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BOX TRUCK BOOGIE

by TOMMY AND THE OHS

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1.
I don’t know what I was on, but honey I’m off it now When we were together our love was true though we had a couple fights like young lovers do I told you i was sorry, there’s no way I could lie because without my one and only I think I’d rather die If I’d treated you babe, like I treated myself you know you’d never have the notion to put me back on the shelf I don’t know what I was on, but honey I’m off it now Lately I’ve been thinking, solitary drinking wondering if your going out with someone else this weekend You said you wanted a change, you said you wanted to part but honey all we need is a second start When you gave me your hand, sometimes I pushed it away but if you gave it back I’d hold it constantly Now I know the reason, the problem was me I’ve been stuck in the mash since two-thousand and three I don’t know what I was on, but honey I’m off it now
2.
ON YER OWN 03:03
Where does all the time go, when you're all on yer own? Time moves so slow, we’re all on our own But that just gives more time to live people take and people give it away Where does all the time go when you’re all on yer own? Where will all my stuff go when I'm gone from this world? Things will come and they will go when yer gone from this world But that just gives more joy to bring so take my song and make it ring, make it sing Where does all the time go, when yer all on yer own?
3.
SO IT SEEMS 02:49
When I was a young man long ago I was living life from show to show then you held me in your arms it was like a dream the rest is history, or so it seems There’s nothing we can do to change the past for the memories we shared should always last Now the only time I see you is in my dreams the rest is history or so it seems Or so it seems, or so it seems as I spend another night without you or so it seems Now it’s one year later I’m still standing by the door staring at the driveway hoping that your car will show Now its one year later I’m still holding on to your ring the rest is history or so it seems Or so it seems, or so it seems As I spend another night without you Spend another night without you baby Spend another night without you or so it seems
4.
CANDY JAIL 02:39
Pain works on a sliding scale so does pleasure in a candy jail True love doesn't come around any more than fate allows on a Monday in Ft. Lauderdale I came all this way to see your grave to see your life as written paraphrased I have tried be it is written in the furnace of affliction this is what you couldn't face Life in a candy jail with peppermint bars peanut brittle bunk beds and marshmallow walls Where the guards are gracious and the grounds are grand and the warden keeps the data on your favorite brands Jelly beans and cookie dough, country restroom on a radio I got a number on my name, it's hard to rise above the shame I'm a branded man made in the mold These terms engulf the waking mind like cherry, grape, and lemon-lime Like candy corn and licorice like bubblegum and Swedish fish It happens to me all the time Living in a candy jail with peppermint bars peanut brittle bunk beds and marshmallow walls Where the guards are gracious and the grounds are grand and the warden really listens and he understands
5.
CIAO, BELLA 04:11
When you wake up and know it's time to go you can't take up pockets of silver and gold Swimming in a lake of fire weighed down with desire is what you choose Burn a bridge down tonight, dance around the ashes When you make up a bed to call your own it can stir up all these thoughts that we have a home You can keep on running round as I lay myself down to sleep Light the big one tonight, dance around the ashes If your dog barks, better throw that dog a bone but if your dog bites, better check its mouth for foam We can let our guards fall down, when there's people hanging round- and get used get held up by the man you lent your shoes Little children taught to forgive and forget Little children, don't fear your fate just yet The writings in the dirt, you can see those ants at work they hunt for life through blindless strife and tears Swimming in a lake of fire weighted down with desire is what you choose Burn a bridge down tonight, dance around the ashes
6.
The reputation tour i’ve been on these days is filled with twists and turns back stabbing, front stabbing, short sighted people- giving out ethereal burns If you’re like me (and I know I am) you know the dark side of the moon is brighter than the heart of the haters you meet when you’re living in perpetual doom Well since i moved to Nashville its been a rollercoaster everyday got my house broken into, my guitars stolen, and my car got destroyed yesterday my wife ran off with another man and my girlfriend won’t call me back this life I’m living is sure to lead to a broken heart attack If you’re like me (and I know I am) you know the dark side of the moon is brighter than the heart of the haters you meet when you're living in perpetual doom It's harder than the heart of the haters you meet living in perpetual doom
7.
IN MISERY 03:16
I locked all the doors, closed all the blinds, went into what's left of our room and cried for a month and a week I was dead Got down on my knees and I looked to the sky, Jupiter was rising to a new moon light for a month and a week I'm alive Now maybe it was all for the best not long ago you said you'd spend the rest of your life next to me Then you changed your mind and away with mine said you needed space you wanted some time to live your life far away from me, one day will find you in misery We were walking thru the alley, right beside the Ryman you got two tickets because I couldn't buy one The seats were obstructed view, but Laura knew what to do when I saw you from across the room I thought we were home Then you changed your mind, treated me unkind taking the notion to see what else you can find Look high and low, the only thing you will see is your true love waiting in misery
8.
ANGEL BABY 03:19
I got down on my knees and I started to pray- looked up at the sky and I started to say oh send me, an angel baby I stood back up and I looked thru the trees a woman and her dogs were staring back at me, I said save me, my little angel baby When you coming back to see me? You know it always soothes my mind- to talk to you til my face gets blue from drinking all your wine Well it won’t be long til your bags are packed when you walk out that door girl don’t look back unless maybe it's at my corner baby Once we were just neighbors, now we’re more than friends I wonder if I’ll see her in my dreams ever again I got down on my knees and I started to pray- looked up at the sky and I started to say oh send me, an angel baby and you sent me an angel baby
9.
Well sometimes it's the light at the end of the tunnel sometimes it's the light of a train It's like we're either blind or seeing double, curse the storm then pray for rain Been to Rome, been to Maine, he'll go anywhere nobody knows his name It's all the same- eyes on the floor When you go, write me dear, send a postcard or a letter over here It's just the same, eyes on the door Tie me to the tooth that aches, use a string that will not break Give a little tug and then a yank and pull it out- tie me to the tooth that aches There's nothing you can do or say at all, to keep me from graffiti'n this wall Hands tied and back against a wall that is crumbling There's nothing you can do or say at all One of these days he's gonna join the sun as one of its rays And oh these nights, grow longer every time Float thru my brain, pig on a train When the language of your tribe, is forgotten by the scribe we'll still remember The markings on his face, like a dog on a leash Searching for a place I've been here before Stuck between a barstool and folklore, spin me a story About the river and the rail, a hobo's like a nail- always getting hammered But as time goes by, he'll learn to live and die as the road he's on divides As time rolls by, he learns to live and die as the road he's on divides

