"Gospel Of The South" lyrics

I was going home, I was going to Memphis
When I heard a preacher on the Pentecostal radio
And he talked like fire and he talked like thunder
And he talked to me like I'd lost my soul
It's been years and it's been miles
I can feel it now
The gospel of the South

I remember poor, in an old farmhouse
With a rusted Ford out in the backyard
And I asked my Grandpa, "How come it never rains?"
"How come this ground is so dang hard?"
He said, "Boy, it's the good Lord's will"
Then he wiped his brow
With the gospel of the South

And it runs through me
Like the Mississippi
And it turns me like a weathervane
And it points me down that gravel road
To a field of tilted stones that hold my family's name
There's a song of sweet redemption
I can hear it now
The gospel of the South

Well, the house is gone and I see a young boy
In a shirt and tie, dressed up for revival
In the back of my daddy's truck, full of empty beer cans
And in my momma's hands, a beat-up Bible
They laid me down in that muddy water
I can taste it in my mouth

And it runs through me
Like the Mississippi
And it turns me like a weathervane
And it points me down that gravel road
Where I left my sins in a shallow grave
There's a song of sweet redemption
I can hear it now
The gospel of the South

It runs through me
Like the Mississippi
And it turns me like a weathervane
And it points me down that gravel road
To a field of tilted stones that hold my family's name
There's a song of sweet redemption
I can hear it now
The gospel of the South
It's the gospel of the South