Precious Cargo by Je ReneÉ

* Bonnie Raitt

* Norah Jones

* Anita Baker

* Carly Simon

* Joni Mitchell

* Annie Lennox

* Swing Out Sister

-----Precious Cargo Info

Genre: pop (with a sprinkling of rock, jazz, soul, and gospel)

Influences: Harry Connick, Jr., Rich Mullins, Phish, Ian Moore

Yes, that's me, Je Reneé, the bald one with the halo on the CD cover ... just don't look at the back! "Precious Cargo" refers to my grandpa's pet name for me as a wee tot. Now it is my metaphor for my babies - songs - that spring forth from me, that I mold and nurture.

-----Precious Personnel

I'm grateful to these excellent musicians of Austin, Texas.

* Merchants of Venus swing drummer Wayne Duncan, currently seen with the Irish band Pubcrawler, keeps time with his sweet maple kit.

* Jazz greats T.J. Jenkins on bass and Kerry Wilkins on guitar (think Nile Rodgers and George Benson) are regulars at Ringside Sullivans.

* Jack Rowe graces the album with echoes of Brian Setzer and SRV.

* Brian Milton, who appears with fellow acoustic strummer Doug Beck, both formerly of Bag of Stephens, adds a Clapton-esque feel.

* Insane rocker Mike Nichols (aka FingerBoy) shows off some . . . rather nimble 80s-hair-band-type work.

* David Lee Box - alto, tenor, baritone saxophones

* Freddie Mendoza - trombone

* Kenny Vise - trumpet, flugelhorn

* Joley Flowers - lyrics, melodies, arrangements, vocals, flute, keyboards, percussion, effects

-----Precious Cargo Songs

Relationship (pop rock)

Trodden On (jazzy pop)

Chronology (pop rock)

I Loved My Friend (pop ballad)

Circle (jazzy pop)

Here & Now (rock)

May Your Blood (gospel)

Tell Me Again (pop)

Morgan/How Easy (jazzy pop)

Miss Jaramillo (jazz instrumental)

Gettin' Dressed (blues gospel)

Don't Make Me Laugh (Latin jazz)

Cuttin' the Rug (Big Band jazz)

Twinkle Twankle (circus instrumental, really)

-----Precious Cargo Lyrics

1.) Relationship (4:12) Inspiration: Bonnie Raitt, Susan Tedeschi, Harry Connick, Jr.

You keep me singing with each new breath You give me

You keep me laughing, not the hollow kind

You keep me searching for new ways to please You

And not just to appease You, this is a relationship

Before I met You, I had an itchy trigger finger

You called so tenderly, but I would tune You out

You knew that only my handcuffs were shiny

You threw them off behind me, You wanted a relationship

Oh, I was running from the One who sees all

Scrambling so I wouldn't see You turn away Your face

Oh, I was diving under the biggest rock

Doubting it was loving eyes watching me in every place

I know I grieved You, but all You said was come back to me

I tried to wrestle away, but You held me close

You broke me in pieces - more than I'd dare to mention

Thanks for getting my attention and starting this relationship

All I was clinging to was devoid of your affection

Missing that deep connection till this relation-

Sweet invitation

Till this relationship

2.) Trodden On (5:45) Inspiration: NYC

Van Wyck, I gotta tell ya you're stayin' ugly, dirty

Even springtime can't wash all your filth away

People living spare and barbed wire everywhere

All your blue skies left you all alone for gray

You know I know you're wishing my pockets had some money

Easy you make it, but I cannot bear the cost

So bleed my brother dry -- come on, bankrupt city

Throw us your pretty coins till we don't know we're lost

And you're laughing at me

Trodden on

Trodden on, is that your name

You cannot get to me, you've already been defeated

And I like to watch you wonder why

I am only one, so many go ungreeted, unheeded

Your clouds are laughing at me

Van Wyck, I'm looking at ya, eternal maze of corners

I hide in my little box, but your telescope can see

Panting masses in your suffocating corners

Hard, hungry faces closing in on me

You're never sinking down on your bedrock pillow

But what do your bridges bridge across the abyss

Your junkies rubbing on me, calling me sweet

Where's your cure for them? A higher high than this?

