HIGH COUNTRY SNOWS
RIAA Certified - Gold
Released April 1985 by Epic Records. All compositions by Dan Fogelberg (©1985/Hickory Grove Music-ASCAP) except: "Down The Road"(E. Scruggs/L. Flatt), "The Outlaw" and "Go Down Easy"(Jay Bolotin); "Think What You've Done"(Carter Stanley)
Down The Road
Mountain Pass
Sutter's Mill
Wolf Creek
High Country Snows
The Outlaw
Shallow Rivers
Go Down Easy
Wandering Shepherd
Think Of What You've Done
The Higher You Climb
​
Credits
Down The Road
Dan Fogelberg - vocals
Herb Pedersen- vocals
Mountain Pass
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitar, lead vocal
Herb Pedersen - banjo, harmony vocals
David Grisman - mandolin
Jim Buchanan - fiddle
Emory Gordy, Jr- bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Ricky Skaggs - harmony
Sutter's Mill
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitar, lead vocal, harmony vocals
Herb Pedersen - banjo, harmony vocals
Jim Buchanan - fiddles
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Charlie McCoy - harmonica
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Wolf Creek
Dan Fogelberg - harmony acoustic guitar
Doc Watson - melody acoustic guitar
Herb Pedersen - banjo
Jerry Douglas - dobro
David Grisman - mandolin, mandola
Jim Buchanan - fiddle
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
High Country Snows
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitar, piano, lead vocal
Chris Hillman- mandolins, harmony vocals
Al Perkins - pedal steel
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Herb Pedersen - harmony vocals
The Outlaw
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic and electric guitars, lead and harmony vocals
David Grisman - mandolin
Herb Pedersen - banjo
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Jim Buchanan - fiddles
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Shallow Rivers
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vocals
Herb Pedersen - banjo, harmony vocals
Charlie McCoy - harmonica
David Grisman - mandolin
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Jim Buchanan - fiddles
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Go Down Easy
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic and electric guitars, lead and harmony vocals, hand claps
Jerry Douglas - dobro
Barry (Byrd) Burton - dobro
Michael Hanna - Yamaha DX-7 synthesizer
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums, tambourine, hand claps
Don Murakami - hand claps
Wandering Shepherd
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitars, lead vocals
Vince Gill - high tenor harmony
Herb Pedersen - tenor and bass harmony vocals
Think Of What You've Done
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitars, lead vocals
Herb Pedersen - banjo
David Grisman - mandolin
Jim Buchanan - fiddle
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
Ricky Skaggs - harmony
The Higher You Climb
Dan Fogelberg - acoustic guitars, electric guitar, Kurzweil synthesizer, lead and harmony vocals
Al Perkins - pedal steel
Emory Gordy, Jr - bass
Russ Kunkel - drums
David Briggs - piano
Tracy Nelson - background vocals
Dianne Davidson - background vocals
Anita Bell - background vocals
Produced by Dan Fogelberg with Marty Lewis for Full Moon Productions
Recorded at - The Bennett House, Franklin, Tennessee
​
Lyrics
Down The Road
Down the road...down the road
Got a little pretty girl down the road
Down the road...down the road
Got a little pretty girl down the road
​
​
Mountain Pass
​
Well, I’m runnin’ down this mountain pass at midnight
Those truckers they all flash their lights at me
This highway ain’t the very best companion
‘Cause I know there’s somewhere else I’d rather be
The moonlight on the snow just sets me thinking
‘Bout the way your smile shines upon your face
And I know this ain’t the last beer I’ll be drinking
Before I reach my final resting place
Oh, I...
(Chorus)
...wish that I was in your arms a’sleeping
Dreaming of the sweet love we just made
But I’m runnin’ down this mountain pass at midnight
Wishin’ I was in your arms again
Oh my wheels are running hard against this mountain
I finally crossed the Archuleta line
Another hour and I’ll be with my darlin’
To dry those lonesome tears that she’s been cryin’
But I...
(Chorus)
I’m runnin’ down this mountain pass at midnight
Those truckers they all flash their lights at me
Well this highway ain’t the very best companion
‘Cause I know there’s somewhere else I’d rather be
Oh, I...
