I've hauled drunks and diplomats through midnight rain
Felt the weight of a thousand hands on my keys
Now I ride shotgun on a two-lane vein
Arizona sun baking my soundboard deep
Saguaro sentinels stand guard on the shoulder
Diesel coughs a rhythm low and slow
[Pre-
Wrench turns tight on a stubborn pin
Screeching metal sings where the dry winds begin
Desert pitch holds the line true
Wire and wood beneath the blue
Tuner's ear catches each faint sigh
Miles melt out under the sky
Desert pitch holds the line true
Passenger seat holds a leather case
Felt and rubber, tools of the trade
He speaks to me in a quiet bass
"Steady now, girl, don't be afraid"
Heat expands what the cold contracts
Truth lives in the metal facts
[Pre-
Wrench turns tight on a stubborn pin
Screeching metal sings where the dry winds begin
Desert pitch holds the line true
Wire and wood beneath the blue
Tuner's ear catches each faint sigh
Miles melt out under the sky
Desert pitch holds the line true
Mile marker two-sixty flashes by
Grand Canyon state on a silver plate
I remember smoke rooms and lullaby
Whiskey voices singing hard fate
Now only coyote and tumbleweed
Hear the intervals I bleed
Desert pitch holds the line true
Wire and wood beneath the blue
Tuner's ear catches each faint sigh
Miles melt out under the sky
Desert pitch holds the line true
Sun dips low paints the clouds in fire
He plays a chord lets it hang in air
Perfect fifth on a heated wire
No crowd to clap no tip jar there
Just the road and the tuning done
Day's work ends with the setting sun
Desert pitch holds the line true
Wire and wood beneath the blue
Tuner's ear catches each faint sigh
Miles melt out under the sky
Desert pitch holds the line true
Night brings cold contracts the steel again
He'll check me come dawn before we roll
I've seen kingdoms rise and fall of men
This highway's the truest song I know
Wood remembers what hands forget
Pitch stays honest in the desert yet
Desert pitch holds the line true
Wire and wood beneath the blue
Tuner's ear catches each faint sigh
Miles melt out under the sky
Desert pitch holds the line true
Desert pitch holds the line true
Heat shimmers on the blacktop ahead
Old wood rests in the truck bed frame