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Artlessness

by Leaf Crown

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1.
Antonella 04:13
Antonella Darling, I love you so But I fear I must go I just don't think I can stay here no more So please, come with me Antonella Darling, I don't know what to say But I fear I can't stay And I just don't wanna leave things this way So please, come with me I'll take you out of this town I'll take you over and around And every sight, every sound That we find will be ours just to keep I don't know what to say Just let me love you, I pray And I won't ever leave Antonella Darling, I don't know what to do Cause my heart's here with you And I just don't wanna say that we're through So please, come with me I'll take you out of this town I'll take you over and around And every sight, every sound That we find will be ours just to keep I don't know what to say Just let me love you, I pray And I won't ever leave
2.
Happiness is a loaded gun There should be laws, but I know of none Wave it around and man you'll have some fun But when it backfires watch the whole world run Carry it with you carefully Or you'll wind up wounded like me Happiness is a loaded gun light as a feather but the guilt weighs a ton Hold on tight and you'll protect all your friends But when the chamber's empty you're alone again Carry it with you carefully Or you'll wind up wounded like me Happiness is a loaded gun So lock it up and don't you show no one I did one time to this beautiful girl She shot me down and made off with the world Carry it with you carefully Or you'll wind up wounded like me So aim it high, shooting stars up there Burning bright in the cold, crisp air No one knows and no one cares That they've been dead for thousands of years Carry it with you carefully Or you'll wind up wounded like me
3.
Sink or Swim 04:12
You said yourself a time or two The only way two people knew If their love was real, was to try I know there is no guarantee If we'll work it out or be saying goodbye But I don't know what I would do Without your love and without you, it's true I'm aching just to see you again Oh just take me out into the deep end, babe I'm ready now, it's sink or it's swim 'Cause love'll take you under, make you wonder If you're coming up at all this time, this time And love will lift you up and get you stuck up in the clouds so high, so high And even though we're scared and not prepared You know we still gotta try Well, I've been waiting for you darling Yes and soon I will be holding you tight Inside that perfect heart you hold I see a woman strong and bold And so I anchor myself to you And I'm completely at your mercy Babe and even if it hurts me I'll be true While you're an ocean width away And my tonight is your today, but hey I'll be ready when I see you again Oh, just take me out into the deep end, babe I'm ready now it's sink or it's swim 'Cause love'll take you under, make you wonder If you're coming up at all this time, this time And love will lift you up and get you stuck up in the clouds so high, so high And even though we're scared and not prepared You know we still gotta try Well, I've been waiting for you darling Yes and soon I will be holding you tight There is no one I'd rather have Or that I feel I need so bad Or that I'd spend my last cent on There are so many things I'm not But all I am and all I've got is yours alone But I don't know just where to start I swear the hardest freaking part for me With anything's always to begin Oh just take me out into the deep end, babe I'm ready now, it's sink or it's swim
4.
Maybe someone out there cares And feels the pain in my heartfelt prayers There's only so much a man can take Before he falls into temptation and his own heart breaks This pain, oh, it's all I have I said this pain is all I have Maybe someone out there knows Love's under cover working in plain clothes I feel it pouring forth from everywhere If I was drunk enough I'd tell you now But I don't dare Because this hope, oh, it's all I have I said this hope is all I have I feel it now, yeah, it's in my grasp We'll fall in love and that love will last And now it's part of our repertoire It's no wonder there's no other Because I know who you are But this pain, oh, it's all I have I said this pain is all I have Maybe someone out there sees The blackened forest for the charcoal trees The flaming future's really come this far And now my heart is truly heavy For whoever you are But this breath, oh, it's all I have I said this breath is all I have
5.
I miss you so much, darling My every thought's of you There's not a moment in my day at all When that statement isn't true But you're a hemisphere away And I'm back home in Tennessee I miss you so much, darling And I wish you were here with me I miss you so much, darling I miss all the little things The way you look in the morning And the joy that it brings Even though you're miles away I know we'll work things out somehow I miss you so much, darling And I wish you were here with me now Oh, I miss you so much, darling And it tears my heart in two When I think about the distance That is keeping me from you I know this isn't what we planned But just know that for while we're apart I miss you so much, darling But you're right here in my heart
