Just past the crooked fence and the gravel road
Through a stand of oak where the cold wind blows
There’s a quiet hill by the creek bend slow
Where the family stones sit row by row
Ain’t no preacher’s bell, ain’t no steeple high
Just mountain dirt and an open sky
When my days are done and my breath runs low
Lay me down where my kin folk go
Lay me down where my kin folk go
Back in the woods where the tall pines grow
Where the whippoorwill sings soft and low
And the mountain keeps the souls we know
No city lights, no marble rows
Just simple ground and an old dirt road
When the good Lord calls my soul back home
Lay me down where my kin folk go
Put me next to Granddad if there’s still some room
He fought that war ‘cross the ocean’s gloom
Came back home with a miner’s lamp
Worked these hills till his hands went cramped
Black coal dust in the lines of his skin
But he built this life for the rest of us kin
He always said when his time ran slow
Bury me where my kin folk go
Lay me down where my kin folk go
Back in the woods where the tall pines grow
Where the whippoorwill sings soft and low
And the mountain keeps the souls we know
No city lights, no marble rows
Just simple ground and an old dirt road
When the good Lord calls my soul back home
Lay me down where my kin folk go
My brother’s stone sits beneath the oak
Taken too young when the mine bank broke
Still hear his laugh when the wind rolls through
Still see his boots by the morning dew
Mama’s there with her gentle hands
Folded quiet in that mountain land
All their names in the cold stone show
That’s the place where my kin folk go
These hills raised me, these hills I know
Every ridge and creek where the wildflowers grow
And I ain’t wanderin’ far when I go below
Just back to the ground where my kin folk go
Lay me down where my kin folk go
Back in the woods where the tall pines grow
Let the mountain wind and the river flow
Sing me home soft and slow
No fancy grave, no polished stone
Just Appalachian earth for my bones
When the good Lord calls me home
Lay me down where my kin folk go
“Where My Kin Folk Go” is track number 3 on the Thumper Barrel album, Bush Bond.
Track: Where My Kin Folk Go
Album: Bush Bond
ISRC: QZNWX2632101
ASCAP: 935049070