I was very inspired by the history of Centralia
and wrote a song in 2001 which is also on a self-released CD by the same
name. I have been a professional musician and teacher for over 20 years,
and have played on numerous CDs, and in various acts including
Blackthorn, Tommy Conwell, Amos Lee, Wanderlust, and more. I am
attaching an mp3 file of my song for your listening. Hope you enjoy!
Gerry McWilliams
Gerry McWilliams "Centralia" Lyrics
There's a fire burnin' under ground
There's an old man sitting in a long lost town
There's a heart shaped peace sign on a tree
There's a ghost from the past coming after me
Centralia ..... Centralia .....
Next to the graveyard on the hill
There's a black cat sitting on a window sill
The air is thick with a burning smell
The Earth is scorched like a living hell
Centralia ..... Centralia .....
I'm going back to my hometown
I'm going back ... Centralia
Sucked dry from the mid day sun
Comin' in from highway 61
There's a fire on the dump on the edge of town
If you listen close you can hear the sound
Listen
to Gerry McWilliams
"Centralia"
using the
Player below
For a
copy of the CD, contact Gerry himself, either through
this email address:
or contact him
through his Myspace account linked
here.
"Centralia" by Gerry McWilliams
A low fi record I did in 2001/02, everything was one or two takes analog 8
(really 7) track hardly any outboard gear mostly an sm57 plugged into the
machine my 2 fave are rocking chair and the title cut coo coo bird is an old ,
and i mean old, standard a lot of 60s musicians covered it from owning the
American anthology of folk music by Harry Smith... I tried to keep it as
backwoods as possible this record is not quite bluegrass, not what one would
think of as Americana, (which is what they used to call country rock,
basically rockin out to cowboy chords like credence or petty, whatever, its
just a label) but its got elements of both, with a dark dash of bad whiskey
having grown up with trad irish in my house, these styles were fairly easy for
me to pick up on...my next record after this was a more straight ahead
bluegrass thing... Centralia was intended to be a bunch of demos, I engineered
and produced.....Barrie Maguire mixed....Jim Cavanaugh played percussion...I
played everything else Centralia has my 1st harmonica solo Rocking Chair my
1st (and maybe last) pedal steel.
peace
Gerry
From the Free
Publication "The Compendium, Philadelphia's Music News"
REVIEWS
THE LOCAL MUSIC NETWORK COMPENDIUM
VOL 1 ISSUE 7 - Disc's & DEMOS
Local Music Network -
www.localmusicnetwork.com
Overall Rating
Musicianship
Songwriting
Originality
Now that’s what I’m talking
about. This CD rules! Gerry McWilliams' Centralia is a really eclectic
blend of bluegrass, southern rock, and country pop. From the opening
string-slingin "Same Old" which almost sounds like Ry Cooder playing
with the Violent Femmes, to the White Stripes-like blues of "Lonesome
Dues", Centralia delivers the goods. You want Nico & Lou Reed? Well
they’re on here too; just listen to "Rocking Chair". Is Bob
Dylan & Tom Petty more your cup of tea? Then skip to "You And Me
Against The World". Gerry McWilliams', Centralia has all the elements
of a great album. Short, to the point bluesy rockers that will leave
you toe tappin.
Through the use of
Nitrogen-Enhanced foam the Pinnacle mine fire was extinguished by Cummins
Industries, Inc. Cummins proposes to tackle the Centralia Mine fire and
bring an end to the
40 plus year fire.
Photo Updates:
