Lyrics

Alarm at five
Boots by the door
Coffee steam
Screen door roar
Dirt road dust
On a hand-me-down shirt
Chain on the gate
And a back that hurts

Sun just breaks
On a rusted old rake
Dog runs wild
Through the cattail lake
Dad says
“boy
There’s a job to be done”
So I shoulder that shovel
And I face that sun

I was raised by the rain and the plow lines
By the thunder in the barn roof at night
Every furrow
Every cut on these hands
Taught me how to carry weight right
In that field of firelight
God painted the sky
And I learned what a promise is worth
I was just a kid in the dust and the dew
But heaven touched earth
On that little farm earth

July heat
On a bent steel pail
Sweet corn silk
On a pickup rail
Sister in the swing
Kickin’ high
Singin’ loud
Mama hangin’ laundry
Like a white-winged cloud

Hayloft throne
Made of busted old bales
Daydream king
In the kingdom of nails
Drawin’ wild new worlds
In the feed shed dust
Heard that still small voice
Say
“Dream
But trust” (oh)

I was raised by the rain and the plow lines
By the thunder in the barn roof at night
Every furrow
Every cut on these hands
Taught me how to carry weight right
In that field of firelight
God painted the sky
And I learned what a promise is worth
I was just a kid in the dust and the dew
But heaven touched earth
On that little farm earth

He said
“Son
This land ain’t yours” (this land ain’t yours)
“It’s a gift you guard awhile” (oh, guard awhile)
“Leave it better than you found it” (better than you found it)
“And walk every row with a smile”

I learned mercy from the wounded calf
Patched up with my shaky hands
Learned patience from a stubborn mule
And a storm that ruined plans

Found grace
In a late frost morning
When the crop came back somehow
So I lift these scarred-up knuckles
And I thank my Maker now (yeah)

I was raised by the rain and the plow lines
By the thunder in the barn roof at night
Every furrow
Every cut on these hands
Taught me how to carry weight right
In that field of firelight
God painted the sky
And I learned what a promise is worth
I was just a kid in the dust and the dew
But heaven touched earth
On that little farm earth

Now my boots
Aren’t caked in the clay
High-rise glass
Where I grind all day
But I close my eyes
And I’m back in that yard
With a stick in the dirt
And a wild young heart

I still hear
That dinner bell ring
See fireflies float
Like a quiet choir sing
And the God of the cornrows
Is the God of this town
Keeps planting new songs
Where I can’t bow down

I was raised by the rain and the plow lines
By the thunder in the barn roof at night
Every furrow
Every cut on these hands
Taught me how to carry weight right
In that field of firelight
God painted the sky
And I learned what a promise is worth
I was just a kid in the dust and the dew
But heaven touched earth
On that little farm earth

Yeah
I carry that field inside
Every sunrise
Every trial
Just an innocent boy
With a grown man’s load
Still blessed by