The lead track off Boone’s debut album sets the tone for everything the Maddox name stands for: utility wrapped in a melody. While the Atomic Sisters might sing about the glamour of a hazmat suit, Boone “Dusty” Maddox is down in the mud, literally pulling survival out of the reeds.
The Poor Man’s Star
“A Penny’s Worth of Light” isn’t just a song; it’s a technical manual for a rushlight. For those who haven’t been briefed by Pops yet, a rushlight is what you make when the candles run out and the batteries are dead. It’s a marsh reed stripped to the pith, soaked in animal fat, and tilted in a holder to burn slow and steady.
As Boone’s gravelly voice pulls you in over a slow, deliberate boot-thump, he reminds us that light isn’t a given—it’s something you earn from the tallow of the harvest and the “dry, pithy blood” of the marsh.
Prayer and Pith
There’s a heavy, lonesome beauty in the bridge: “A tallow light don’t last for long. Just enough time… To finish a prayer. Or finish a song.” It’s a stark reminder of the economy of the wasteland. Everything is metered. Everything is finite. But in those few minutes of flickering “grease-melted” glow, a man can find his spirit again, read his Book, and keep the “night-terrors” back from the door.
A PENNY’S WORTH OF LIGHT
by: Boone “Dusty” Maddox
The sun’s gone to bed behind the Black-Stony crest
And the shadows are crawlin’ for to find ’em a rest
I got a pot of the tallow, meltin’ down on the heat
From the fat of the harvest and the kine and the sheep
And a bundle of rushes I pulled from the mud
To carry the flame in their dry, pithy blood.
Oh, peel away the skin, leave a sliver of green
The brightest little wonder that you ever have seen
Dip it in the grease ’til it’s heavy and slow
And wait for the dark for to give it a glow
It’s a poor man’s candle, it’s a lonesome man’s star
Guidin’ the spirit back from afar.
I stripped back the bark from the pith of the reed
Just leavin’ a ribbon for the strength that I need
Then I soaked it in grease ’til it drank up its fill
While the wind stayed a-whisperin’ out on the sill
I set it in the holder, tilted just to the side
To keep the flame steady and the shadows at bay.
A tallow light don’t last for long. Just enough time…
To finish a prayer. Or finish a song.
It don’t cost a penny, it don’t need a wick
Just a reed from the marsh and a grease-melted trick
But it shows me the pages of the Book on my knee
And it keeps the night-terrors away from the tree
When you got nothin’ left but a spark in the night
You learn what it means to be grateful for light.