You're laughing at me

Van Wyck, I'm looking at ya

Under the foot of Hercules

You're laughing at me

...I am only one, so many go ungreeted

Ungreeted, unheeded, ungreeted

Quit your laughing at me!

3.) Chronology (4:24) Inspiration: Phish, Michael

It's nine o'clock, it's dark, he's rediscovering me

Girl, it's been so long

How could we both live in this town and not see

Girl, it's been so long, Oh, it's been so long

So long, I am halfway down the aisle

So long, he is pondering my style

So long, So long

It's seven and it's dark, and he is talking to me

Stories so long

Breathless with the vision someday I want to see

Lord, it's been so long, Oh, it's been so long

So long, we would interrupt our lives

So long, to regard and not despise

So long, So long

Oh, I'm remembering a man

Oh, who has never walked this land

So long, So long, So long

It's five o'clock, it's dark, he tries explaining to me

Why I wait so long, Why I wait so long, Why I wait so long

So long, to be only for a while

So long, to be halfway down the aisle

So long

4.) I Loved My Friend (3:43) Inspiration: poet Langston Hughes, Brian

I loved my friend

They went away

There's nothing more to say

The song will end

Soft as it began

I___ loved my friend

5.) The Circle (5:15) Inspiration: Bag of Stephens, Impact Worship Band

The circle keeps moving place to place

I can't keep up with this ruthless race

I try to break in at a point where I think I see an opening

I bounce right back on my head

No richer than I was at the beginning

Just give us a tiny little dose

You know what happens when you don't

You can't breathe, you're gonna choke

Quaking 'cos you're missing that one thing

The handshake, the password, the club is out without you

And they're not calling

Everybody knows something I don't

I'm hanging here, I'm banging on the glass

Watching them move closer

I'm paying for my martyrs in the past

Watching them laugh over their secret

I'll help 'em eat it 'cos that's all I have

It's all I have to offer

He walks up, he goes right on in

The circle closes back up tight again

I want whatever he's got, what is it, what is it

Tell me, what is that one thing

I'm dying for it, promise me that I can find it somewhere

And then you'll let me in

It's time to read between the lines

Time to read the writing on the wall

Doesn't matter what you do

Or what you say if you're missing that one thing

Not paranoia, baby, when they're out without you

And they're not calling

6.) Here & Now (4:21) Inspiration: Ian Moore, Cynthia

Good morning, Mama

Don't you think I know why you're kicking me

Why couldn't you pick the right one this time

'Cos I'm snarling, Mama

Want to feed on you in the frenzy

We're dragged into pretending we're fine

I believe you can know the truth

I believe you can own this

I believe you can talk about here & now

Good morning, lover

Go on, eject yourself from my memory

Please at least get out of my bed

'Cos I'm trying, lover

Trying to break the chains of my slavery

I'm a fugitive from the hall of the dead

I believe we can know the truth . . .

No more prostituting your touches away

Your embraces are different today

Weaker brothers in your way

Good morning, mirror

How can you stand to see her

You know all the secrets entwined

I believe we can know the truth . . .

I believe I can know the truth . . .

7.) May Your Blood (4:07) Inspiration: Bag of Stephens, Impact Worship Band

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Clean my heart

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Change my mind

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Pierce my shell

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Dry my tears

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Hold my hand

Jesus, May Your Blood wash over me

Clean my heart

8.) Tell Me Again (3:43) Inspiration: Rich Mullins, Rob Harrell on Romans 7

Tell me again how You love me

Tell me again I don't have to try, again

I'd never make it, tell me why

'Cos I forget I am priceless

That You embrace me though I'm not like You

Again, please remind me that it's true

Tell me again, tell me who You are, tell me who I am

Remind me one more time

Tell me again there is nothing I could ever do

To make Your favor mine

You know I still have two voices

They go to war inside of me

Say I may never quite be free

But tell me again You are for me

I'm not alone when I have to fight

Say I am precious in Your sight

Tell me again... earn this peace of mind

I want to believe it, Help me believe it

I've got to believe it, tell me again

Put Your arms around me

I need Your arms around me

Please keep Your arms around me

Show me again

Tell me again...

