Today’s New Favorite Song: “Lawdy” by The Vespers

Updated:

August 28, 2021 2:28 pm

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Here’s another great song from Nashville’s own The Vespers, a remarkable group we’ve been celebrating for years here. Written by Phoebe Cryar, this is “Lawdy.”

The Vespers are two sisters (Callie and Phoebe Cryar), and two brothers (Bruno & Taylor Jones). The sisters are the daughters of Christian artist Morgan Cryar, most famous for his rendition of “Pray in the USA.” All four are multi-instrumentalists, covering upright and electric bass, guitar, banjo, drums, mandolin, ukulele, accordion and more.

The Vespers was the sister’s duo at first; they named their group The Vespers after Phoebe found this word for evening prayer and Callie liked it, because she felt it easy to remember.

They sing, as the saying goes, as only siblings can sing. Siblings who are great harmony singers, that is. Their two voices in perfect visceral harmony is the engine of this group. But it needed more, and when they met the musical Jones brothers at a campfire jam, they found the missing parts of their band, and they expanded to be four,

“Lawdy” has recently had a new surge of new attention after being featured in the TV show “Longmire.” It is from their second album The Fourth Wall, released in 2012. The title of the album, they said, refers to the invisible fourth wall which separates the performers and the audience; it’s a wall they aim to tear down.

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Lawdy
Words & Music by Phoebe Cryar

Lawdy, lawdy, please help me sleep
I’ve been tired for too long, for too, lawdy!
Lawdy, lawdy, please give me peace
I’ve been scared for far too long, lawdy!

Hold me in your hands, help me understand
Got me in your ways, lawdy, lawdy stay!
Lawdy, lawdy stay!

Lawdy, lawdy stay with me
I need you to stay by my side, stay by my side, lawdy!
Lawdy, lawdy, please help me see
I can’t be blind for all my life, for all my life, lawdy!

Hold me in your hands, help me understand
Got me in your ways, lawdy, lawdy stay!
Lawdy, lawdy stay!

Hold me in your hands, help me udnerstand
Got me in your ways, lawdy, lawdy stay!

Hold me in your hands, help me understand
Got me in your ways, lawdy, lawdy stay!
Lawdy, lawdy stay!
Lawdy, lawdy stay!

Thanks to our good friend Jeff Gold, songwriter and proprietor of the
West Valley Music Center in West Hills, California, for suggesting this song.