6.
Debonair 02:55
Off the cuff, unprepared You're always walking on air You said the devil may care But that you don't, no, you don't Debonair, I wish I could be that debonair But my mind works overtime Weighing the facts And it just can't relax Like a sailor with a storm-born prayer But I'm trying to be A little bit more debonair Our love checks all the above Patient and fair insouciant where and when it need be She's lovely and rare And she helps to feel Just like I'm really debonair Oh I have to admit It's so nice just to get To feel so debonair
7.
I'd been afraid of love for nearly most my life And I never knew if I'd find a wife I guess my own set of fears always kept me Just at arms length And I swore to myself I would not repeat What the previous men in my family tree did When they cut off our branch to graft it to Soemthing that never could be But there you were With a beauty and grace that made my poor heart stir You made me rethink my entire life I just want to have you right here by my side Oh here you are, oh Mia Stella, my beautiful star I love all you are, it's true I don't know what you see in me But I'm glad you do I'd understand if your dad don't like me much 'Cause I've got no money or career as such But what I've got is my heart and my word And I give them to you If you can understand my need to write and sing I can scratch out a living somehow eventually From these haphazard songs of mine I began to refine When I finally found my muse But there you were With a beauty and grace that made my poor heart stir You made me rethink my entire life I just want to have you right here by my side Oh here you are, oh Mia Stella, my beautiful star I love all you are, it's true I don't know what you see in me But I'm glad you do I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared But this time I think that my poor heart just might Finally be prepared When love comes through There truly is no place to hide Along that lawless border That forms when two hearts first collide But there you were With a beauty and grace that made my poor heart stir You made me rethink my entire life I just want to have you right here by my side Oh here you are, oh Mia Stella, my beautiful star I love all you are, it's true I don't know what you see in me But I'm glad you do
8.
Pour me another Glass of your finest wine 'Cause I just need To forget her name tonight Poor me, cause I just can't seem to get this right Although I've tried And I'll take another To cut the pain I feel tonight Cause all I have is gone And it's just no use anymore in trying Poor me, cause she just went and left me Now I'm too numb to cry You'll soon discover That all your love is a packaged lie And there's no one there At the end of the line anymore To hear your cries So poor me, cause i just can't seem to get this right Although I've tried
9.
Wedding Song 05:10
I guess I've always had something to say But I held my breath when you walked in the room The world just stopped and when you spoke to me The world resumed So many memories we've shared since then Every one I have held on tight to keep Like the night that I first kissed you And then held you as we both fell asleep There's nothing you can say or do now, baby To make me change my mind I've known life with and without you And your love's still by far the best thing a man can find And wherever we may go I just want you to know That I love you more than you could Ever, ever, ever know Well you've been with me a few years now But I still hold my breath when you walk in the room You're the one I've always longed for And you're still the one I want to hold on to And it must be hard to live with me And my often somewhat out there point of view But darling it's the great joy of my lifetime Just to know that my future's here with you There's nothing you can say or do now, baby To make me change my mind I've known life with and without you And your love's still by far the best thing a man can find And wherever we may go I just want you to know That I love you more than you could Ever, ever, ever know
10.
Seems like we've tried for so long to beat this This fear, yeah, it's still here But let's be clear I'm not leaving Cause your love's become my home I said your love It is my home This love is enough to keep me going and grounded I've roamed far alone but now I've finally found it It's your love that's my home I said your love Is now my home We both have hope in the good things that bind us Hold tight, babe, we just might Put this old world behind us It's your love that's my home I said your love It is my home Some day I may just go on and leave it Behind babe but don't mind Cause you know where I'll be returning To your love, it's my home I said your love Is now my home

