The Caverns Sessions

- Hidden deep beneath the Cumberland Mountains in Grundy County, Tennessee lies one of the world's most magical musical adventures.

"The Caverns Sessions," 3 million years in the making, pure acoustics offer music from the heart of the American experience, center stage and deep inside the mountain.

This time welcoming, Bill Miller.

I can still feel your prayers from home In that pile of stones - It's deep down musical diversity at "The Caverns Sessions."

Coming up next!

(cheering and applause) (steady drumming music) (singing in American Indian language) (singing in American Indian language) (steady drumming music continues) (singing in American Indian language) (singing in American Indian language) I praise for the rivers the mountains and the streams I praise you for the eagle the visions and the dreams (steady drumming music) I praise all your creation The mountains and the streams I praise you for the eagle The visions and the dreams (singing in American Indian language) (steady dramatic music) (steady dramatic music) I praise you for my children the mountains and the streams I praise you for the eagle the visions and the dreams Oh I praise you for these people The mountains and the streams I praise you for the eagle the visions and dreams The visions and dreams The visions and dreams (singing in American Indian language) (singing in American Indian language) (cheering and applause) (cheering and applause) - So, anthropologists have found, my tribe's Mohican, and they found these piles of stones in New York State and Massachusetts and wondered what they were.

And they went to our tribal elders and what they are, they're prayer stones that when men went away on a hunting trip or went to battle, the children and the wives and families would put out stones for every day that man was gone until he returned home.

And this went all the way through the fifties and sixties into Vietnam, Korea, and they still have stones there.

And I went on tour with Tori Amos and a couple of other acts and was gone over 200 days.

My daughter, Shana, and that time I had a couple kids then and they put out stones for me.

They were little ones, they weren't the big ones.

But when I came home after the 228 day tour it was like there were this little pile of stones in the backyard.

But I wrote this song in memory of that.

This is called, "Pile Of Stones."

(dramatic music) (dramatic music) Garbage fires, worn out tires Dull jackknives, broken lives Starts and stops at an old pawn shop A boy's first fish and the drunkard's wish Thoughts of war behind a motel door Strangers touch on a broken crutch Old men sing under an eagle's wing A cigarette sparks and the stray dogs barks, oh!

As long as the grasses grow And the four winds blow I can feel your prayers from home In that pile of stones (dramatic music) Old bike frames the candle's flame High school dance, you know I never had a chance I flew off in a rage like a bird in a cage I been baptized in the water I watched the death of my father... You know the sun goes down on this part of town I got a boxer's fist, I know the junkies wrist Deserted tracks, Lord I ain't goin' back Buffalo bones and them old grave stones As long as the grasses grow And the four winds blow I can still feel your prayers from home In that pile of stones Stones... stones... stones oh (intense guitar solo music) (intense guitar solo music) As long as the grasses grow And the four winds blow I can feel your prayers from home In that pile of stones In that pile of stones (dramatic music) In that pile of stones (dramatic music) (cheers and applause) - This song, dedicate this to those of you in the audience, which probably quite a few, that have lived through.

We've all lived through Covid together, so we've lived through some trauma, some of us heavier than others, but it's still, death is death, cancer is cancer, Covid is Covid.

It's still gonna hurt whether you're rich or poor, Black or White or Native American, doesn't matter.

So I wrote this song during Covid, it's called, "The Storm."

It's also going out to all the veterans of war in this room.

For all of you that continue to heal from war.

It's a blessing to you and may you begin your healing day today.

This is "The Storm."

(guitar strums) Thank you.

(applause) (gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music) One hundred raging ravens in the trees The whispering voice of God was in the breeze And an old freight train was runnin' down the tracks There were demons on the loose no turning back Three horses and a Gypsy chased me down And she warned me to go back just turn around And I told her we would meet again This road we're on will never end So sing to me and shake your tambourine There was a storm, storm storm storm storm Deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) There was a storm, storm storm storm storm So deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) The time had come for me to make a stand Just a few more days and I'd reach that promised land My soul was aching for a simple change The days they were so dark my dreams were strange (gentle upbeat music) And they beat me down they put me in a jail So I picked the lock and escaped onto a trail And the wolves would lead me on through the storm With one more dead and two more children born There was a storm, storm storm storm storm Deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) There was a storm, storm storm storm storm Deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) (gentle upbeat music) Then an angel stretched his hand out in the rain With a touch of mystic blessings I felt no pain I saw ghosts as they were rising from the graves I became a storm within a storm within a storm I was saved There was a storm, storm storm storm storm It was deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) There was a storm storm storm storm storm Deep inside of me (gentle upbeat music) There was a storm, storm storm storm storm So deep inside of me There was a storm, storm storm storm storm Deep inside of me Oh and I pray for those who suffered from that storm (gentle upbeat music) I pray for those who suffered from the storm (gentle upbeat music) Be healed healed healed healed in your hearts (gentle upbeat music) Heal heal heal heal in your heart Rise above the storm We gotta rise above the storm We gotta rise above the storm like the eagle (gentle upbeat music) (cheers and applause) (cheers and applause) - Last song, "Ghost Dance."

Wrote this in Yerington, Nevada, I was playing for a tribe called the Paiute.

I didn't know it, but I was on grounds where Wovoka started a spiritual movement called the Ghost Dance Religion.

And his three great-great granddaughters were there.

They took me in a desert in a jeep, gave me three eagle feathers and said, "Will you write a song for our great-great-grandfather for peace in this nation again?"

'cause the ghost dancers were killed December 29, 1890 in Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

They were just in the Spirit.

That's what we are up here.

And I'm singing in the Spirit and I want to connect with yours.

I don't wanna force it, but you will heal.

These people danced and were murdered by the government just for dancing for the Messiah, it's what they believed in.

They stopped drinking, stopped fighting, and yet they were killed.

But hey, if I'm dancing that way you can shoot me, because that's full-on faith, it's full-on fearlessness.

Keep us in your prayers.

(guitar strums) Thank you for listening tonight.

(audience cheers and applauds) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) I wanna go where the blind can see I wanna go where the lame will walk I wanna see the sick ones clean Where the deaf can hear and the silent talk I said where are you going?

To a ghost dance in the snow I am a mighty warrior And I'm finally comin' home (upbeat music) I wanna go where the dead are raised Way ah hey ah Where the mountain lion lays down with the lamb Way ah hey ah I wanna go where this God is praised I wanna ride across the plains to the promised land Way ah hey ah I said where are we going To a ghost dance in the snow I am a might warrior And finally I'm comin' home (upbeat music) Hey ah (singing in American Indian language) (upbeat music) (singing in American Indian language) Where I'm going don't need to raise your voice No starvation have plenty to eat No guns no wars no fateful noise Just a victory dance I'll never taste defeat Where there's nothin' done or said that can't be forgiven And every step you take is on sacred ground Walk away from death to the land of the living Where all the lost tribes are finally found I said where are you going To a ghost dance in the snow I am a might warrior Finally comin' home (upbeat music) Finally comin' home (upbeat music) (singing in American Indian language) (singing in American Indian language) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (cheering and applause) (cheering and applause) - [Host] Bill Miller.

(cheering and applause) (cheering and applause)