about

"A staunchly wondrous collection of country tunes that arrive like a time capsule." -Paste Magazine

"Ran it a play and I must say; --- visualized some dancers dancing, like on a dancing floor. And the lights were down low and the dancers knew the score. That is; they really knew how to dance. I don't know about the jig, but the sky was pretty big. I heard a female in the mix, that is how I get my kicks. Love it or Leave it."
- Michael Hurley

"Box Truck Boogie is a real bar room groovy affair. Good stuff."
- Old Rookie

"Box Truck Boogie comprises nine tracks in a tightly packaged runtime of 27 minutes and 55 seconds. The album is a signature Perpetual Doom release, a label specializing in oddball/outcast stuff, that often finds supremely talented songwriters on the fringes of the folk/Americana scene. Fans of artists ranging from John Prine to Dylan to The Black Lips should enjoy Tommy & The Oh’s latest record, so hop over to Bandcamp to check it out. Also, be sure to listen to the band’s previous 2022 release, Mariposa Gold, which brings more psychedelic sounds to the table."
- The Third Eye

Perpetual Doom is proud to present the new full-length album from Tommy and The Ohs: Box Truck Boogie. Turning inland from the psychedelic coastline of 2022’s Mariposa Gold, Thomas Oliverio heads homeward on this shimmying showcase of Alt-Country songwriting and arrangement. It is a record designed to sit comfortably next to the Ohs’ previous experiments while driving new life into well-known sounds, resulting in compositions that feel familiar as the heartland roadside, as refreshing as a highway breeze.

On Box Truck Boogie, Oliverio and his band pare down their sound to elegant roots playing and lyrics that pierce with the wisdom of experience. This time he draws on his own cross-country trips, navigating 13,000 miles across North America in a big rig he had to teach himself to drive- a simultaneously terrifying and exhilarating lesson in life on the road: weigh stations, border crossings, diesel, DEF, Sedona at sunrise. The spirit of that journey—and the FM tunes he picked up along the way—invests the album with a buoyant troubadour quality, full of homecomings and partings, lovings and leavings.

