Lyrics:

My name is Josiah
I've come down to the river
I don't care to see what's behind me
I've traveled alone
I'm a long ways from home
There's no need for you to remind me
The past I once had's
Gone rotten, gone bad
There's no loving smile to console me
Well, the future's unknown
But back there at home
There's no one now left to hold me

My days once flew by
Like the geese in the sky
Flying high over Avery County
In our little mountain home
I never felt alone
It was me and Mama and Daddy
Daddy worked now and then
Odd jobs for a friend
But he made most his money off moonshine
We barely had enough
But we always had love
I never went to sleep hungry or crying

Daddy left home one night
With a load of white lightnin'
Said he was heading for Charlotte
But he never got that far
Him and his car
Crashed halfway down Kimbrough Mountain
That left Mama and me
Living off charity
And what little Daddy had left us
And pretty soon the bank
Was breathing down our necks
Saying they was going to evict us

Well a man come around
He'd just moved to town
He started sweet talking Mama
At the end of her rope
She'd 'bout given up hope
She believed when he promised to love her
He preached and he roared
Like a man of the Lord
His message was Hell and Damnation
When I stood in-between
My mother and him
He said, 'Your boy here's in need of salvation.'

With his high holy ways
He treated me like a slave
Said I was born of the Devil
He beat me til I bled
Then he left me for dead
His eyes shining wicked and evil
Well I ran off that night
In the autumn moonlight
I could hear Mama crying for mercy
I found a boat by the river
I got in and untied her
To the sound of his unholy cursing

Long as this river flows
I reckon I'll go
Til it runs out into the sea
If he follows me there
I'll kill him I swear
He's got no more power over me
If my Mama were alive
I'd tell her goodbye
I'll see her someday way up yonder
Now the sun's going down
To the river I'm bound
Fare thee well Avery County
Now the sun's going down
To the river I'm bound
Fare thee well Avery County