We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sunshine In A Shot Glass

by 500 Miles To Memphis

/
  • Digital Album
    Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

    You own this

     

  • More Music by 500 Miles To Memphis

1.
all my friends are crazy, but that just ain't me. i never listen to what they say. they're all good hearted with good intentions, but that don't matter much when i am here. pointless advice to ease my pain, i take it with a grain, because there's no way i'll be sleeping tonight. it's alright. and i wait for the new year. they'll be breaking some hearts my dear. i can't say that i'm not the same. another year and another heartache. i hope it gets better than this. i learn the hard way. what's a lesson if i can't live it and walk away? until then i'll retire to the same place i've been trying leave all this time. hey bartender i'll have another
2.
sitting in a mustang she does a line of cocaine, not thinking about the future, just thinking about the past. the letter says invited and we would be delighted to throw back a few with you. tonight it's on. baby's gone. well she's been spending all her time thinking about the love she lost many years ago, but she aught to know that she can pass the next eight bars and find nothing but booze and pain and heartache on the way. got a broken car with a busted wheel, got a bloody hand that won't heal. that's my best excuse. well i didn't say i'm past that point of caring about you anymore, but something's got to give if you're going to live up to the good times that you promised me. i know that i'm not going to be around for very long. i get tired of sitting on this barstool thinking about you
3.
held back by circumstances, i ain't good with romances. i never was much of a looker. all night we'll drive until we hit texas and maybe stop in dallas and have ourselves a drink. don't mislead. don't mislead. you can shoot it straight with me. i believe. i believe that god is lost at sea. hold on to what this life is giving. i do a lot of sinning. i always was a drinker. who knows where we go when this chapter is over? are we pushing up clover or are there footnotes to be read?
4.
Darlin' 02:46
going to go out tonight. going to get into a little bit of trouble. the way things are going that sounds about right, because now i'm drunk and wired. by the time i make it to bed i've thirty voices stuck in my head, and i can't answer all these calls. the way you dial a phone babe, you've got a lot of gull. darlin' darlin'. get up off my back. i'm going nowhere and i ain't looking back. you're nagging me out of my mind. you're helping my habit one day at a time. i know you're not going to take the blame, but darlin' i think that's a shame. when i get home i ain't going to bed. i'm going to dial your phone thirty times instead. and you're not going to answer my calls. oh boy you sure got balls. darlin' darlin'. there's something here i lack. i'm going i'm going. i ain't got much to pack. darlin' darlin'. hold that ashtray tight. you're nervous i'm leaving, i think you'll be alright
5.
i was born in a mining town by the name of bluefield, wv. now i'm sixty-seven and i lived a good life. i got about an hour left in me. been comatose for the past six months. i've had plenty of time to think. i can hear my family talking to me. i'd give anything to speak. i need a miracle tonight. please god give me that right. just three little words. one last hug and one more kiss. i got to tell my baby that she's going to be missed, and i'll be watching up above. i met a redhead at the age of twenty-one. i knew i had to make her mine. had a loving marriage of fourty-five. still proud to call her my wife. i can hear her crying over me. her tears are falling on my cheeks. now don't you worry everything will be fine. you know i hate to see you cry. i can't make it through the night. at least i put up a fight. this is not the end. one goodbye for now so long. i'm not here, but i won't be gone. i'll be watching from afar. my time is up. i'm heading home. my love and memories? well there coming with me, and they're staying with you
6.
why do i fuck up and lie? because i'm not scared of what you think about my decisions. i know it's hard to make a living, but it'll be alright. why would you be scared? i'm right here i'm alive. and you. you know me. i'll be on my feet. that's what you're going to think, but at night i fall apart. oh it ain't supposed to be this way. i think about it night and day. soon something has got to change. i'll keep it together just for today. my plans work out in my head, but they don't pull through enough, it shows. i tried to get educated, but that didn't work that year, and now i'm still in debt
7.
i miss you more than i can show. why we haven't talked i don't know. this separation's going to kill me in the end. i guess i'll let you go. probably got something to do with the fact that you don't care now. you don't care anymore. probably got something to do with the fact that i miss you now. i'll miss you forever. been nursing that beer for about an hour. i can tell something's wrong. is it me? has our love gone sour? i thought we were going strong
8.
Cheers 04:49
i'm better being gone. there's plenty other places i belong. i'll take another tease and i'll be gone. i'm packing for a while. ain't no way to tell when i'll be heading back. not that it would matter to anyone. cheers lets finish our beer, and get out of this town tonight. pop that clutch and put her gear, because any place is better than here. i've got no friend to name. i seem to recall a point in time where that wasn't the case, but that memory's so far gone it's been misplaced. can you just pretend that you give a damn and want to be my friend? just for a little while and then i'll go. i don't want to be alone. i guess that this is the life i chose. oh it's so sweet. these memory's are killing me. i'm better on my own. that's just another lie to help me along. then i hear those guitars whine and it takes me home
9.
Fireflies 03:03
it's quite a night. i watch the headlights as they drive by. their brightness pierces the night sky. they float away and then they die, and so do i. so many times i wanted time alone. so many times i wanted time to think and, a placebo to keep me sane i'll be just fine. at times like this i can not miss just how you loved me. just look around the fireflies have speckled the ground. the locusts chirp their loving sound. i'm not alone i'm just not around. i'm not down
10.
Let It Rain 03:23
lets get stoned, ripped and drunk. lets set fire to everything in our lives. start at noon and go all night. we ain't stopping 'til we see the morning light. let it rain. let it rain. let it rain whiskey and beer, and maybe a little cocaine. you can find me on the floor passed out from the long night before. hair of the dog, i'll be alright. we're going to do the same thing again tonight
11.
i got back early. no one was home. the place is so empty here all alone. i bet you're out tonight living it up. i wish i could. it would do me no good. i sat in the kitchen. i finished the booze. i took all the pills sitting on the shelf. i'm ready to drown. ready to drown. ready to drown, but there's one more thing i've got left to say. i've got nothing left now. i risked out everything to spend my time with you. and now that she's leaving i'm here dying. i'll be raising up a shot glass tonight. when this life's over remember me sober. at one point in time we were doing alright. i can't blame you for leaving. i'd have done the same, because you don't deserve to get mixed up in this game. i'll praying with a shot glass tonight. i'll be buried in a shot glass tonight
12.
The Regret 05:10
i ain't ready. i ain't ready. don't put me in that pine box yet. this here whiskey kept me busy ‘til i could get my mind off of you. it's been hazy. yeah real hazy. the past eight months have been a bitch. now i'm ready. yeah i'm ready to start all over without you. i'll get up up up. i might be bloody. i've got more regrets than anybody should. the good times we had are gone and they ain't coming back. well i'm sorry. yeah i'm sorry. i never meant to do wrong by you. now i'm sober. yeah i'm sober. there ain't much else that i can do. all my bridges. all my bridges have long ago gone up in flames. well i'm trying. yeah i'm trying to get it together despite you. why should i care? why do i care? i've been taking all the blame for everything that's been going wrong with you. i could have been a better son and a better man
13.