Tell me again... earn this peace of mind

Make Your favor mine

9.) Morgan (5:07) Inspiration: poet Jill Lawson, Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Cleveland, Bonnie Raitt

With God in your heart it should be plain to see

Simple loving things you can do

Like sitting down to dinner with your family

Before you bust out that door, tell us what's going on with you

The dishes are crying out for your attention

And then there's your room

Your sister's crying, you forgot to mention

"What's up in your life?" and "I love you."

You're slacking off waiting for eternity

What He's doing in you I don't want happening in me

The transformation I don't see

How easy it could be

'Cos I have been waiting since so long ago

How easy it could be to bring Him to me

With God in your heart, still you neglect your duties

Why doesn't He make you want to work

Not just for all of mankind, my little one

But for us who live with you so you're not a jerk

"Get a path without wrath," those phrases sound so good

"Live a life without strife," but they are misunderstood

Get it, live it, if you would

He doesn't yet fill me as the waters fill the sea

What He's doing in you I'm not sure I want in me

Transformation make me see

10.) Miss Jaramillo (2:21) Inspiration: Cathia, Quincy Jones

11.) Gettin' Dressed (4:02) Inspiration: Rob Harrell on Ephesians 6

I'm gettin' dressed, puttin' on truth, now

Gotta have some sturdy underwear

'Cos it can't go falling down around your ankles

When you need protection there

Now when you encounter the deceiver

He will try to bludgeon you with lies

Keep your body covered with the truth, my friend

And you'll escape them and survive

Put on the belt, the belt of truth

It's time that you were gettin' dressed

I'm gettin' dressed, puttin' on righteousness

'Cos I need a clean white shirt

A cover with no stains, no wrinkles, missing buttons

Not a single spot of dirt

Your heart is dodging arrows of temptation

The warrior wearing righteousness won't feel 'em

Growing in strength when you deflect those wounds

And you're not begging Him to heal 'em

Put on the vest of righteousness

It's time that we were gettin' dressed

This battle we fight is unseen

It is not against flesh and blood

But it's powers and it's spirits

At war with the King of love

If you want an offensive weapon

You know you've already got a sword

You can sharpen when you're speakin'

From the Word of the Lord

I'm gettin' dressed, puttin' on peace, now

Walking in the gospel shoes of Christ

Giving me comfort that the world can't

Guiding my feet on paths of light

Don't forget the helmet of salvation

Faith alone in Christ alone is all

Let Him be your Way, your Truth, and your Life daily

And nothing can knock your helmet off

Tie those Easy Spirit shoes of peace

Prop up that hat of salvation

Slip on the vest of righteousness

Keep on truth in every situation

Put on the armor of God

It's time that we were gettin' dressed

12.) Don't Make Me Laugh (4:52) Inspiration: Cathia, Wayne

Drawn like a magnet to a yo-yo boy

Notorious thief of my joy

When he speaks there's nothing but bliss

Like "I forgot" , "Talk to ya later"

Now why would he say it if he didn't mean

He was gonna make good on each thing

That he said he'd do, that he said he'd bring

Tell me, tell me, who's the instigator

When is later Don't make me laugh, laugh, laugh

I think I might break something rolling on the floor

I might cough up a lung if you do that once more

'Cos I hear what you're saying

But somehow it did not come true

I don't think it's gonna happen

Doesn't look like it's gonna happen

I don't think it's gonna happen, do you

Don't make me laugh

I made a down payment on a house of pain

Walls are scrambling my brain

Shelves of trophies who bring me shame

And no windows to ventilate their yappin'

