This is the first single from Tim Obrien's upcoming album Paper Flowers which arrives in June.

Get it here >> Buy or stream “Lonesome Armadillo”

Lonesome Armadillo

Tim O’Brien (No Bad Ham Music/admin by Bluewater Music/ASCAP), Jan Fabricius (BMI), Tom Paxton (Bristow Songs/SESAC)

Tim O’Brien vocal and guitar
Jan Fabricius harmony vocal and mandolin
Mike Bub bass
Mike Rojas accordion
Justin Moses resophonic guitar
Larry Atamanuik drums

In fall of 2023, we started tripping over holes an armadillo was leaving in our yard. One Saturday in December, we baited a raccoon trap and trained our security camera on it, then left for a gig in Memphis. On the set break, we could see that we’d caught him, but after the second set, we saw that he’d broken free. After Tom came up with the first line, we wrote the rest of our armadillo’s story.

Lyrics:

I was sittin’ in the “You Wash It” laundromat in Nashville Tennessee
There was a scruffy armadillo sittin’ right next to me
He asked me for a quarter, said I’m down on my luck you see
He rolled a smoke, he said this ain’t no joke, I’m as lost as I can be

(Chorus)
I’m a lonesome armadillo far away from home
Take me back to Amarillo, back where I come from
I want a cactus for my pillow, I’d be such a sight to see
In the shade of a weepin’ willow is home sweet home to me

I tried to make it here in Music City, I never achieved a thing
I’m a nine-band armadillo, but none of my scales will sing
I could lie in the street like Willie, wait to see what life would bring
But I’ll turn my snout to the west and south toward the land of Western Swing

Chorus
Well, the winter’s comin’ on now, I’m getting short on ants and grubs
I don’t like your Nashville chicken, I can’t stand that red hot rub
I tried to buy a record, they kicked me out of Ernest Tubb’s
I guess I’ll have to pack it without a Manuel jacket and I never even got to meet Mike Bub
Chorus