“Coyote Grace plays with the heart of traditional country and Americana music, but tells their stories with a bold twist,” says the Indigo Girls’ Amy Ray. “They write heartwrenching melodies and make such textured harmonies that I find myself enraptured and taken by their timelessness of song.”Coyote Grace
Armed with a bevy of acoustic instruments from guitar and upright bass to banjo, mandolin, fiddle, and accordion, Coyote Grace’s Joe Stevens, Ingrid Elizabeth and Michael Connolly fill theater, club, and festival stages with a wash of sound seemingly far too expansive for three musicians, mixing bluegrass and blues, soul and Southern twang into a unique sound that hovers just beyond the edge of ‘familiar.’ The sultry trio combines virtuosic musicianship combined with a humble, warm stage presence, all stemming from a history of self-invention – and re-invention.
“Playing roots music doesn’t simply mean imitating old traditions,” says multi-instrumentalist Michael Connolly. “All of us have a strong sense of wanting to hold onto the past, to tradition – while still being unburdened enough to move forward.”
This is perhaps no more evident than in the case of guitarist and transman Joe Stevens, whose gender transition resolved a lifetime of dissonance between being raised as female while identifying as male. Not without cost, Joe’s transition closed some doors while opening many others, and significantly informs his songwriting and performance.
Meanwhile, Ingrid Elizabeth, the self-proclaimed “pink sheep” of her small Ohio hometown, and Memphis-born Michael Connolly both carry the twang and soul of their Middle America roots while maintaining decidedly Left Coast values.
Coyote Grace’s rise to national prominence comes from a decidedly humble origin – beginning as a Seattle-based duo in 2004, Ingrid Elizabeth and Joe Stevens founded the band as street performers outside of Seattle’s Pike Place Market, using their busking proceeds to fund their first studio album, Boxes and Bags, which is now in its sixth pressing, and accompanied at the merch table by three other albums: The Harvey Tour, Buck Naked, and Ear To the Ground, which in February of 2011 reached #6 on the Roots Music Report’s Folk charts -- the highest charting independent album at the time.
The radio airplay itself comes on the heels of a highly successful touring season in 2010, during which Coyote Grace performed three separate tours opening for and playing alongside the Indigo Girls. Audience response was immediate and enthusiastic, with the group breaking the Indigo Girls’ tour records for album sales by an opening band. Coyote Grace has also performed with Girlyman, Melissa Ferrick, Chris Pureka, and Lowen & Navarro.
“There's a yearning, freight-train-hopping, propulsive energy to many of [Coyote Grace]’s songs that suggests not only an indie-band road tour, but the road to one's true identity, a destination on a map still being written. These youthful travelers depend on the kindness of strangers and of lovers, and on their journey they've experienced enough joy and heartbreak to last a lifetime.”
Sylvia Sukop – Huffington Post
Five
Coyote Grace Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
It speaks like dreaming, your mind following slow
Like every sunset knows when to go
The heart won’t just tell you who to be
Won’t hold your hand or remind you you’re free
Won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to be
I can’t keep selling off what’s already sold
I can’t keep getting gone if I’m trying to be known
The heart ain’t just somewhere you live
Or somewhere to be, or one to be with
And how can you take what you cannot give?
I think about all we’ve been through
And all that you’ve done to make me come true
Every morning, I wake next to you
I can’t keep sailing away
I can’t keep betting off all of my days
I can’t keep waiting for that perfect something to say
But give me something to say
Tell me why, days go by, I sing my summer lullaby
Tell me why, screaming at the Texas sky
But ain’t nobody hear my cry
Dead quiet in the center eye
Love has wings, it was meant to fly
I can’t keep waiting around
I can’t keep looking for what’s already found
The treasure is in the way we make this most beautiful sound
In Coyote Grace's song "Five," the lyrics explore the concept of the heart as something elusive - not just a physical organ that pumps blood, but something deeper within ourselves that speaks to us in dreams, guides us through life, and holds our emotions. The singer of the song is grappling with the idea of the heart as a force beyond their control, something that won't tell them who to be or where to go, but still holds immense power over their actions.
