Today I was thinking of the time I was booking bands at the Iron Horse in Northampton.  In 1994, I booked a band from Scotland called the Old Blind Dogs.  My band Woodkerne opened for them.  Their music still rings in my mind.  Here's a song that reminds me of them.
#OldBlindDogs #Woodkerne #IronHorse


Verse 1
When I was a-walking by the banks of the Ugee,
Come my dear friends and a story I'll relate,
I spied a dear comrade all dressed in white flannel,
Dressed in white flannel and cruel was his fate.

Chorus
Had he been a soldier, had he been a sailor,
Had he been a hero in battle array,
But he was a poor man, a poor man of sorrow,
And the white flannel shroud was the end of his day.

Verse 2
The cold wind was blowing, the river was rising,
The moon on the water threw silver and grey,
I knelt by his body and whispered a prayer,
For the soul of my comrade who'd drifted away.

Chorus
Had he been a soldier…

Verse 3
Now the Ugee keeps rolling, the years keep on turning,
But the notes of his fiddle still ring in my ear,
In the green room at Iron Horse, the laughter, the music,
Old Blind Dogs and Woodkerne - the night crystal clear.

Final Chorus
We were never soldiers, we were never sailors,
But we carried the songs through the cold and the rain,
And the white flannel memory still walks by the Ugee,
Till we meet on the banks of the river again.

BUY ON BANDCAMP!

Banks of the Ugee

Granby Preservation Society presents a Festival of Trees & Baskets 

November 29th and 30th, 2025 - Adam Sweet and Students from Granby Music will be performing Christmas Carols starting at 2pm

December 6th and 7th, 2025

11am - 6pm

250 State St Granby, MA

fundraising@granbypreservationsociety.org

413-218-1801

413-255-0712

All proceeds to benefit Kellogg Hall

Christmas at Kellogg Hall

Recorded under the Sweet Songs label and released through The Americana Project, “Northern Lights” captures a rare night when the skies over western Massachusetts came alive with color. The song tells the story of neighbors and families stepping outside to witness the aurora, weaving light and memory into a moment of shared wonder. Written and produced by Adam R Sweet, it blends heartfelt storytelling with the spirit of New England folk tradition—grounded, luminous, and deeply human. 

Verse 1
We stood out in the quiet fields near Granby,
Under a sky grown soft with November chill.
The trees were still, the air held its breath,
And the old farm fence caught the moon-glow on its rails.
Then came a shimmer, a ghostly green in the dark,
Waving through the branches above the valley.

Chorus
When the northern lights danced over western Massachusetts,
Like ribbons of hope across our silent nights.
In the hush we felt the earth and sky remember,
That something wild can reach beyond our sight.
Oh (avoiding “oh” per your preference) the lights they came, the lights they came…

Verse 2
I recalled my childhood nights with fiddle in my lap,
Dreams of far-away horizons under starlight's grip.
Here in my home-wood I found that same spark,
The sky unfolded secrets beyond our daily script.
My sons looked up, their faces drawn in awe,
As the colors drifted over roofs and winding roads.

Chorus
When the northern lights danced over western Massachusetts,
Like ribbons of hope across our silent nights.
In the hush we felt the earth and sky remember,
That something wild can reach beyond our sight.
The lights they came, the lights they came…

Bridge
Say goodbye to the small routines that anchor us,
Say hello to the moment when the sky becomes our mirror.
Even when the seasons change and the light slips away,
We'll carry that memory of wonder in the bones of this land.

Verse 3
Now I walk the ridge at dawn, footprints in frost,
Knowing that magic picks its time to show.
And though the years will shape us, bend us, slow us down,
There are nights when we remember how it felt to glow.
The fields will sleep, the snow may gather round the fence,
But the echo of those lights stays with our breath.

Chorus (repeat)
When the northern lights danced over western Massachusetts,
Like ribbons of hope across our silent nights.
In the hush we felt the earth and sky remember,
That something wild can reach beyond our sight.
The lights they came, the lights they came…

Outro
Let our hearts be open for the next time they'll appear,
And in the quiet of Massachusetts nights we'll listen.
For the sky to speak in colors we once thought too far away.

Northern Lights

Recorded under the Sweet Songs label and released through The Americana Project, “Red Fire Farm Renewal” honors the neighbors, farmers, and families who gathered this November to help rebuild after loss. Inspired by Red Fire Farm’s fall harvest event, the song celebrates resilience in the heart of Massachusetts — where soup, song, and shared labor turn hardship into hope.
Written and produced by Adam R Sweet, the track carries the warmth of late-autumn fields and the quiet strength of community spirit that endures long after the harvest is done.



