[Intro] (instrumental) [Verse 1] The Texas sun was a branding iron on my back When I crossed the border with a name I couldn't retract There was a debt in Laredo, settled with a blade Left a man in the shadows where the memories fade The law had a poster, my kin had a scorn So I traded my roots for the dust of the morn' Just a shadow and a canteen, and the devil's own luck And the taste of a freedom that was rotten to suck. [Chorus 1] So I'm riding the lonesome, paying mile by mile Trading my ghosts for a weathered smile The road is my preacher, the wind is my choir Burning the past in a campfire This ain't no escape, it's a reckoning due A solitary sentence I'm walking through Looking for a peace I don't deserve to find With the chains of who I was dragging close behind. [Interlude, Instrumental Solo] (instrumental) [Verse 2] Found work in Wyoming, breathing black dust deep Where a man's worth is measured by the hours he don't sleep Saved every nickel in a coffee tin hide Bought a moment of kindness I couldn't abide There was a woman in Cheyenne with forgiving eyes Saw right through the story to the man in disguise She offered a sunrise, a steady, gentle hand But a wanted man's shadow is a stain on the land... So I left in the night, with a note and a lie And added another good thing I watched die. [Chorus 2] So I'm riding the lonesome, paying mile by mile (every damn mile) Trading my ghosts for a weathered smile The road is my preacher, the wind is my choir Burning the past in a campfire This ain't no escape, it's a reckoning due A solitary sentence I'm walking through Looking for a peace I don't deserve to find With the chains of who I was dragging close behind. [Bridge] Then one rain-soaked morning, outside Missoula town The sky broke open and washed the world down I saw my reflection in a muddy wheel rut... Just a tired old dog, tied to a "what if" and a "what". And the weight of the running finally broke its leash... Left me on my knees in the gravel and the heath. Not asking for mercy, not shouting at the sky... Just too damn tired to live another lie. [Final Choruses] I'm walking the lonesome, paying mile by mile... Trading my ghosts for a weathered smile. The road was my preacher, the wind was my choir... I've burned down the past in a campfire. This wasn't an escape, it was a reckoning due... A solitary sentence I've walked through. And maybe that peace I never deserved to find... Is just the freedom to leave the old chains behind... To stand in the light with nothing left to hide... Just a man and the truth, walking side by side. [Outro] (instrumental)