about

Leaf Crown ‘Artlessness’

This is an intensely personal album for me. I wrote this record, ‘Artlessness,' after having lived in Australia for about five years. I’d formed a band, ‘The Atlas Mountains’, made a few records with them, and had been dating a girl for about 18 months when my work visa fell through and I had to return home to Chattanooga, Tennessee. At 28, I moved back in with my parents and got a job selling mattresses.

I wrote this album pretty much at work, in the mattress store. I was often in the shop by myself, and when there were no customers, I’d throw in a dip and take out my 3/4 size yamaha acoustic guitar from under the desk. And I’d write.

As dumb as it sounds, I don’t think I really planned to record and release this album, at least initially. I just had to keep myself busy. Songwriting has always been a form of therapy for me. If I write songs, exercise, and don’t spend too much time alone and/or drinking, I'm all good.

These songs were written over 12 months and serve as a kind of time capsule for that period of my life. From the moment I realised I would be leaving Australia, my band and the woman I loved; through the uncertainty of a long (long) distance relationship; through emails and Skype and sleepless nights; to having my bandmate/Jeweller friend, Scott, design and smuggle me an engagement ring; to meeting up halfway in Hawaii and asking Antonella to marry me.

When I listen back to these songs, I feel a sense of peace, on the other side of knowing. But I can also feel the loneliness embedded in so many of these words. And I think maybe there is a bit of a shift in this record. The highs and lows of loving someone you can’t see or hold. Of missing someone. Of questioning yourself. Of being forced to make adult decisions and be willing to deal with the consequences. Of having your heart being torn between two continents.

Antonella and I were separated about a year and a half. I saw her once in Hawaii when I asked her to marry me (my brother was stationed there at the time) and once in Malaysia, where I was a groomsmen in our friends’ wedding.

So basically, these songs are dedicated to my wife, Antonella. They were written and recorded for her while I was back in Chattanooga, gaining weight, being forced to shave and wear a tie everyday while ‘slingin’ springs’ (inside mattress sales lingo).

I was fortunate enough to assemble an incredible group of musicians including my very close friend and guitar slinger, Matt Lewis, along with Shaking Ray Levi Society founder and drum guru Bob Stagner, Ross Carlson, mad scientist engineer/owner of Red Crow Studios in Chattanooga, and also the incredibly kind and talented Marc ‘Buddy T’ Trovillian, of Lambchop fame.

We spent a good amount of time together in early 2012, hanging out, rehearsing, and making several road trips to Nashville to record with one of my studio heroes and Buddy T’s good friend, Mark Nevers (who has recorded everyone from George Jones to Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy). When I told Mark I would like some steel guitar on a few of the tracks, he called up multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs, who was there within an hour, setting up his rig. He asked what key the first song was in and said, ‘roll the tape.’ Before I knew what was happening he was laying down some freakishly good lines on the lap steel, which impressed and depressed me at the same time.

I went to college in Nashville and have always loved it there. Especially in Springtime. Even with my allergies. And that’s what I think about and remember when I think about this album. Sitting outside Bongo Java eating breakfast. Throwing darts. Drinking beer. Buying enough records to make sure Grimey’s stayed in business. It was Spring 2012 in Tennessee, it was warming up and everything was blooming.

I knew I was going to return to Australia in a few short months and marry the love of my life. But I didn’t know that I would only see Buddy T a few more times. I received word of Buddy T’s passing last October, while I was in Berlin. I was crushed. We had spoken through email and I was looking forward to seeing him again in just a few short weeks.

This album was written for my wife, but it has taken on an even deeper, more precious meaning for me, as I look back on it and remember with great fondness the time spent with Buddy T and the others rehearsing at Red Crow, of sitting on Mark’s porch eating bbq and chess pie, laughing, and talking about music. Listening to Buddy T’s stories about life on the road and dreaming about a European tour together. Feeling hopeful and grateful to be alive and making music.

After he passed, I knew I had to release this music, as one of the last records he played on.

I’d like to dedicate this album to his memory. I’m very grateful that we became friends and I'm honoured to have known him in this life. Now, when I listen back to these tracks, I listen for the bass. And I think of Buddy T and springtime in Tennessee and having the time of my life and laughing my ass off with a wonderful group of musicians.

So yeah, this album is important and it’s a part of me. The title ‘Artlessness’ comes from a quote I read, attributed to Claude Debussy. Whether or not it’s accurate, I no longer care, but the words still resonate with me: ‘I want to sing my interior landscape with the simple artlessness of a child.’

That’s what I tried to do with this record. I tried to make something simple and from the gut. I tried my best to avoid pretension or use any dazzling arrangements. That seemed important to me at the time.

It’s my hope that you, dear reader/listener, will take this record (paid, copied, free) and listen to it all the way through just once. It’s less than 40 minutes.

That would make me so happy. I spent a couple hundred hours, a few thousand dollars, and a lot of time alone in a mattress store making this record. And I’m proud of it.

It means a lot to me and hopefully it’ll mean something to you.

Thanks so much for reading.

God bless,

T.W. Smith (Leaf Crown)

credits

released September 9, 2014

All songs written and performed by T.W. Smith.

Copyright 2012 Leaf Crown Music.

Adriatic Boast Records.

Mixed and recorded in Mar/April 2012 by Mark Nevers, Beech House Studios, Nashville, Tennessee.

Musicians: T.W. Smith-guitar/piano, Matt Lewis-guitars, Bob Stagner-drums/percussion, Ross Carlson-guitars, Mark 'Buddy T' Trovillian-bass/keys

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Leaf Crown Perth, Australia

Born in Memphis, raised in Chattanooga, educated in Nashville, currently living in Western Australia.

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