Salt for Sugar

Album

11 min readOct 5, 2025

Streaming on all platforms.

Salt for Sugar is an album that lives where country grit, blues ache, and electronic pulse meet — the intersection of confession and groove. These songs travel through the wreckage and resilience of love, from sweet talk and heartbreak to that quiet, sober clarity that comes with truth. Each track carries the taste of something real: a promise gone stale, a room still haunted, a dawn that doesn’t forgive. The voices — male and female — move through these landscapes with the weary grace of people who’ve seen too much but still believe that rhythm can redeem what words cannot.

The sound world of the album builds from the dirt up — acoustic instruments and electric textures rubbing against each other like friction made spiritual. Synth atmospheres shimmer around slide guitars and smoky vocals, while steady beats echo the heartbeat of lovers holding on or letting go. Salt for Sugar is music for late nights and honest mornings, for those moments when desire meets memory and both lose the argument. It’s an album about illusions that dissolve, truths that sting, and the bittersweet beauty of still wanting to love anyway.

1. Salt for Sugar

She came talkin’ honey,
But it stung like bath tub gin.
Said, “You’re the one, baby,”
With a heart that was halfway in.
She smiled like summer,
But the nights stayed cold.
It’s funny how a promise
Can spoil before it’s old.

Don’t you go mistakin’
Salt for sugar, child.
Sweet words taste good
But fade in a little while.
If she wants to love you,
She won’t need no cue.
When a woman means stayin’,
She’ll show it, and prove it to you.

You set the table for two,
But you’re eatin’ alone.
The light’s still flickerin’,
And the wine’s half gone.
You tell yourself stories,
Like the faithful do.
But you know that if she wanted —
She’d already be next to you.

You can pray for a message,
Stare stupid at your phone.
But the truth walks quieter
Than the lies you’ve been told.
Love don’t beg for timing,
It don’t hide in disguise.
It’s simple as the sunrise —
It either shows or it dies.

Don’t you go mistakin’
Salt for sugar, child.
Life’s too short
To beg for something mild.
If she wants to love you,
She’ll make it plain to see.
Real love don’t whisper,
It roars like the sea.

2. I Still Sing for You

We been fighting ‘bout nothing, baby,
And that ain’t nothing new.
Arguin’ through the night ’til the morning light,
Thunder lookin’ for a storm to roll through.
There’s dinner in the oven, lights still on,
And silence thick as glue.
You say you’re beat, but I see that spark —
I know what you wanna do.

Baby, take your time with me,
Ride me slow and sweet.
Let’s talk in tongues ’til the neighbors wake,
And the angels lose their sleep.
This ain’t forgiveness, baby,
This is fire and blues and truth.
You read my skin like scripture
And I still sing for you.

You came home late from somewhere,
Your alibi half-spun.
Said the city kept you longer,
But that story came undone.
I ain’t mad, I’m just tired of ghosts
And the way your eyes still roam.
But when your hands start reaching, baby,
Any doubt I had condones.

We got sirens out our windows,
And smoke in every word.
Our bodies crack, old vinyl records —
Scratched but still can be heard.
The streetlights lean in listening,
To hear how bruised hearts mend.
We trade our hurt for rhythm,
While you take my breath again.

So lay me down, don’t speak a thing,
Let rhythm have its say.
We’ll make our peace with sweat and sound,
And find our prayer that way.
This ain’t redemption, honey,
It’s a promise tried and true.
You read my skin like scripture
And I still sing for you.

3. Hopelessly

I’m always finding my heart
In the wrong man’s hands.
He smiles like trust in denim,
And I forget my plans.
He says I’m something rare,
And I start to believe —
Every lie sounds so sweet
When you’re swept right off your feet.

Oh, I’m hopelessly,
A lover and a fool.
I keep leaping from the same high ground,
Figurin’ the wind won’t turn out cruel
Yeah, I’m still a dreamer
In a storm —
Chasing lightning
Like it’s something warm.

His boots by the doorway,
Dust from another town.
He leans into my silence
Like a needle finding sound
I trace his shadow
Across my windowpane,
Thinking this time he’ll stay
When he whispers my name.

The morning comes
Too soon and too clear.
The mirror tells the truth,
But I still hold him near.
You’d think by now I’d learn
How the heart should heal,
But baby, I still wager
On what I shouldn’t feel.

Oh, I’m hopelessly,
A lover, can’t you see?
Flying with these broken wings
The feathers fall right next to me.
Yeah, I’m hopelessly,
A dreamer out of place —
I keep loving like the world don’t end,
And I’ve never been betrayed

4. Fate Don’t Play Fair

You said the stars would lead us,
If our story’s meant to stay.
But I’ve been seeing them flicker,
And the sky don’t guide that way.
You talk about the heavens
Like they got time to care.
Good love gets buried and left behind
As the night just stares.

Fate don’t play fair, baby,
It don’t know your name.
It don’t move no pieces,
It don’t take no blame.
We’re the ones who make it,
Or the ones who let it fade —
Fate don’t play fair, baby,
It just watches what we made.

You said life’s current would carry
What was meant to be mine.
But I’ve seen the winds go sideways,
And good men cross the line.
You whisper the heart makes us better,
When your own cold eyes stray.
Ain’t no spirit hand guiding,
It’s just you going away.

Fate don’t play fair, baby,
It don’t know your name.
It don’t move no pieces,
It don’t take no blame.
We’re the ones who break it,
Or the ones who act afraid —
Fate don’t play fair, baby,
It just watches what we made.

I should’ve shouted “you’re a fool,”
But my voice turned to broken glass.
You smiled at some constellation,
While I stared down at the grass.
Doesn’t it feel tragic, honey,
How the truth can be so near —
When one soul’s awake and calling,
And the other don’t lend an ear.