So curl up fetal in the easy chair

Come curl up with a good despair

Hearing ain't all that they impair

There's no escape, all their lips are flappin'

Here's what happens, I'll say

Don't make me laugh, laugh, laugh

I'm getting dizzy dizzy heaving all that wind

I just might bust a gut if you say that again

'Cos I'm tired of crying

You keep dashing my expectation

And it's so sad that it's funny

So sad that it's funny

It's so sad that it's funny

Don't make me laugh

You just keep on being your mysterious self

One more, one more trophy lying on the shelf

You just keep on being your mysterious self

You just keep on, you, one more, one more, one

You just keep on

Gone are the days of the yo-yo boy

One less trophy, a lot more joy

There's only one man don't disappoint

Only one who keeps every promise

Let's be honest

13.) Cuttin' the Rug (4:25) Inspiration: Will

Face it, little boy, you've got issues

And, brother, don't we all, you fear you'll look like a fool

Well, won't you look at him there moving his feet

He's not paralyzed knowing that he might break a rule

The bigger your head, the bigger you fall

If you think you can obey them all

You say it won't happen again

But soon you're out there cuttin' the rug

Face it, little boy, you've got struggles

Brother don't we all, you fear that God's gonna frown

Walking on eggshells, you gotta be right

So far above reproach you chain yourself to the ground

If you're living in righteousness

You can't get carried away I guess

You try to flee from it all

But soon you're out there cuttin' the rug

You cut yourself off from this world and still you fall

You might as well give up and let go

Your eyes get all shifty when the music calls

You strive to be strong, but you can't resist for long

Here it comes creep - creep - creepin' back into your heart

Being around you is getting real tough

Petrified I might mess up

You lose, little boy, time and again

'Cos soon you're out there cuttin' the rug

Twinkle Twankle (Bonus Track) Inspiration: The story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on those yellow 45s

-----Je Reneé Band Resumé

I believe my purpose on this planet is to write, perform, and encourage/drive/stretch people. That is, when they're not busy driving me. Here are the ensembles that shaped the inspirational me:

* Martin High School Jazz, Symphonic, Marching Bands

* UT Austin Longhorn Jazz, Symphonic, Marching Bands

* Austin Symphonic Band

* Bakin' Brownies (formerly Yard Apes), sounds like Widespread Panic & Van Morrison

* Bag of Stephens, sounds like Ian Moore & Doyle Bramhall II

* Jack Rowe & the Law (Tom Petty meets Sly & the Family Stone)

* Pop (80's covers, Peter Gabriel to the Waitresses)

* Heyday (formerly SuperFriends), harmony rock from Eagles & Beatles to Journey

* Wing & a Prayer (Pop, Christian, country, and classical wedding tunes)

* Ginger Leigh (torchy Bette Midler, dancey Kirsty MacColl, funky Phoebe Snow, say when)

* John Wilson (guitar-flute instrumental duet - we do everything!)

-----Fave Je Reneé venues to play in Austin

* Bahama Breeze

* Bistro 88

* Hill Country Pasta House

* Oslo

* Cedar Street

* Mozart's

* Jovita's

* The Filling Station

* Austin's Pizza

* Copper Tank

* Johnny Fin's

* River Place Country Club

* Kali-Kate Thoroughbred Farms

* Carlos & Charlie's

* Waterloo Ice House

* Halcyon

* Sam's Boat

* Volente Beach

* Laguna Gloria

* Palmer Auditorium

* Bass Concert Hall

* Frank Erwin Center

Venues where I can't breathe but play anyway 'cos the people are generous & appreciative

* Steamboat

* Babe's

* Elysium

* Speakeasy

* Graffiti's

* Momo's

* Anderson Mill Tavern

* Saxon Pub

* The Parlor

* Rainbow Cattle Company

* The Syndicate

* Mango's (now Easy Rhino)

