up airbag

are you gonna show up

when it starts to blow up

when it’s kickin up a shitstorm

and everything around you gettin tore up

 

well it’s just another dream and that’s all that it ever was

and it’s a long way back from a ride on the nightmare side

but you wonder when you’re out lookin for another buzz

bout the leaves shaking in the trees

and the ripples in the water down where the river’s wide

 

are you gonna wake up

when the lifeline to your eyes starts to break up

are you gonna wonder

when you hear the thunder

and it starts kickin up a shitstorm

wonder what you gonna get under

when it starts kickin up a shitstorm

and everything around you gettin tore up

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

BLUE ENOUGH FOR TWO

I’m blue enough for two

don’t let it get to you

no don’t catch my cold

you know I’d love to hold you

but I’d feel bad

to see you sad

better go before I do

I’m blue enough for two

 

it’s hard to start again

when I remember when

she said she wanted more

as she walked out the door

and I don’t know why

I bought the lie

bout a dream won’t be coming true

I’m blue enough for two

 

your sunshine eyes

sunny skies

the only blue on you

is in my eyes

it’s no surprise

cause all I see is blue

 

if I get up this hill

I’m climbing still

and I get to the view

another one more time

when maybe I am through

bein blue enough for two

 

I’m blue enough

(c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

HELL (if i don't cry)

sittin on a tailgate listenin to George Strait

should woulda coulda but it’s lookin like it’s too late

dude’s got a broken heart tryin not to fall apart

lifeline flat line fallin right off the chart

 

takin off time for livin

second on chances right before you see

I had the sound of a thousand angels singin to me

now I’m guessing that this is the way it’s gonna be

 

hell if I know

hell if I know why

hell is where I go

and hell if I don’t cry

 

downhill no brakes hello Alabama Shakes

gravity draggin me into the land of heartaches

broke down tough guy in for a rough ride

all alone dead phone sittin by the road side

 

they say the devil used to live in heaven

once upon a time before he fell

oh yeah I was lovin that living with an angel

now I’m waking up every day and I’m in

 

hell if I know

hell if I know why

hell is where I go

and hell if I don’t cry

 

wake up in a truck stop listening to hip hop

turn the key misery laughing and it won’t stop

heartache’s calling Tom Petty’s Fallin

radio preacher sayin call me if you’re stallin

 

got a heart like the Titanic

goin down to the sound of violins

but that iceberg icecold icewater’s like a sweet dream

down where the flames are burnin up their sins

 

hell if I know

hell if I know why

hell is where I go

and hell if I don’t cry

 

maybe it’s a guy thang

just a little more twang

universe in reverse

headed for the big bang

runnin outta rewind

takin over your mind

cruisin while you’re losin

what you know you ain’t gonna find

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

WHERE YOU USED TO BE

well I’m walking uphill

with a trunk on my back

full of our dreams

and your beautiful clothes

and the ground around me

is startin to crack

and I hear hear a door

behind me swing closed

and if you’re gone

who’s walking next to me

there’s a hole in my heart

where you used to be

 

are you behind my eyes

or are you a ghost

a chalk silhouette

that fades in the rain

a shadow I know

that follows me close

everywhere I been lookin in vain

and the sun comes up

but I can’t see

there’s a hole in my heart

 

and if you’re gone

who’s walkin next to me

there’s a hole in my heart

where you used to be

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

THOUSAND HEADLIGHTS

thousand headlights from Tennessee

eyes on the road but it ain’t what I see

and it looks like it takes more than miles to get free

I don’t know why

it keeps on killin me

after all of this time

 

I know highway signs telling me I’m moving on

and I know I could drive for days and still ain’t gone

and I know what they call this road that I’m on

but I don’t know why

it keeps on killin me

after all of this time

 

hey there you better get off here

I can see you’re all alone

you know if you lived right here

you’d be almost home

 

and behind every headlight’s a world of pain like me

who would do anything in this world to get free

 and I don’t know why

it keeps on killin me

after all of this time

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

SHENDANDOAH FAREWELL (Instrumental)

(c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

BLUES UP

gseven to eleven

like the weather man says 

no silver linin to it

better blues up

better get ready

better look out below

some like to love the leavin

here it comes again

blues up

 

about to fall like the final judgement

I been about to hell and back

got a double line to lose me baby blues up

like a tornado comin

seein is believin

gimme back my loving soul

oh better get ready

ready to be feelin bad

blues up

some bound to love the leavin

blues up

 

keeps the honky tonk in business

bartender sees a friend

like the beginning sees the end

blues up

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

GATHERING CATTLE

night comes kickin and screamin

for what you ain’t done

soon to be dreamin

of missing the very last one

you look out slowly

far as you can see

ain’t it funny

how the last one can turn into three

gathering cattle   

 

 (c) 2022 ALIAS JAMES  (Ravenhood Music / ASCAP)

Audio

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