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about

I met Ernie Oakleaf in Little Rock, Arkansas back in the late 90's. I was on a construction project for the FDA and followed the open mic venues in the evenings that Ernie was a part of.

I became fond of one of his songs titled "Flower of Mer Rough" and covered it at many open mics during my travels across the country.

I started working on an album of covers back before the feardemic and contacted him about doing The Flower on that album. He introduced me to a newer song called The Ouachita which I'm covering here. It will likely make the covers album as well.

lyrics

The Ouachita
©Ernest J. Oakleaf

Am G
The Ouachita runs brown and low
F E
Through the woods I call home
Am G
That dirty water can pull you down,
Am G Am
It will never let you go


We rode our ponies on those backwoods traces
Sunlight shot like lasers through the shade
I kept my bearings with familiar faces
I always thought I’d see his face again

F C
Keep away from the loggerhead
Bb E
With its ice tong bite
F C
Keep your distance from the cottonmouth
F G Am
Never swim the Ouachita at night.

(Break)



Get your beer on the Union County side
One bank’s wet, one bank’s dry
Under the bridge you cut your deal
Pay for six he’ll bring you five

Drive across the dump on Highway Eighty-two
Don’t slip off of either side
Never put your foot where you can’t see
Never swim the Ouachita at night

(Chorus)


(Acapella)

Never swim the Ouachita at night.

credits

from Quantum Flux Connection, released July 15, 2022
Robert Lindsay Nathan: acoustic guitar, lead vocals
Mark Hallman: drums, bass, acoustic guitar, steel guitar, harmonica, mandolin
Andre Moran: Dobro
Emily Priest: violin
Field recording of Rio de las Trampas in Northern New Mexico by Robert Lindsay Nathan using a Zoom H2 stereo recorder.

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Robert Lindsay Nathan Canyon Lake, Texas

Robert Lindsay (Bama) Nathan was born in New Orleans on September 24, 1952. He was raised in Muscle Shoals Alabama and formally educated in Texas (Gig 'em Aggies). He has been writing songs since the early 1970's and has circled the globe playing them.

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