(Chorus)
I am runnin’ down this mountain pass at midnight
Wishin’ I was in your arms again
Sutter's Mill
In the spring of Forty-seven so the story it is told
Old John Sutter went to the mill site and found a piece of shining gold
Well, he took it to the city where the word like wildfire spread
And old John Sutter soon came to wish he’d left that stone in the river bed
For they came like herds of locusts...every woman, child and man
In their lumbering Conestogas they left their tracks upon the land
(Chorus)
Some would fail and some would prosper
Some would die and some would kill
Some would thank the Lord for their deliverance
And some would curse John Sutter’s mill
Well, they came from New York City and they came from Alabam’
With their dreams of finding fortunes in this wild, unsettled land
Well, some fell prey to hostile arrows as they tried to cross the plains
And some were lost in the Rocky Mountains with their hands froze to the reins
(Chorus)
Well, some pushed on to California and others stopped to take their rest
And by the spring of Eighteen-sixty they had opened up the West
And then the railroad came behind them and the land was plowed and tamed
When Old John Sutter went to meet his maker, he’d not one penny to his name
(Chorus)
And some would curse John Sutter’s Mill
Some men’s thirsts are never filled
Wolf Creek
Instrumental
High Country Snows
There’s a place in the Rockies, a place that I know
Where the world cannot find me and the time goes so slow
In the piney wood forest, there’s a flower that grows
Through the long months of winter and the high country snows
To a house by a meadow ‘neath the towering peaks
Is a place where my heart goes when it’s love that it seeks
There a woman lies waiting like the wild growing rose
Through the long months of winter and the high country snows
In the space of a lifetime a man misses much
'Til he finds him a woman and treasures her touch
When the lakes all lie frozen and the wild wind blows
I’ll return to my darlin’ and the high country snows
I’ll return to my darlin’ and the high country snows
The Outlaw
Among the possessions of an outlaw of a low class kind
Is this little bottle of French perfume
Taken as a last thought from a drug store in suburbia
He said, "Lady, look what I’ve got for you"
She said, "Jesse, I don’t hardly even know you anymore
And judging from your grin, you’d think you held up Henry Ford
And I don’t believe I want you a comin’ ‘round here anymore" (ooh)
Jesse, he was hurt, boy, and he left there, and he slammed the door
And he wandered through the alleyways
Thinkin’ all the while that she’d be proud of what he stole for her,
And he tried to think of better ways
Dreamin’ of a movie that he’d seen one afternoon,
He drew out all his savings and he went and bought a gun
And he ran right home and stood before his mirror
Acting like a thug (ooh)
He waited for a dark night; he was frightened, boy, the fog rolled in,
As a rich man, he came walkin’ by,
"Hold your hands up high," he cried, "I’ve come to make your fortune mine"
But his eyes, they gave him right away,
Jesse dropped the gun and they both stared at to where it lay
And Jesse asked the man if he’d please leave him in his pain
And the man tried to forgive him, but there’s not much he could say (ooh)
Among the possessions of an outlaw of a low class kind
Is this little bottle of French perfume
Taken as a last thought from a drugstore in suburbia
He said, "Lady, look what I’ve got for you"
"Ah, take it, ah, please take it; I’m tired and I’m poor
And this crappy French perfume is nothin’ less than my own soul
I was feelin’ half a man; I wanted to feel whole" (ooh)
(Oooh...ooh,ooh)
Shallow Rivers
Shallow rivers run between us where a stone may never sink
Though we taste, we are left thirsty for a deep and soulful drink
Narrow channels, barely open, fraught with dangers out of view
In the current, we are helpless -- still I cling to you
(Chorus)
Grab me woman, take me under 'til I can’t tell up from down
We have barely got our feet wet and I want, I want to drown
Shallow rivers run between us never mind the nevermore
Up ahead the water quickens; I can hear those rapids roar
Narrow channels, barely open, flood the waves with treachery
How I long to see the sunrise on a peaceful sea
(Chorus)
Go Down Easy
Linda lost her lover in the early part of autumn
And she moved out to the country hoping all would be forgotten
The last time that I saw her she was makin’ sure the winter
Wouldn’t come through that old door frame
Where the door is several inches from the ground, the cold hard ground
(Chorus)
And it’s hard to go down easy
And it’s hard to keep from cryin’
And it’s hard to lose a lover in the early part of autumn
Well, she learned to cook the meals and she learned to start the fire
And she learned to make jewelry out of stones and precious metals
She sits down to the table with her friends and several others
And she tries real hard to never be alone
​
(Chorus)
Now the winter wind blows cold upon a fair and gentle soul
And she feels as if her time is a-passin’ easy
Her friends are sometimes lovers, though they’ll always be another
She thinks about when the night time lays on down
(Chorus twice)
Wandering Shepherd
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Lay down your troubles, your worries and woes
Traveling pilgrim, rest for the night
Traveling pilgrim, rest for the night
Traveling pilgrim, rest for the night
Sup with the Savior and drink of His light
Homeless believer, find here a home
Homeless believer, find here a home
Homeless believer, find here a home
You may be lonely but never alone
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Wandering shepherd, wander no more
Lay down your troubles, your worries and woes
Think Of What You've Done
(Chorus)
Is it true that I’ve lost you
Am I not the only one
After all this pain and sorrow
Darlin’, think of what you’ve done
Heart to heart, dear, how I need you like the flowers need the dew
Lovin’ you has been my life, love
Lord, I can’t believe we’re through
(Chorus)
Well, I’ll go back to Colorado where the mountains meet the sky
It was here I learned to love you and I’ll stay here 'til I die
​
(Chorus twice)
The Higher You Climb
The higher you climb, the more that you see
The more that you see, the less that you know
The less that you know, the more that you yearn
The more that you yearn, the higher you climb
The farther you reach, the more that you touch
The more that you touch, the fuller you feel
The fuller you feel, the less that you need
The less that you need, the farther you reach
The higher you climb, the more that you see
The more that you see, the less that you know
The less that you know, the more that you yearn
The more that you yearn, the higher you climb
The higher you climb, the more that you see
The more that you see, the less that you know
The less that you know, the more that you yearn
The more that you yearn, the higher you climb
​