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Full Moon in June

by Ears to the Ground Family

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Limited edition of 200 CDs of Full Moon in June. Cardboard CD jackets printed on a treadle-powered Chandler & Price platen letterpress and stamped with beautiful handmade rubber stamp art and black archival ink. Lyric booklets bound on a sewing machine with colorful thread!

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1.
there’s an almond blossoming in Jerusalem the buds on a fig tree becoming tender again and the mountains are clapping their hands oh and every tree, every last one is reaching up up towards the heavens and yet—Egyptian chariots, we place our trust in them there are bombs dropping from planes unmanned and it burns like an arrow of fire yes it burns like a branding iron but it only burns for the motherless child and every family, every last one I saw standing there that day they were taking a picture in front of the covenant with death it is a covenant with hell Air and Space Museum, you must have lost your mind oh you prideful nation, did you ever have a mind? I believe that Jesus he will decide I proclaim that Jesus he will decide if it is that Rome is on I-95 oh and every citizen with ears to hear the call the smoke is rising up so tall has signed their name on a perishing line why waste so much, why waste so much precious time? when you can float downstream in the living water, be grafted to the vine? *from the halls of the power to the fortress tower not a stone will be left upon a stone let the king beware for your justice tears every tyrant from his throne* There’s an almond blossoming in Jerusalem The buds on a fig tree becoming tender again
2.
I said don’t hold your breath don’t curl into a ball just yet because there’s nothing gonna kill you ‘til the moment that you die cause it’s easy to crawl in a dark place and hide but it’s a easier to live a long, happy, healthy Spirit-filled life the easiest thing my mama told me is “do not complicate your life” so you can sit and enjoy sharing food, sharing wine better than just another rich man can and it’s easy, easy to be justified when into great mercies you fall on your face every night meet your maker again my mama taught me one thing beside all the lessons and beyond all the mistakes and the love she gave me every day for a while she had a rough life she passed through some dark nights but I never forget one thing that she lived and taught me every day she said don’t push anyone aside when somebody curses you, that won’t hide because a killing is killing no matter how white it clean the palms of its hands or how far removed cause it’s easy to be born on a train so you ride but we’re called to live along with all the people on the side for the world is a people garden oh and it’s easy, easy to be satisfied when you can go down to the river of life, drink your fill, yes you will leave those boxes on their shelves leave those silly things in their boxes cause we don’t need no thing just to be ourselves don’t want nothing of that ticky tacky you always tryin’ to sell like little boxes on the hillside this is my recession don’t bother me song
3.
Prison Cells 04:27
there’s prison cells outside on Central Square I never really noticed that they were there I wonder what our society thinks about mercy oh Lord have mercy! I can see... I see the brick and mortar holding strong and it’s what we spend our money on I hear little children singing songs they’re singin’ that, “don’t let them forget what they done wrong” read it in the news any day I see probation officers, bail & bonds and some people basing their salaries on up to that man with the button that’s dropping the bomb then the peace-prize president drop another bomb then the peace-prize president break the record on the bomb an eighteen-wheeler can speed on sand I may not reach the promised land but I feel untouchable unto that invisible hand it’s at least a step along the path turning away to find the way may I ever find the way there’s a wedding that we all attend hearing the words we’ve heard from beginning to end: that love keeps not a record of wrongs! yet from the bottom to the top we sing the same songs find our grudges and we holding em on we sing, don’t let them let forget what they done wrong we wag our fingers at kids that don’t forgive their friends we teach them how to live in ways they’ve never seen examples of before it’s only us and to our own || keeping the love within the home love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind and your neighbor as yourself but who is our neighbor, we ask? it’s the Samaritan, the foreigner, the exile, the unclean, the outcast, your enemy the illegals, the homeless, those who trespass against us it’s the enslaved minorities, it’s the stranger in your land the one whose ways you think you’re never gonna understand
4.
Traditional As interpreted by Ears to the Ground Family sheep, sheep, don’t you know the road? || yes, my Lord, I know the road sheep, sheep, don’t you know the road? || yes, my Lord, I know the road don’t you know the road cause there’s no price tag? yes my Lord, I know the road don’t you know the road cause the stories are told? the stories are told of forgotten souls don’t you know the road cause the sword’s beat down? the sword’s beat down into a plow don’t you know the road cause we feel the pain? we hear the pain, we don’t just put it away don’t you know the road cause there’s life to give? when we find a chasm, we build a bridge
5.
Painter 05:14
there was a painter who lost his hand I tell you that the angels cried on that day there was a painter who lost his hand there was a dark sign in the heavens that day they remembered the day that the grievous act took place feeling temptation, tasting the weakness and saying one more time, I’ll be okay and they remembered the consequence from all those times before he let it happen, so slow they remembered the days back when he was a child, he would paint the open-eyed joy the worlds he would unfurl and in his mind there was a galaxy oh there was a creature with a breath In his hand, a brush it was all dressed up in flesh I tell you that Gabriel used to watch and wait just to see what that boy would reveal just like flowers that dance in their fresh, springtime dress to reveal the Lord’s colorful scheme we are just like those flowers that dance in their fresh, springtime dress to reveal the Lord’s colorful scheme your body is... the temple of the Lord your body is a gift you can’t afford so glorify the Lord we sing Elohim, Elohim, Elohim (God) Kadosh (Holy)
6.
Moneditas 02:35
moneditas de metal || moneditas de cobre pedacitos de oxido || ni dejarán una mancha en el polvo a que volverán || y por ella van matando acumulando, juntando, robando gastando la preciosa vida cuanto más van ganando y ganando || y poniéndose primero, primera cuanto más van perdiendo y perdiendo || y poniéndose ultimo es un tesoro temporal || para bichos comida falsa, externa, olvidada || la ambición que se entierra buscando vida real || buscando vida eterna pero cuando empiezara || digo yo que hoy día TRANSLATION: little metal coins || little copper coins little pieces of rust || that won’t even leave a stain on the dust to which they will return || and for this they go on killing accumulating, gathering, stealing || wasting their precious life the more they go on winning and earning || and making themselves first, the more they go losing and losing || and making themselves last it’s a temporal treasure || food for the crawling things false, external, forgotten || the ambition that gets buried in search of real life || searching for eternal life but when will it begin? || I say it is today
7.
time, time, time, time passes as fast as some waitings in line bristlecone pines and feathers come to life but only in time, all in their own time the cardinal’s trying to find his mate within the leaves I’m sitting watching and waiting for the day my ship is gonna leave let’s play dead bug orange, black, and brown and drying in the sun let’s listen to the loose leaf dance or stare into the heavens as if we ever had a chance and get ready for the leap because soon it will be time and then we’ll sit down and recite these old rhymes of when and of time, time, time, time I used to think that that there were two people living inside of everyone you see one busy with the task at hand and the other one trying to see the relevance of every thought or action as they breathe and they put them in the pantry and make a life that they can lead as I got to working sometimes I cried sometimes I did sing and I held what I had afterward with where I did begin but these days, I’ve had a wholeness beyond time
8.
I woke up and I was mourning to be working in this fighting world oh and how I wished our ambitions could’ve been less than the missions to the moon I thought only then I could sit and enjoy walnut textures and paint the walls of my room but now I know that we’re already free now I know that we’re already free highways are like rivers rivers running dry rivers are polluted by a generation that drives and we drive over the rivers instead of travel by all this too is meaningless one day it will die all this too is vanity one day it will die oh and you’re gonna find these distances were made for your walking feet every seed bearing fruit is a green plant for every creature to eat open your eyes to all the colors on your way it’s all around, healing you, it’s for free, oh it’s for free! trumpet sounds from all creation we shout, oh how we shout how we’re free, how we’re free, oh, how we’re free, oh, how we’re free! faith and hope in an invisible Father we shout oh how we shout free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty!* *Line from the African American spiritual “Free at Last”, quoted famously by Martin Luther King, Jr. as the last line of his “I Have a Dream” speech delivered in 1963 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. *Thanks to Lightning Lucas for this melody here!
9.
the knees give out and I give in the eyes fill up and I fill in I’m not that strong, I’m not that far we take our breaths, we take our fall but with a hope like this, we are fearless and with a love like this, I will not despair I did not deserve this but there is always more than meets the eye I will find my shelter and I will find my joy and my desire in the shade of the Most High my knees on floors, my heaving heart I am a seed, in damp and dark with death in me, I come apart to find new life, to find new eyes never has such a burden been so light for the one who bore it so I lay down my rights to wisdom so I might be more like the wide eyes of a child

