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Sincerely, Dorothy

by Dear Herman

supported by
Joanna Pope
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Joanna Pope Turned on to this record through their live show where they performed this concept album on stage. Wonderful production and music. Hope they do it all again soon. Bravo!
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1.
I will always think of you Annabel Mains As the girl with no veil and the longest of trains You were blushing that day as you stepped to my son, Took his hand and made promises never to run And I wished that my Noland had been there to see How Tom stood as proud and as tall as a tree How the boy who, all fight, drew his line in the sand Wore his wedding vows tight, held your hand as a man Oh the stories you inherit, Anna Templeton Mains Heirlooms in a hope chest with un-washable stains Let me tell you a long tale in a letter or ten When you come we will visit as old friends My appointment last week gave me one more October My house has enlisted each room to remember Tom, little Tom, with a baseball and mitt My Noland, a moustache, younger and fit As I write this now fear wraps my heart like a tether I feel that I need all my family together My sickness might soften the anger between them And loss could now finally end their Antietam Listen, Anna, please To the ramblings of a mother There are stories you will hear that I’ve never told another
2.
Noland Mains 04:14
Take care of your mother, Son. I swore I’d give her better Noland worked each day of high-school, worked the nights his mother cried When the first light lit the gravestone, Noland held Evangeline When our eyes met at the diner, He was older than the crowd Noland stuck around for Evie, He had done his father proud. Take care of your mother, Son. Take care of your sister, Son The hard work has just begun, and the day-dreaming’s over From your work you must never run, bend your back till the day is done I leave you now at the bottom rung, I swore I’d give her better We married early in the summer, a yellow garland in my hair Evangeline came as the witness, no other family in the chairs He held my elbow like an anchor, his voice the only thing I heard Now I know that while my heart sang, he could hear his father’s words Take care of your mother, Son. Take care of your sister, Son The hard work has just begun, and the day-dreaming’s over From your work you must never run, bend your back till the day is done I leave you now at the bottom rung, I swore I’d give her better He never left the store. Forty years and then some more Tom got mad and ran away When men are supposed to stay
3.
Gad Harvey 04:45
Down by the wharf on a boat in the water Lives a man with a spiteful face Some say the devil for his soul made a barter And left him a blight on the race But his name’s Gad Harvey He’s just an old man with a grudge He sings “Evangeline, Evangeline, Oh my long lost grace, Evangeline” Back in the day when old Gad was a dandy He fell in love with Noland’s sister His love was a fire and his poems smelled of brandy And one night on the wharf he kissed her “Hands off, Gad Harvey” Noland rolled him in the mud He said, “Evangeline, Evangeline, Harvey’s a disgrace, Evangeline.” Now he rents fishing boats for 25 dollars To the tourists every year When he comes to town you can hear him holler “Noland Mains better not be here!” Children run from Harvey He’s an angry old cuss with a grudge He sings, “Evangeline, Evangeline My long lost grace, Evangeline.” When Tom was junior he would fish by the water And Harvey, he would bait him, But the son of that Noland didn’t side with his father By the summer it was kin against kin Tom called his Auntie He brought up the old grudge He said, “Evangeline, Evangeline You’re still Harvey’s grace, Evangeline” So she met him on the wharf in the sweetest yellow dress Old Harvey he had showered When Evie took his hand, life was kind in her caress He knew he’d always been a coward He had no kind thing to offer She took the train to Santa Fe. He sings, “Evangeline, Evangeline My long lost grace, Evangeline.”
4.
His name is Eddie Ramirez from the Sea of Cortez On the day he met Sarah, he stood still and never left You can find him at sunrise whistling songs to his trees Composing las mañanitas to his plants by the sea He sings, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila Sarah” In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots His mother named him Eduardo on the sea of Cortez Kissed his cheek when at 14, into North and night he fled With his eyes deep as midnight and his voice rich with song He took Sarah out dancing, held her gently, held her long He sang, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila, Sarah” In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots On a night hot with summer he will walk in the sand He prays south with his heart wide, he holds tight to her hand He sings, “Sarah, bella Sarah, baila Sarah” In a far land he found beauty, soil and roots
5.
In the best room of her bright mind, catalogued by size and shape She has treasured tales of flowers, knows each family of grape In the starlight on the front porch, when her silent day is done Bethy whispers little secrets, timid tales across her tongue Across her tongue Little words, little heard, little Beth (2x) Watch her brown eyes in the morning, with her hand upon the door She is deep breath, calculation, quiet glances to the floor Watch her dig in, lift her head high, lift her silence like a shield In those moments, how I love her, how I hurt for beauty sealed For beauty sealed I’m afraid that she’ll run deeper into silence, when I leave before the spring Will she lose herself in flowers? Will they sing?
6.
You’ll never meet another Mrs. Julienne, been my neighbor now these 30 years All alone with memory and her nightcap, she’s toasted life through many tears She prays Father, Holy Father Grant this humble woman bread Your forgiveness, Holy Father Gives new living for the dead If it wouldn’t be a bother Give my days to Dorothy instead Holy Father, Holy Father, Amen Mrs. Julienne, she knows her sadness, wears it on her shoulders like a shawl When she needed most and prayers rang silent, she wore grief and wore it tall Mrs. Julienne has eyes like faucets, shining wet with grief or tears of glee For as deep as her own roots of loss go, so high now is the joy of that same tree
7.
I was eight years old when Sarah pushed me down Said I wasn’t to hold hands with the cute class clown He was hers you see, they were already married He had kissed her cheek behind the old dairy She won the fistfight that had to follow But the boy was forgotten, animosity swallowed Her Macarena is an awkward sight But she will sway and sing with all her might She is a brick when trouble comes around Except when tremors whisper underground If she ever needs a thing, needs a hand herself I won’t be there, with my love, to help She came over last night without invitation Brought an oven charred muffin of her own creation And we laughed at the ancient humor of it all And we cried for what’s to follow the fall She has never let me stay afraid Or give up untested a plan I’ve made Let her tell you the story of her Eddie Watch her eyes in the telling when she’s ready She won’t talk about me or the weeping How she help up my head to be sick without sleeping If she ever needs a thing, needs a hand herself Could you be there, if you’re there, to help? I would tell her she is brave I would tell her she is soft She is both you see, unselfconsciously
8.
Thomas Mains 04:35
High empathy since he was three His greatest strength, and his downfall The little frog, the under-dog Tom felt the weight of their destiny He was a lad when he met Gad Tom felt his grief and his anger I didn’t see – Beth faded in me Before I knew it, Civil War He heard an old heart, old wound, and hate He took an old heart, old wound, and hate Come back, Tom Come back, Tom I don’t have long to wait “You are to blame,” was Tommy’s claim His father ruined a man’s life “Say you were wrong” yelled my Tom And then came the accusation “You act like God, you are a fraud, You can’t control a single second Your child could die, and I won’t lie It would serve you right for meddling.” Come back, Tom Come back, Tom I don’t have long to wait
9.
Last Letter 03:02
Anna hear me Know the stories Tom is wide as all these tales As deep as grief to Mrs. Julienne As rich as soil in Eddie’s hands His pride is given An inheritance His strength a legacy from his Dad As hot in anger as old man Harvey As quick to run as Evangeline When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x) I’ve seen Noland in the last nights In the room he never touched Holding Tom’s things, wiping wet cheeks Lost in memories long ago When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x) I can’t believe I’m going to miss it Beth and Tom and Noland here Be my eyes to drink it in please Speak the words I’ve longed to say I have known for several days now I won’t make it through the year But we all are walking waning Only stronger in our sight When you come here, if you come here, you will see it, you will see it (2x)
10.
Love Letter 04:01
I chose you hardly thinking, now I choose you everyday You are easy moonlit laughter, faithful constant in the day In our youth you made me happy, in these years you’ve kept me strong In your arms I find my way home, I have known where I belong Don’t despair love, don’t despair We’ve had more love Than we’ve had air Taste it, feel it, hold it dear Love is stronger than fear I remember our first quarrel, we were shocked at what we saw How our love could cool to hailstorm, how the tempest left us raw Thirty years this consolation, undeserved it calms the sting You forgive me times a thousand, you keep giving me my ring Don’t despair love, don’t despair We’ve had more love Than we’ve had air Taste it, feel it, hold it dear Love is stronger than fear When you read this, I’ll be sleeping, Anna kept this till today If my prayers have become faces, Tom has come goodbyes to say He’s the one who left you Noland, but your pride has barred the door Can the sermon reach the preacher? Forgive him, forgive him more I’ll be near, Love, I’ll be near We’ve had more love than we’ve had fear Taste it, feel it, hold it dear Love will always be near
11.
Dorothy Meredith Mains Your voice in my heart still remains In your son and daughter your eyes see the world And your house I will try to rebuild I’m a timid young thing inside And when they argue my voice, it hides After twelve angry years Tom won’t look at his Dad And his only embrace was for Gad Bethy’s words are now seeds planted shallow Waiting rain in a soil no longer fallow She climbed on my lap and whispered a joke And the porch swing trembled with hope You should know that Evangeline prays And her prayers ring with happier days When your service was done Gad found her by the wharf And his tears washed his face and the years were not long and he knelt in his hope and he kissed her sweet hand and their pardon rolled in like the shore Put your pen down Cross the sea now We will not forget Love will win yet Dorothy Meredith Mains

