Jeff Dayton - INSIDE THE WALNUT ROOM

walnut room insider

jeff's 18th studio album

A fresh new batch of rootsy fun and reflection in Jeff's own creative blend of styles...story songs full of characters, classic country, hot bluegrass), Cuban rhythms, Texas and Hawaiian feels plus a little tropical chill, all with the heartfelt lyrics Jeff is known for.

LYRICS are here!.

We're stoked to bring you this new release. Feel free to reach out to us with your comments and reviews at jeffdaytonlive@gmail.com.

When It's Cold In Texas

When it's cold in Texas
It cuts right thru your clothes
The cows crowd together
and lovers hold each other close
There's frost on the windows
The blankets aren't enough
When it's cold in Texas
That's when I miss your love

The wind blows thru the floorboards
There's no warmth in the sun
I shiver with regret
For all the foolish things I've done
There's no words I can think of
To ever bring you home
When It's cold in Texas
Sure makes a man feel alone

I wish that we were somewhere warm
Laughing in the sun
Making memories like we used to do
There's snow on the hilltops
And ice along the coast
When it's cold in Texas
That's when I need you most

The Hundred Ways

She'll never know the hundred ways she moves me
Like the happy in her voice each time I call
It's the perfect in her coffee
How her perfume lingers on me
And her warm hand when we're walking in the fall

It's the way she gives me all my inspiration
And she always brings my crazy down to earth
It's how she's looking at me
Laying round in just her jammies
And the things that I can't wait to do to her

It's the way she doesn't judge me for my history
And she lets me love her just the way she is
When I'm leaving she pretends that she won't miss me
But her first kiss when I'm home, I know she did

I love to watch her looking at a sunset
It's almost like she's praying deep inside
When I reach around to hold her
She leans into my shoulder
And she don't mind at all if I cry

She wakes me in the fresh new light of morning
And whispers that our best is yet to come
Then softly she leans in with a deep slow kiss
I guess that makes a hundred and one

© 2025 Jeff Dayton Music BMI

up on the bow

Up on the bow
The world feels better somehow
Getting some sun on my face
Leaving my worries in the wake
All I know for sure
Is we're never going to figure it out
That's okay, cuz just for today
I'm up on the bow

I been thinking
I really ought to thank her
Cause I never realized
There's two kinds of anchors
Some will hold you steady
Some just hold you down
That's all way behind me
I'm riding easy now
Up on the bow

One thing I love bout the ocean
It's good for letting go
It's a natural kind of healing
That happens every time I go
Up on the bow

cowboys and trains

They cut through the prairie where the buffalo roam
They laid down their steel from here to the coast
On two kinds of horses they thundered to fame
Cowboys and trains

In leathers and feathers, six guns and bows
And smokestacks that bellow that Number 9 coal
They both know the lonliness out in the rain
Cowboys and trains

Some left the cities dreaming of gold
Some sought their freedome in the great wide unknown
On the backs of the bravest the legends were made
Of cowboys and trains

They sing round the campfire in New Mexico
The horses are resting while a freight whistle blows
Cheaters and preachers, they all look the same
To cowboys and trains

The mountains are falling, the sea's on the rise
And who knows what's left of the rest of our lives
Some things won't last, some never change
Like cowboys and trains

At the end of the world, two things remain
Cowboys and trains

my little girl

My litte girl was born in the summer
That's why she's got that warm, sunny smile
My little girl is strong like her mother
She reminds me of me every once in a while
My little girl loved to play with her Barbies
She loved to read books and she really loved to dance
My little girl still fights with her brothers
They never learned that they don't stand a chance

She grew up without my permission
Oh, it happened overnight, I don't know how
But there she is, a vision in white
My little girl is a woman now

I hope that boy knows what he's in for
I hope that boy is as good as he seems
I know he'll be a fine husband and father
Cause he knows the Good Lord is all they need

easy breezy

No matter what kind of day I had
She can make me forget about that
Just one look at her smiling face
And I'm gone to a brand new place
Somewhere it's just her and me
Watching waves rolling over our feet
Just a kiss and a touch of her hand
Guaranteed I'm a brand new man

Oooh, she's so natural
Smooth, soft and beautiful
She knows how to tease me and please me belive me
Loving her is easy breezy

Hand in hand walking down the shoreline
Man, I love how her hand fits in mine
We can talk about nothing and everything
Makes me wish that I had a ring right now
Cuz I'd slip it onto her left hand
And promise that I'd be her forever man
Never do her any way but right
Give her my best for the rest of my life

When the stars shine down on the water
It's like diamonds dancing all around her
I don't wonder what Heaven is like
But this already feels like paradise

changed somehow

inspired by the life story of Blaze foley

He lived like a ghost
from back in the golden days
Might have never left a trace
But his songs, they do remain
They wander in my head
with haunting melodies
Say what you will, but I believe
I was changed somehow

He lived to drink,
a young poet all full of pain
Kept getting in his own way
Kept slipping down the drain
Mad at the world, and yet a beautiful soul
I heard his voice as rough as coal
And I was changed somehow

The road was a load for what it cost him
He crashed and burned and stumbled back to Austin
He stood up for a friend in a cold Texas wind
Thats where we lost him

Ain't fame a fickle friend
It lures you with a faithless heart
Leaves you in a nowhere bar
Sitting there like a fallen star
But no life is lived in vain
One day, one summer wind
One song comes drifting in
And you're changed somehow

harmonica train

featuring "Harmonica Dave" matchette

Harmonica train, harmonica train
Good people you're riding the harmonica train
Harmonica train, harmonica train
Good people you're riding the harmonica train

I took me a little road trip down to the Sunshine State
To jam with my old buddy
we call him Harmonica Dave
I laid down some rhythym
and he laid down some blues
We got this thing a-running
And we're coming straight for you

Well, if you like that rhythym
And you wanna ride along
Hop on board and get ready for
An old school country song
Kick off all of your worries
And get on your dancing shoes
And tell everybody you know
that they can ride it too

my friend Robert

written for my Hawaiian brother

A good day for Robert was shoes on his feet
Food he could chew with just a few teeth
A nice warm shower and sleeping indoors
But he can't remember when he had all four

Most folks ignored him or paid him no mind
But he had a lifetime of stories inside
So I'd buy him breakfast and listen a spell
Hoping a good meal would help keep him well

You could tell life had leaned on him hard
Wore out his clothes and beat down his heart
He'd smile and say "I try my best"
Then he'd hug me like a bear cub
With his head on my chest

He talked of a lady he loved long ago
Losing her sure put an ache in his soul
He said "Live long enough and you too can say
You've had too many years and not enough days"

I walk that same park, perfect and green
And sit on the same bench where he used to sleep
Remembering and old friend, humble and wise
With all of those sunsets burned in his eyes

Here's to an old friend, humble and wise
With 20,000 sunsets burned in his eyes