Verse 1
November wind through the fading fields,
Smoke and soup fill the air.
Frost on boots where the rafters fell,
But kindness is growing there.
The sun sinks low behind the ridge,
Lanterns glow along the bridge.

Chorus
We'll raise that barn again, my friend,
With soup and song and neighbor's hand.
Through the chill, the light will bend-
Red Fire Farm will stand again.
Through the dusk, through the waning year,
The heart of the harvest beats right here.

Verse 2
Tractors hum down muddy roads,
Past rows gone brown and still.
Hands pour broth in paper bowls,
And laughter warms the hill.
The fire took the barn away,
But the roots run deep in clay.

Chorus
We'll raise that barn again, my friend,
With soup and song and neighbor's hand.
Through the chill, the light will bend-
Red Fire Farm will stand again.
Through the dusk, through the waning year,
The heart of the harvest beats right here.

Bridge
From Granby's farms to Sunderland,
They come to lend a steady hand.
Each bowl, each laugh, each nail and beam,
Restores the heart, rebuilds the dream.

Final Chorus
We'll raise that barn again, my friend,
With soup and song and neighbor's hand.
Through the frost, the light will send-
Red Fire Farm its springtime mend.
Through the dusk, through the waning year,
The heart of the harvest beats right here.

Red Fire Farm Renewal

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has launched its fourth annual ‘Name A Snowplow’ contest for elementary and middle school students across the state.
The contest invites students to propose names for 12 snowplows that will be used during the 2025/2026 winter season. The initiative aims to celebrate the winter season, highlight the dedication of public works employees, and raise awareness of their critical role in maintaining road safety during winter weather.


(Verse 1)
Winter's coming down across the Bay State line,
Kids are dreaming up names while the plows align.
From Pittsfield hills to the Cape's white shore,
They'll keep us rolling when the snow starts to pour.

(Chorus)
Name a snowplow, give it a cheer,
For the folks who clear the roads each year.
From Frosty Flyer to Blizzard King,
Let's make the highways sparkle and sing.

(Verse 2)
In every schoolroom from north to south,
Ideas flying from every mouth.
“Tireless Titan,” “Snow Patrol,”
They're heroes rolling through the cold.

(Chorus)
Name a snowplow, give it a cheer,
For the folks who clear the roads each year.
From Frosty Flyer to Blizzard King,
Let's make the highways sparkle and sing.

(Bridge)
Through ice and sleet they shine their light,
Guiding us safely through the night.
MassDOT says, “Come take part,”
Let's give these plows a name with heart.

(Chorus - Final)
Name a snowplow, give it a cheer,
For the folks who keep our highways clear.
From Boston lights to the Berkshire glow,
We're naming plows to brave the snow!


Name A Snowplow Contest

Recorded by Roots River, “Amherst Fire Displaces” tells the story of a fire that left 232 people without homes in Amherst, Massachusetts. Though the blaze took much, it could not take the community’s heart. Through a steady roots reggae rhythm, the song honors resilience, gratitude, and the love that rises from loss. 


Verse 1
Flames lit the night near the campus edge,
Smoke rose high where the sky meets the ledge.
Two hundred thirty souls without a home,
But every heart beat on, no one alone.

Chorus
Amherst fire displaces, but love replaces,
Hands come together, lighting up the faces.
No one lost, no life erased,
Just strength and care in Amherst's grace.

Verse 2
The firefighters worked through the ash and rain,
They saved the people, eased the pain.
UMass and neighbors, side by side,
Shelter and food, their doors open wide.

Chorus
Amherst fire displaces, but love replaces,
Hands come together, lighting up the faces.
No one lost, no life erased,
Just strength and care in Amherst's grace.

Bridge
From chaos came a gentle peace,
Community in sweet release.
What was broken will rise again,
Hope in the hearts of Amherst's men and friends.

Final Chorus
Amherst fire displaces, but love replaces,
Hands come together, lighting up the faces.
No one lost, no life erased,
Just strength and care in Amherst's grace.

Amherst Fire Displaces

Goodbye penny: Last 1-cent coin minted by US after 230 years of circulation Treasury officials confirmed the penny will remain legal tender, though new coins will no longer be made as the government seeks to cut losses. 

“Goodbye Penny” is an upbeat, roots-driven tribute to the end of America’s most familiar coin. After 230 years of circulation, the last U.S. penny has been minted, and this track captures the moment with fiddles, mandolin, and a bright Americana lift. The song looks back on the penny’s long journey through pocket change, counter jars, farm stands, and family memories, honoring the small coin that shaped countless everyday stories. Recorded by The Americana Project. 