about

"Sincerely, Dorothy" is a concept album - a compilation of letters written between Dorothy Mains and her new daughter in law. The letters tell the story of a decades old grudge and the small community that it affected. The letters introduce a cast of characters, at the center of which are two men who haven't spoken in years. The letters are one last effort to reunite her family before Dorothy dies.

credits

released October 24, 2013

Produced and Recorded by Travis Bossard
Mixed and Mastered by Jedediah Vondracek

Dear Herman
Crystal Davy: vocals, acoustic guitar
Melissa Taylor: vocals


Musicians
Crystal Davy: lead vocals, guitar, harmony vocals (11)
Melissa Taylor: harmony vocals
Travis Bossard: bass, electric guitar, mandolin, accordian, percussion (1- 5, 7,11) mellatron, acoustic guitar (2,5), autoharp, harmony vocals (11)
Nick Dalquist: piano, harmony vocals (2)
Joe Heider: drums
Ben Yancer: cello
John Lund: cajon
Ben Barber: melodica
Gina Seebohm: djembe
Paul Kenney: trumpet
Amy Schmidt: viola
Ben and Katie Loos: harmony vocals
Hannah Huston: Lead vocals (11)

Cover design: Ben Welstead

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Dear Herman Lincoln, Nebraska

Dear Herman is Crystal Davy and Melissa Taylor. We are sisters. An autopsy after our deaths will reveal that our backbones are forged with mountain rock. Our hearts' last beat was the oompha of mariachi music. And our tendons are actually quotations from Jane Austen ... more

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