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Truer Picture

by Graham Sharp

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The First Edition Vinyl LP of Graham Sharp's Truer Picture is autographed by Graham and pressed on blue vinyl! Limited to 500 copies worldwide.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Truer Picture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 500 
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      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The standard edition vinyl LP of Truer Picture is pressed on black vinyl.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Truer Picture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    The CD of Truer Picture arrives in a beautiful gatefold CD wallet!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Truer Picture via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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    Purchasable with gift card

      $16 USD or more 

     

  • Love Yourself T-Shirt - Charcoal
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    Bella-Canvas tri-blend - 70% cotton, 15% polyester 15% rayon

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  • Love Yourself T-Shirt - Light Blue
    T-Shirt/Apparel

    Bella-Canvas tri-blend - 70% cotton, 15% polyester 15% rayon

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1.
In the photograph you took on our vacation at the lake We looked invincible, two hearts that might never break You and I together was the finest thing I’d seen There’s times I wish we’d stayed just like that picture on the screen And it can be our secret, what’s happened in between I only hope you still love what you see A truer picture of me I try to show my good side every chance I get So when you’re looking back the bad days fade just a little bit We show the world the Christmas lights, all the high times and pretty sights Like a wish that only this were true But sometimes a heart’s too heavy to wear upon your sleeve I only hope you still love what you see A truer picture of me What the hell was I thinking with a haircut like that? Looks like I combed it with a one-eyed wildcat What I see most clearly is the way that I’m looking at you You never had to learn me, you just knew And when you hold me in your eyes I know you will not be deceived I only hope you still love what you see A truer picture of me A truer picture of me A truer picture of me A truer picture of me
2.
Down in the basement of an empty house Selling darkness is an easy pitch Passing a torch, long-burned out Hoping nobody flips the switch Cold cinders in my hands, cinders in my pockets God help me, I remember the flame Well, the warmth of the embers was gone when I got it But I got it just the same It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes Generation blues Well, my father was a general pain in the ass And I was a private disgrace I must’ve huffed a lot of chemicals polishing the brass ‘Cause I never could act my age Yeah, choir boys, flyboys, look-you-in-the eye-boys Talkin’ how the war was won A black and white photo of the soda pop king Grinning like a son of a gun And it’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes Generation blues Angels fly but a saint’s gotta walk Gotta wake up in the morning and choose Take a little sugar, take a little salt Go make it on the avenue I got a key in my hand, a key in my pocket Looking for a room with a view Well, the doors unhinged and there ain't no lock And no telling now who’s coming through It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes Generation blues Well, the trash got tossed while I was sleeping Look what these kids can do What’s lost wasn’t worth the cost of keeping So let’s just start anew I got nothing in my hands, nothing in my pockets I threw away the little that’s left Well, if you ain’t tried it don’t try to knock it There’s better things up ahead It’s just too far to go in these hand-me-down shoes Generation blues
3.
The hardest thing is to love yourself ‘Cause nobody else can do it for you The very first thing is to love yourself Then there’s nothing that you cannot do She could not see it any clearer All the beauty that her soul reveals But looking into that cold, cold mirror What she sees just doesn't match the way that she wants to feel ‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself ‘Cause nobody else can do it for you The very first thing is to love yourself Then there’s nothing that you cannot do A couple walks with separate burdens One with grief and one with shame They hardly recall why they’re hurting Oh, but they’re hurting just the same ‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself ‘Cause nobody else can do it for you And the very first thing is to love yourself Then there’s nothing that you cannot do When fact and fiction fall together And benediction falters in your throat When all your connections come untethered Wrap forgiveness all around you like the warmest winter coat ‘Cause the hardest thing is to love yourself ‘Cause nobody else can do it for you The very first thing is to love yourself Then there’s nothing that you cannot do Nah, there’s nothing that you cannot do
4.
North Star 04:13
The movie that she saw on her first date Was the typical boy and girl kind But when he bent down to kiss her goodnight She’d already left him behind And she never did know what she wanted Until she climbed in the passenger seat With an older man and the top down And felt the speed of the road ‘neath her feet And now she’s running away ‘cross the desert Out of LA, heading south And out of the arms of all she’s ever known But they never really knew her anyhow And maybe she was hoping for too much But hoping was so easy then To think that that man who took her away Could be the one to take her in And now she’s running away ‘cross the desert Out of LA, heading south And out of the arms of all she’s ever known But they never really knew her anyhow Now she sends home a card every Christmas Saying me and your granddaughter’s fine But there’s always a blank space for the return address So they gave up knowing her mind Now she lives all alone like that North Star So bright and so far gone And as the heavens go wheeling around her Finally, she’s feeling at home Yes, finally, she’s feeling at home
5.
Bad Apple 01:34
Bad apple Went downtown to speak my mind One eye forward and one behind Looking out for a little good trouble Looking out for that one bad apple It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple I don’t know but I’ve got a hunch One bad apple will spoil the bunch If there’s no love when you plant the seed It’ll bear a fruit that nobody needs It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple It’s a bad apple
6.
Big trees above Big trees below my feet Whispering of love Whispering they know me Whispering of a deep Of a deep A deeper family A comfortable chair won’t get you nowhere You just stare as the view Turns from the old to the new And shows you a scene of the secrets it keeps A secret of a deep Of a deep A deeper family If the story gets told It’ll never grow old It just rolls on and on and on and on Like a leaf in the fall Doing somersaults down the street in the breeze Laughing about a deep Of a deep A deeper family Yes, there’s a deep Of a deep A deeper family
7.
Half-smoked cigarette, lying by the doorstep Left for me to see I suppose And I’ve got half a mind to pick it up and finish it Maybe I’ll taste you there one more time and I’d know Half-smoked cigarette, still burning where you left it We should have quit this thing long ago Stains on my fingertips that you were willing to love But love’s not the reason we both know Why we explode Smoke one more cigarette, I’d rather remember Than forget you and the hard truth that you told Maybe it was too much, maybe it was not enough But it was too hot, it was too hot to hold Why we explode Why we explode
8.
I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood Well, damn if it can and damned if it could It already has and it will again Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin Dig ten inches down in this pretty green grass And there's a layer of cinders and broken glass Nobody asked who struck that match When the church house burned down to nothing but ash Dig another five inches in the cold hard clay There's arrow heads still draw blood today They weren’t no use when their rifles blazed Forgotten on the trail of tears where they lay I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood Well, damn if it can and damned if it could It already has and it will again Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin Well, Augusta, Georgia’s just a normal town Eat’s so heavy it’ll hold you down With a knee on your neck and your face on the ground I used to trust Augusta but I don’t right now And I don't trust the history that I learned in school I don't trust that I'm not just somebody's tool On the right side of luck when they made the rules On the wrong side of right made me a fool I say that’ll never happen in my neighborhood Well, damn if it can and damned if it could It already has and it will again Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same old sin Well, that’ll never happen in my neighborhood Well, damn if it can and damned if it could It already has and it will again Yeah, my neighborhood’s got the same, the same old sin
9.
Coming back to life My downstairs neighbor stumbling towards his refrigerator door I can hear his stomach rumbling through his ceiling, through my floor Sounds just like a two-by-four he’s cutting with a steak knife It’s a noisy, messy business, this coming back to life And I'm sitting in my kitchen, hoping for something new It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life Big crow by my windows got breakfast in his beak An old man once told me he could teach a crow to speak He spends his hours on the park bench since he lost his wife Feeding saltines to the pigeons, he keeps coming back to life I'm sitting in my pajamas, hoping for something new It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life When I had to kick the habit of walking in my sleep I kept a picture in my head that kept me light upon my feet The reaper right behind me, twirling his scythe Cursing this old world that keeps coming back to life And I'm sitting in my kitchen, hoping for something new It’s just myself I'm kidding, most anything would do I blow imaginary smoke rings with my imaginary pipe Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life Keep my mind on the sweet thing, keep coming back to life
10.
Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made Beaches I’ve walked where I’ve waited through numberless days Leave the news from the mainland back where it came from No need to tell me, it’s always the same Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made Friends from the old days have gone their own ways far and wide Some walked a straight line, some couldn’t walk straight if they tried So wherever this finds you, let this letter remind you There‘s always a place to leave it behind Come visit my island and rest in the silence I’ve made Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made Beaches I’ve walked where I’ve waited through numberless days Leave the news from the mainland back where it came from No need to tell me, it’s always the same Come visit my island, rest in the silence I’ve made Come visit my island and rest in the silence I’ve made