* Shenanigans

* Rhinos & Jocks (thanks, Waltah)

* Office Lounge

* Bruckbauer's

-----Influences in the Je Reneé CD collection

Living geniuses: Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Prince, and Andrew Lloyd Weber. Deceased geniuses: John Lennon, Fred Rogers, the Gershwins, Irving Berlin, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Rich Mullins, and Beethoven. Near geniuses: Billy Joel, Quincy Jones, Johnny Costas, Charlie Peacock, Neil Finn, Sting, Fagen & Becker of Steely Dan, and Joe Raposo.

-----Je Reneé's Secret Comes Out!

I admit it, I love Weird Al Yankovic. And I used to be a math teacher. Dangerous combination. I write loony parodies about Algebra and Geometry. It's like a disease, incurable. There's "Sum As You Are" to the tune of Nirvana's Come As You Are. "Rise Over Run" to Already Gone by the Eagles. "Mr. Polynomial" to the tune of America's Sister Golden Hair. "Multi-pli-ca-tion of Fractions" to Rossini's Barber of Seville. My latest is "Domain" to Eric Clapton's Cocaine and "Pi" to the tune of Stand by REM. That's in addition to my original Schoolhouse-Rock-meets-Sesame-Street original tunes with math lessons embedded, like those by muppet Roosevelt Franklin (remember him?). Sick, isn't it?

So, there you have it. Beautiful, goofy, witty, fun, joyful - as a fellow pro said, too Disney for a funk band. My songs are clean, danceable, hopeful, intense. May they uplift people in Austin and beyond, like my heroes in music who move you to dance, sing along, smile, laugh, cry, and be thankful. Soli Deo Gloria!

Love & Blessings, y'all,

Joley

-----INDEBTED THANKS to:

God & Christ; Mom & Dad, Herbert & Juanita, GMH & PPJ, Beulah & Jeff, Justin & Jordan, Marsha, Nita & Ed, Erik & Anna, Uncle Herschel, Aunt Alice, the Flowers & Storey & Harry & Langer & Knight & Mills & Carlstone clans; Moni & Jor-Jor, Horn-No-More, Patita, Dan & Joelle & Joley & Esther, Kaaren, Candace & Craig, Robb, Marcia W, Bekki & James VR, Siv, Kristen, Ben & Adria, Jonelyn & Jayelyn & James, WDMIII, Elwood & Allison, George, Tricia & Stephen, BenDK, Mike & Deb BB, the Loves & the Pedregons; Saints Cindy & Leece & Madeleine & Sal & Sandy & Kimberly & Monica T, AND YOU KNOW WHY; Ann, Dana, Janet, Beth, Tracy, Jeanette, all 2x2ers; Ginger Leigh & Cindy Hill; Jimmie, Sanjay, Busch, Kim, Jon, Chris, Sam, Tom, and dear Dennis "Buttafuoco"; The Miltons, Doh, "Leonard!" & Natasha, and JC & Brenda; 'Risa, Deidra & Micah, Theo, Charles "Yow!" & Emily, Michael, Greg, old IMPACT; Jack Rowe & Nikki & the Law, Yard Apes Kelly & Mike & Chris & hubby Dave, Cacti Nathan & Mike (now Ethan), Eliza Wren, LoFine; The Harrells, Helms, Hales, Flicks, Giles, Grooms, FEFC; Cedar Street, John Dosher, Judy Pierce, Lainie (VoiceWorks), Production Block, Ken & Joe at Rainmaker, Henry at Nuevas Caras; HRW math crew, Second Time Around, Go Dance, Austin Swing Syndicate, Body Business; the patient Je Reneé players and friends and family, George Coyne of Parrot Trax Studios, Bob Bretz of Studio Z Creative Productions, and Matt Wiedemann of Solo Media Productions.

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