Verse 1
Two hundred thirty years of copper in our hands,
From country stores to Saturday fairs across the land.
Dropped in jars and tip-jars, pockets worn and thin,
A little round reminder of where this place has been.
Now the presses fall silent, the last one rolling through,
And the penny's heading home the way old stories do.

Chorus
Goodbye penny, you've traveled far,
From the general store to the glove box jar.
You bought a dream, you saved a day,
You jingled in our pockets on the long, old way.
We'll keep you close, though your time is done,
Goodbye penny, we'll remember what you've spun.

Verse 2
Treasury says the losses grew too heavy to ignore,
Each tiny coin was costing more than it was worth to pour.
Still they'll stay in circulation, passed from hand to hand,
Like a quiet little echo of an earlier kind of land.
Kids will find them shiny, old folks smile and say,
“That coin once meant a fortune in its own small way.”

Chorus
Goodbye penny, you've traveled far,
From the general store to the glove box jar.
You bought a dream, you saved a day,
You jingled in our pockets on the long, old way.
We'll keep you close, though your time is done,
Goodbye penny, we'll remember what you've spun.

Bridge
Maybe someday in a coffee can, tucked behind a door,
Someone'll shake a handful and recall what came before.
Fiddles ring and mandolins laugh like silver in the light,
As we sing the tale of the coin that carried us through the night.

Chorus
Goodbye penny, you've traveled far,
From the general store to the glove box jar.
You bought a dream, you saved a day,
You jingled in our pockets on the long, old way.
We'll keep you close, though your time is done,
Goodbye penny, you'll live on in everyone.


Goodbye Penny

Scientists reveal hidden quantum light states with record 300,000x brightness The advance could lead to faster, energy-efficient technologies in quantum computing and photonics. 

Recorded under the Sweet Songs label for your Cybernetic Fusion series, “Quantum States” brings the newest breakthrough in photonics into sound. Inspired by scientists revealing hidden light states with unprecedented brightness, the track blends mandolin, fiddle, and electronic pulse into a vivid journey through discovery. It captures that moment when dark excitons ignite, opening the door to faster, energy-savvy technologies and a whole new way of shaping light itself.

 Quantum States turns the newest photonics breakthrough into sound, tracing how hidden light states burst into record brightness and open new futures in energy and tech. A Cybernetic Fusion track shaping tomorrow with strings and pulse.
 #AdamRSweet #SweetSongs #CyberneticFusion

Verse 1
 Deep in the lattice where the shadows hide,
 A whisper of light begins to slide.
 Dark excitons stirring in their secret place,
 Waiting for a hand to shift their state.
 One pulse, one tune, and the barriers fall,
 What was hidden starts to answer the call.
Chorus
 Quantum states rising in a brand-new way,
 Bright as a dawn in a world of gray.
 Three hundred thousand times the shine,
 A surge of tomorrow across the line.
 Strings and circuits breathing as one,
 Light in the shadows finally undone.
Verse 2
 Researchers guiding every twist and turn,
 Shaping the glow in the way stars burn.
 Photon by photon, a rhythm appears,
 A pulse that has waited for countless years.
 The smallest spark becomes a wave,
 Opening doors to the futures we crave.
Chorus
 Quantum states rising in a brand-new way,
 Bright as a dawn in a world of gray.
 Three hundred thousand times the shine,
 A surge of tomorrow across the line.
 Strings and circuits breathing as one,
 Light in the shadows finally undone.
Bridge
 From hidden forms to blazing sight,
 A path is cleared through the realm of light.
 Let the mandolin ring with the beams’ reveal,
 Let the fiddle trace what the photons feel.
 New worlds shimmer at the edge of view,
 Waiting to be shaped by me and you.
Final Chorus
 Quantum states rising in a brand-new way,
 Bright as a dawn in a world of gray.
 Three hundred thousand times the shine,
 A surge of tomorrow across the line.
 Strings and circuits breathing as one,
 Light in the shadows finally undone.


Quantum States

Recorded with the Qin Silk Consort, “Tahng Child” reflects on the discovery that changed how the world understood its own beginnings. The song follows the moment a small fossilized face emerged from the earth in South Africa, inviting scholars to rethink long-held assumptions and look with clearer eyes. It carries a quiet, steady warmth, shaped by string textures and an understated melodic line, honoring the way a single finding can shift an entire discipline. Gentle, reflective, and grounded in the spirit of honest inquiry, this track leans into stillness and wonder as it traces the legacy of the Tahng Child and the light it continues to cast on our shared story. 

the Taung Child shook up the scientific world Almost 100 years before calls to decolonize science, Taung was challenging researchers to reassess their internal biases. 