about

Named after the distance from the band's hometown of Cincinnati to Graceland, 500 Miles To Memphis plays rowdy, insanely catchy, sometime heartbreaking but always inspiring "country punk" on Sunshine In A Shotglass. These songs are whiskey-soaked in bittersweet lament, but this is definitely not an alcohol-fueled pity party. Rather, it's the slug of Jack Daniel's you throw back before crawling on stage to sing your heart out. Lead vocalist Ryan Malott is the impetus behind the band's heartache, and this soon to be acclaimed debut is undoubtedly his catharsis. While Malott's lyrics draw from afflictive personal experience and a weary western sprawl that only true country music can evoke, these rousing tunes are cranked out with punk grit and determination and a brash rock n roll attitude. Somehow it makes life seem a little more bearable and a hell of a lot more fun, at least for the duration of these twelve exhilarating songs. Slather on an infectious melody, some bright, brash guitars and a touch of bluegrass fiddle and suddenly tracks about cocaine-addicted friends and coma victims praying for sweet death ring out like the perfect, invigorating remedy for the honky tonk blues. It's the type of honest music that can prompt a sentimental, liquor-tinged therapy session between old friends or incite a raucous, fist-pumping sing-along amongst perfect strangers at your neighborhood pub. And that's a shot of firewater we're happy to take any day of the week. (DER-464)

"Where has 500 Miles To Memphis been all my life? This Cincinnati-based band's debut full-length Sunshine In A Shot Glass is simply fucking amazing. Review over. But seriously, this album is filled with the sort of bittersweet country punk that both punks and rednecks can't help but love. Seriously. It's instrumentally ambitious but never approaches wankery as fiddles, slide guitar, pedal steel, organs, and banjos sit alongside churning guitar-bass-drums arrangements. Now when an album is this good (and Sunshine In A Shot Glass is) I hesitate to make easy comparisons but just to give you an idea 500 Miles To Memphis sounds sorta like Lucero but with a little more twang, bigger breakdowns, and less gravelly vocals; maybe like Lucero vs. Attack In Black vs. Bill Monroe. Intrigued yet? It is whiskey-soaked, twangy bluegrass, punk-infused country rock. Honestly, Sunshine In A Shot Glass is instantly captivating and needs no time to grow; tender at times and boiling lava hot at others. It is rare (if not almost impossible) that an album can be well-suited for both line-dancing and mosh pits, but somehow this one is. Near perfect." - Can You See The Sunset

"Editor's Pick! With summer coming to a close, it's almost time to put away those sunshine jams and break out music to get me through another Canadian winter. 500 Miles To Memphis is the perfect band to help us through that transition. Sunshine In A Shotglass goes just as well with an open window drive through the country as it does with a glass of stout by the wood stove. The band's combination of punk grit and attitude combined with country staples such as a vocal drawl and tales of remorse make the band appeal to Social Distortion's fans as much as Lucero's." - Punknews

www.deepelm.com/500milestomemphis

credits

released May 15, 2007

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Deep Elm Records

With nearly 280 releases in its catalog, fiercely independent Deep Elm Records continues to build a better label - one that operates for glory, not gold. Deep Elm is about bands and fans coming together as one and experiencing music's awesome ability to inspire, comfort and console. We're not just making music together, we're making history. Dream / Create / Record / Release - Now for 27 Years. ... more

contact / help

Contact Deep Elm Records

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account