about

Graham Sharp has made a name for himself as the chief songwriter and a founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Americana group Steep Canyon Rangers. As the world entered lockdown in 2020, Sharp began to draw inspiration from a wellspring of emotions. On his first solo album, Truer Picture, the songwriter tackles difficult feelings of isolation (“Come Visit My Island”) and addresses the ever-topical political unrest we continue to see in the country (“My Neighborhood”).

Sharp’s unique style of songwriting is apparent on Prine-esque songs like “North Star'' and “Coming Back to Life,” and the lush instrumentation on tracks like “Deeper Family” (featuring harmony vocals from The War on Drugs’ David Hartley) illustrates the stark sonic differences between Sharp’s solo work and his music with Steep Canyon Rangers. What we’re given is a raw portrait of one of the finest songwriters of our time, a truer picture of Graham Sharp.

credits

released May 7, 2021

2021 Graham Sharp under exclusive license to Yep Roc Records.

All songs written by Graham Sharp/published by Enchanted Barn Publishing (ASCAP) administered by Seed Soup Songs (ASCAP)

Graham Sharp: vocal, guitar, banjo, harmonica
Seth Kauffman: drums, bass, guitar, keys, harmony vocal
Matt Smith: pedal steel
David Hartley: harmony vocals on “Deeper Family”

Recorded by Seth Kauffman
Mixed by Seth Kauffman and Graham Sharp
Produced by Seth Kauffman and Graham Sharp
Mastered by Chris Boerner at The Kitchen - Carrboro, NC

Album design by Nathan Golub

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Steep Canyon Rangers Asheville, North Carolina

Steep Canyon Rangers have spent two decades bending and shaping bluegrass, wedding it to pop, country, folk rock, and more to create something original and all their own. The genre-defying band has developed a remarkable catalog of original music that links them to the past while at the same time, demonstrates their ambitious intent to bring string-based music into contemporary relevance. ... more

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