Backwoods Halo

Mama wanted heaven, daddy wanted gone Both of 'em settled six feet down where the kudzu grew strong Forty-three this winter, knees still ache from the kneel But I ain't praying for forgiveness — I'm praying I can feel I built my chapel out of bourbon and the dust off my boots Got a stained-glass window of the man I used to shoot Eye to eye with in the mirror, before I learned to hold The kind of peace that grown men only carry when they're cold

Ain't asking heaven for a single thing Got my own kind of holy, got it riding on the wing

Backwoods halo on a hard man's head Made of cigarette smoke and the things I said Wear it like a crown, wear it like a noose This is my redemption, this is my truce Backwoods halo, backwoods halo

Met an angel at the truck stop washing blood off her sleeve She said: boy, the Lord don't show up where the carpet's clean He shows up where the wreckage finally blooms He shows up at the bedside of the men who lost their rooms Left a quarter on the bar, left her name back in town Left me with a sentence I been wearing like a crown Now I see Him in the diesel, in the dust, in the dent In every busted hand that gave more than it was meant

So I ain't asking forgiveness for the past This kind of holy don't come slow — comes fast

Backwoods halo on a hard man's head Made of cigarette smoke and the things I said Wear it like a crown, wear it like a noose This is my redemption, this is my truce Backwoods halo, backwoods halo

Y'all can keep your steeple Keep your stained-glass and your pews I'll take the back-roads gospel And the truth in busted shoes

Backwoods halo on a hard man's head Made of cigarette smoke and the things I said Wear it like a crown, wear it like a noose This is my redemption, this is my truce Backwoods halo BACKWOODS HALO

Backwoods halo... backwoods halo...

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