Verse 1
Long ago in a southern valley,
Hands uncovered a quiet face in stone.
Small as dawn and light as memory,
Carried forward from a world long gone.
Scholars paused and the story shifted,
Old ideas felt the edges move.

Chorus
Taung Child, rising from the earth,
Whispering truths we had yet to hear.
Teaching us how the past can open
When we learn to see with eyes unclouded.
Taung Child, still speaking clear.

Verse 2
Maps were drawn with a heavy leaning,
Lines decided long before the proof.
But the dust of ages held another meaning,
As the shape of history found its truth.
Quiet bones set the mind to wonder,
Where the path of humankind began.

Chorus
Taung Child, rising from the earth,
Whispering truths we had yet to hear.
Teaching us how the past can open
When we learn to see with eyes unclouded.
Taung Child, still speaking clear.

Bridge
Sometimes change begins in silence,
A single voice from long ago.
Asking us to let go lightly,
And follow where the evidence goes.

Final Chorus
Taung Child, rising from the earth,
Calling us back to what is real.
Showing the strength of honest learning,
When the heart is steady and the mind is still.
Taung Child, still speaking clear.

Taung Child

Scientists Think They’ve Found a Way to Slow Your Brain’s Aging Learning another language could be a total game-changer for your cognitive health. 

“Slow Your Brain” is a CyberneticFusion™ release from Sweet Songs, inspired by research showing how learning a new language can support long-term cognitive health. The track follows that idea through shifting patterns and evolving textures, mirroring the way fresh words can wake new pathways in the mind. It leans into curiosity, renewal and the steady practice of staying mentally alive by exploring the unfamiliar. 

Verse 1
Step into the unfamiliar, let the words reshape the night.
New sounds rising in the circuits, pulling shadows into light.
Every phrase becomes a pathway, every pattern builds a chain.
You can feel the current shifting as you learn to slow your brain.

Chorus
Slow your brain, let the rhythm rearrange you.
Slow your brain, let the new words re-engage you.
In the turning of the language, in the spark you can reclaim,
There's a way to stay awake inside the flow and slow your brain.

Verse 2
Older pathways lose their edges when you leave them undisturbed.
But a single whispered vowel can wake the senses with a word.
Let the mind begin its dance again, let the meanings rise and wane.
Every sentence is a doorway to a place that slows your brain.

Bridge
Hold the sound, let it wander.
Let the shape of it remain.
Every syllable you ponder
Is a hand upon the rein.

Chorus
Slow your brain, let the rhythm rearrange you.
Slow your brain, let the new words re-engage you.
In the turning of the language, in the spark you can reclaim,
There's a way to stay awake inside the flow and slow your brain.


Slow Your Brain

Lab-grown models of human brains are advancing rapidly. Can ethics keep pace? Whether neural organoids feel pain or should be placed in animals are among the questions swirling around biology’s hot new technology

Cybernetic Fusion™ dives into the rise of lab grown brains, shaping the theme with pulsing rhythms, drifting pads, and future-leaning textures that explore thought before thought. 
#SweetSongsRecords #CyberneticFusion™ #LabGrownBrains 
https://soundcloud.com/sweetsongsproject/lab-grown-brains

Verse 1
In a quiet little chamber where the steady pulses glow,
Tiny sparks begin to gather in a rhythm soft and slow.
Shaped by hands that chase the questions only living minds can raise,
They drift and bloom in silence through the early learning phase.

Chorus
Lab grown brains, in the cradle of the light,
Growing dreams in the corners of the night.
If they whisper, let the story find its way,
Guiding thought like a lantern through the gray.

Verse 2
There are currents in the fibers where the woven pathways start,
Little echoes rising upward like a heartbeat learning art.
Are they sensing something hidden, are they holding something true,
Or just patterns from the memory of the life they never knew.

Bridge
Every song in this long series keeps the wonder close at hand,
From the signal in the cortex to the things we understand.
If these gentle living models touch a feeling we cannot name,
Then we walk between old wisdom and the spark that lights the flame.

Verse 3
No one knows where this is heading, though the questions always rise,
Like a shimmer on the surface when a thought begins to rise.
What we study in their silence, what we learn from what they show,
Moves us closer to the mystery of the things we want to know.

Outro
Let the cradle keep its rhythm as the woven networks grow,
Let the questions be the compass pointing where the mind might go.
For the world is always turning and the future always waits,
In the fragile little glow of what a rising thought creates.


Lab Grown Brains

Cybernetic Fusion™ blends ancestral music with electronic sound to create a future-born tradition.