Jason Isbell performs “Live Oak” from his album Southeastern. #jasonisbell #sadlervaden #annabutterss #derrydeborja #willjohnson #chadgamble

There's a man who walks beside me, he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me And I wonder who she's pining for on nights I'm not around Could it be the man who did the things I'm living down? I was rougher than the timber shipping out of Fond du Lac When I headed south at seventeen, a sheriff on my back I never held a lover in my arms or in my gaze So I found another victim every couple days But the night I fell in love with her I made my weakness known To the fighters and the farmers digging dusty fields alone The jealous inhuman glow of the lonely hearted men Let me know what kind of country I was sleeping in Well you couldn't have stayed long I'd roamed the plains before the war When my neighbors took to sliding me I had to ask what for Rumors of my wickedness had reached our little town Soon she heard about the boys I used to hang around We'd robbed the Great Lakes of freighter tail to help a man aboard When I told her her eyes flickered like the sharp steel of a sword All the things that she suspected I'd expected her to fear Was the truth that drew her to me when I landed here There's a man who walks beside me, he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me I wonder who she's pining for all nights I'm not around But if he ain't a man who did the things I'm living now . . . Well I carved a cross from live oak and a box from short leaf pine Buried her so deep she'd touch the water table line I picked up what I needed and I headed south again To myself I wonder would I ever find another friend There's a man who walks beside her, he is who I used to be And I wonder if she sees him and confuses him with me