That kicks off with “I Don’t Know What I Was On (But Honey I’m Off It Now),” an opener that revels in boozy piano while speaking of sobering up and coming clean. The party builds to telecaster and fiddle trading solos in fine Ameripolitan fashion. “You said you wanted a change, you said you wanted to part,” Oliverio sings. “But honey all we need is a second start.” The invitation extends to listeners, too—this is a reunion we’re all intended to enjoy.

A ghostly melancholy floats through “So It Seems,” where gentle Spanish guitar and vivid strings serenade a love that is not quite lost. Oliverio speaks of a relationship gone wrong but not gone, in which “the rest is history, or so it seems.” It makes a perfect pairing with the casual sorrow that laces through his arrangement of Silver Jews’ “Candy Jail,” a rendition Oliverio describes as “me covering Zeb Zaitz covering David Berman.”

With a cinematic glimpse of various comings and goings, “Ciao, Bella” captures the heart of Box Truck Boogie. The gentle decay of a steel drum introduces a hypnotic meditation on loss: “When you wake up and know it’s time to go, you can’t take up pockets of silver and gold.” Still a glimmer of hope remains on the horizon, as Tommy and The Ohs reveal on the final rambunctious track: “Pig on a Train.” There Oliverio offers a bit of hard-earned insight, the kind only a lifetime of rodeos can afford you: “Sometimes its the light at the end of the tunnel,” he sings, “sometimes its the light of a train.”

credits

released October 27, 2023

Produced by Thomas Oliverio and Jack Tellmann.
All songs written and arranged by Thomas Oliverio, Minershee Music (BMI), except ‘Candy Jail’, written by David Berman.

Tracks 1, 3-6 recorded by Jack Tellmann at The Bomb Shelter.
Track 2 recorded and mixed by Andrija Tokic at The Bomb Shelter.
Track 7 recorded by Christopher Henry and Thomas Oliverio at DYS Recordings. Track 8 recorded by Thomas Oliverio at DYS Recordings, with string section arranged by Billy Contreras and recorded by Jack Tellmann at the Bomb Shelter. Track 9 recorded by Ry Evans, Stagger Inn Recording Service. Tracks 1, 3-9 mixed by Jack Tellmann at The Bomb Shelter.

Thomas Oliverio (vocals 1-9; guitars 1-9; mandolin 1, 8; lap steel 7; percussion 7; bass 7, 8; banjo 8; whistler 8); Logan Oakley (telecaster 1-6; vocal 1, 2); Billy Contreras (violins 1-6, 8); Jimmy Rowland (keys 1, 3-7); Dave Harder (bass 1-6); Justin Amaral (drums 1, 3-6); Cody Campbell (keys 2, 9); Adam Donald (pedal steel 5, 6); Paul Thacker (saxophone 7, 9); Matt Meyer (drums 2); Ry Evans (drums 9); Cecil Shields (vocal 1); Alicia Gail (vocal 3-5); Marlos E'van (vocal 9)

"Tommy has outdone himself on the brand new album, Box Truck Boogie, a fantastic record which features a crew of fabulously talented players. It is psychedelic music that's also palatable for folks not necessarily into psychedelic music. It's some serious country-fusion which thankfully doesn't take itself too seriously, from the delightfully honky-tonky barroomery of the opening track, to the beautiful pop/rock balladry and junkfood jesting of "Candy Jail", to the outright hilarity of "Reputation Tour". The album is almost an international journey of sorts, with the south-of-the-border feel of "So It Seems", or the pairing of Hawaiian steel and middle-eastern fiddle tones on "Ciao, Bella", all the way to "Angel Baby" with it's lullaby-western vibe complete with jazzy orchestral soundscapes which feel almost far-eastern, at times. Clever lyrics, pleasing melodies, jaunty grooves, and whimsical wiles with an overall honest sincerity make up this fine collection of cuts from an exceptionally interesting artist." Cody Campbell, The Kentucky Opry

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Thomas Oliverio Nashville, Tennessee

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