In the wasteland, “family” isn’t always about who you’re born to; it’s about who stands beside you when the raiders are at the door and the winter is setting in. “Matchstick Oath” is Boone “Dusty” Maddox’s anthem for the chosen brothers—the kin found in the “mud and the mire.”
The Weight of the Vow
This track features a resonant, communal sound. You can hear the boots of multiple men hitting the floorboards in unison, creating a rhythmic foundation that feels as unbreakable as the bond Boone is singing about. It’s a departure from his “lone wolf” tracks, emphasizing that while survival is personal, endurance is collective.
The “Matchstick Oath” refers to that fragile, singular spark of trust that, when shared, can light a fire big enough to keep out the cold of the entire Sector 8 ridges.
The Tether in the Dark
Boone’s lyrics get to the heart of psychological survival: “His strength is the tether when you’re losin’ your mind.” In a world where every “Old World” promise has turned to rust, a man’s word is the only currency that still holds value. Whether it’s carving vows into oak or swearing on the “current where the waters entwine,” these rituals are the anchors that prevent the survivors from drifting away into the “ghost-haunted” silence of the wastes.
By the time the final chorus swells, you don’t just hear Boone; you hear the collective voice of those carrying the load “till the river runs dry.”
MATCHSTICK OATH
by: Boone “Dusty” Maddox
We walked the ridge where the river cuts low,
Boone and his kin through the frost and the snow.
No blood in our veins makes us brothers by right,
Just the weight of the vow in the dead of the night.
The world’s gone to rust, with its promises broke,
But we hold to the words that we carved in the oak.
A brother’s your shadow when the wasteland’s unkind,
His strength is the tether when you’re losin’ your mind.
Rivers run deep, through the stone and the clay,
We stand as one when the light fades away.
One word, one bond, through the sorrow and strife,
We carry the load till the end of this life.
We buried our fears in the roots of the pine,
Swore on the current where the waters entwine.
When the raiders come callin’, or the hunger takes hold,
A brother’s the fire that keeps out the cold.
The wind tells no tales of the men who’ve gone down,
But we sing for the lost in this ghost-haunted town.
Through the mud and the mire, through the ache in our bones,
We lean on each other when we’re walkin’ alone.
Rivers run deep, through the stone and the clay,
We stand as one when the light fades away.
One word, one bond, through the sorrow and strife,
We carry the load till the end of this life.
A vow ain’t just words, it’s the weight of the years,
The scars that we share through the blood and the tears.
For the ones who still breathe, for the ones in the ground,
Our brotherhood holds where no hope can be found.
Rivers run deep, through the stone and the clay,
We stand as one when the light fades away.
One word, one bond, through the sorrow and strife,
We carry the load till the end of this life.
We carry the load… till the river runs dry.