The first verse sets the tone for the rest of the song, with the lines "The heart ain't just something you know/ It speaks like dreaming, your mind following slow/ Like every sunset knows when to go." Here, the heart is likened to a dream, something intangible that we can feel but not fully comprehend. The sunset is used as a metaphor for the heart's wisdom, as it knows when to set just as the heart knows when to let go.
The singer then goes on to admit their struggles with finding their way in life while staying true to themselves. They are tired of running and selling out, feeling as though they are not truly known despite constantly being on the move. The heart is not a place to live or a person to be with, but still holds great significance in our lives. The final line of the second verse, "And how can you take what you cannot give?" begs the question of how we can expect to receive love and guidance from our hearts without putting in the effort to understand them.
The chorus of the song is a plea for answers, a desire to understand why life seems to pass us by without us truly feeling heard or seen. The summer lullaby and the scream at the Texas sky are both ways of expressing the singer's frustration and confusion. Despite their outward cries, nobody seems to be listening and they are left in a state of silence and uncertainty.
Overall, the lyrics of "Five" paint a picture of a person struggling to understand the complexities of the heart and its role in their life. The song is a meditation on the difficulties of finding oneself in a world that can be overwhelming and unrelenting.
Line by Line Meaning
The heart ain’t just something you know
The heart is not a mere knowledge or understanding.
It speaks like dreaming, your mind following slow
The heart speaks in a dream-like manner, with the mind following its lead, albeit slowly.
Like every sunset knows when to go
Just like sunsets know when to end, so does the heart know when to leave or to let go.
The heart won’t just tell you who to be
The heart won't simply dictate who one should be.
Won’t hold your hand or remind you you’re free
The heart won't guide one's way nor remind them that they are free to make their own choices.
Won’t take you anywhere you don’t want to be
The heart won't force one to go anywhere they don't want to be.
I can’t keep running the road
The singer can no longer keep running and chasing after things on the road.
I can’t keep selling off what’s already sold
The artist can no longer keep selling off something that has already been bought and sold before.
I can’t keep getting gone if I’m trying to be known
The artist can no longer keep disappearing or becoming invisible if they are trying to make themselves known or seen to others.
The heart ain’t just somewhere you live
The heart is not merely a place where one lives or resides.
Or somewhere to be, or one to be with
It is not a place or a person to be with, either.
And how can you take what you cannot give?
The artist questions how can one take something that they cannot also give.
I think about all we’ve been through
The singer reflects on everything they have gone through.
And all that you’ve done to make me come true
The singer acknowledges all the things the other person has done for them to make them feel complete or fulfilled.
Every morning, I wake next to you
The singer expresses their appreciation for waking up next to the other person every morning.
I can’t keep sailing away
The artist can no longer keep sailing away from their problems or responsibilities.
I can’t keep betting off all of my days
The artist can no longer keep wasting or gambling away their precious time and days.
I can’t keep waiting for that perfect something to say
The singer can no longer keep waiting for the perfect thing to say in order to act or speak up.
But give me something to say
The singer requests something to say or express so that they can finally take action or speak up.
Tell me why, days go by, I sing my summer lullaby
The artist sings a summer lullaby and questions why the days pass so quickly.
Tell me why, screaming at the Texas sky
The artist yells out to the sky and wonders why things are the way they are.
But ain’t nobody hear my cry
The artist feels unheard despite their cries and pleas.
Dead quiet in the center eye
The center eye or the soul is quiet and still.
Love has wings, it was meant to fly
Love is free and meant to soar without any constraints or boundaries.
I can’t keep waiting around
The singer can no longer keep waiting idly and has to take action.
I can’t keep looking for what’s already found
The singer realizes that they cannot keep searching for something that they have already found.
The treasure is in the way we make this most beautiful sound
The treasure is not in any material or tangible thing, but in how they make beautiful music together.
Contributed by Ryan S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.