about

This album has been over a decade in the making. Though we began playing music together in 2010, and added members in 2013, most of these songs were written between 2007 and 2013. For seven years as a band we chose to share our music almost exclusively live, in small settings, un-plugged, locally or regionally–traveling from home by bicycle as far as 300 miles away to share our music, and without recorded music to leave in our wake. We have always preferred the outdated and peculiar model of the elusive traveling troubadour, sharing our music seasonally, as this enabled us to root ourselves deeply within our home community in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and invest in the valuable work that inspires our music.

While these ideals deepened the commitment and anticipation of our fans, these ideals have also necessarily limited our audience. So, three years ago, we decided to take the leap and share the beautiful gift that is created when we come together as Ears to the Ground Family. We are thrilled to share this album with you, recorded during the week of the full moon in June 2017!

credits

released December 18, 2020

Produced, recorded, and engineered by Jake Cochran in Harrisonburg, Virginia in 2017
Mixing and additional recording by Danny Gibney
Mastered by Garrett Haines (Treelady Studios)
Editing and programming by Ryan Clark Slocum
Album art by Dimitris Campos (type from his treadle-powered Chandler & Price platen letterpress that he used to print the CD jacket covers), Harrigan Bowman (photography), and Stephen Omark (graphic design)
Lyrics by Dimitris Campos (1-7), Dimitris Campos & Ana Maria Febres (6), Dimitris Campos & Lightning Lucas (8), and Nichole Barrows (9)

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Ears to the Ground Family Harrisonburg, Virginia

Ears to the Ground Family is a minimal, totally acoustic group with guitar, hand percussion, and banjo. They have a serious focus on lyrical content and sometimes achieve a body-shivering vocal harmony. They make music of resistance to oppression and empire, of communities of hope, and of a faith that sustains us. Our tunes draw from R&B, spiritual, soul, folk/americana, chant, hip-hop, and jazz. ... more

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