Fate don’t play fair, baby,
It don’t hear what we say.
It don’t write no stories,
Or make no trades.
We’re the ones still walking,
In the costs that we pay —
Fate don’t play fair, baby,
But it knows how to sharpen blades.

5. Between the Wanting and the Needing

You came on smooth, like whiskey slow,
Said all the right things low.
Showed the kind of sweetness
That makes a tooth ache grow
Your touch was fine liquor,
But the aftertaste told the truth —
Some sugar turns bitter
When it no longer soothes.

I may want you, baby,
But that don’t make you mine.
You shine like a promise,
But you sting like moonshine.
Yeah, you’re pretty as trouble,
But my heart’s learned to see —
Between the wanting and the needing,
Only one lets you breathe.

You whispered midnight poetry,
But your words were made of lies.
You had that preacher rhythm,
But no gospel in your eyes.
You moved like thunder rolling,
And I wanted to be rain.
But I won’t sell my peace
To feel that kind of pain.

I may want you, baby,
But that don’t make you mine.
You shine like a promise,
But you sting like salt and lime
Yeah, you sing in the wrong key,
And my heart’s learned to see —
Between the wanting and the needing,
Only one sets you free.

Now the morning’s clear and quiet,
No cologne smell in these sheets.
The air feels clean again,
Like a sinner’s found release.
You were heat and danger,
And I won’t curse your flame —
But I’ve seen how it ends,
And I won’t play that game.

I may want you, baby,
But that don’t make you mine.
You shine like a promise,
But you sting like sea brine.
Yeah, I’ve walked through your fire,
But I still believe —
Between the wanting and the needing,
I found what’s left of me.

6. Black Coffee Morning

Steam curls off the morning cup,
Kitchen clock won’t shut up.
You stare at the chair like an old routine,
The window fogs with what might’ve been.
You don’t reach for the sugar jar
You drink in the quiet, thinking how things are.

It’s a black coffee morning,
Still dealing with the blow.
You nurse that cup like it still holds hope.
It’s not the caffeine that makes your hands shake
Love’s ghost don’t die, it circles the ache.

Her raincoat hangs by the back door,
You sweep the floor ’til your back gets sore.
Neighbors wave like the world’s moved on,
You find yourself still humming her song.
There’s rain on the sill, the floorboards creak,
You stir your thoughts while the kettle leaks.

It’s a black coffee morning,
You sip on sorrow like it’s all you know.
You keep holding what you ought to let go.
It’s not the caffeine that keeps you awake
Love don’t end clean, it just slips away

You pour another, can’t taste the heat,
The bitter burns, tastes like defeat.
The mouth remembers, the heart tries to forget —
Every swallow stirs the old regrets.
She’s gone, but still inside your skin,
Like the dark brew you keep letting in.

It’s a black coffee morning,
And it’s bruising you slow.
You warm your hands on what you ought to let go.
You’d rather drink pain than drink the air —
Cause the empty don’t love you, or answer your prayer.

7. Stay Anyway

The lamp throws gold across the floor,
Your shadow’s halfway out the door.
You say it soft, caress my skin,
But your eyes don’t know the bed they’re in.
Love ain’t the word, it’s the way you cling
Like winter begging back the spring.

Don’t go easy, don’t go kind,
There’s mercy in pretending sometimes.
You ain’t reaching for forever tonight,
Just the warmth that feels right.
It’s the ache that speaks what the heart won’t say.
Stay anyway.

The kettle cools, the walls don’t care,
Two cups of silence, one empty chair.
You trace my sleeve with shaking hands,
But touch can’t build what time can’t span.
Behind your breath truth hesitates
A whisper trembling at the gates.

Don’t go easy, don’t go kind,
There’s mercy in pretending sometimes.
You ain’t reaching for forever tonight,
Just the touch that holds you tight.
It’s the ache that speaks what the heart won’t say.
Stay anyway.

The dawn crawls in through the window frame,
You’re still here, but won’t say my name.
Love’s a word you hide away,
You can’t speak its truth in the light of day.
We lie quiet, half alive, half gone,
Waiting for something that never comes.

Don’t go easy, don’t go kind,
There’s mercy in pretending sometimes.
You ain’t reaching for forever tonight,
Just the tongue behind the bite.
It’s the ache that speaks what the heart won’t say.
Stay anyway.

8. Where Your Heart Once Bled

The whiskey glass still leaves a ring,
You chase the past like it owes you something.
You built your peace on shifting sand,
Still trace my name across your hand.
The night don’t ask, it just forgives,
But memory’s a place that never lives.

You can hide behind your quiet pride,
Pretend that ache don’t live inside.
You moved on fast, or so they said
I still live where your heart once bled.
You turned away for a safer bet,
But I’m the one you lost and can’t forget.

You talk of love like it’s all worn out,
Still keep my ghost inside your doubt.
Your mirror knows the things you’ve done,
The lies you told to outrun one.
I ain’t the wound — you’re just the scar,
Still bleeding soft beneath who you are.

The dawn comes slow, the sky turns gray,
You swear you’ve healed, but it eats away.
You built your world, I let mine fall,
Some debts don’t clear, they’re just recalled.
You toast to peace, I toast to pain
And we both drink to what remains.

9. The Longer I Stayed

You said love was a light that don’t go out,
But I lived too long in the shadow of doubt.
I tried to fix what was breaking in me slow,
But some things die in the seeds they sow.
Your arms were warm, your words were kind —
But I lost my shape trying to match what you defined.

Don’t say I stopped loving you,
That ain’t always what walking away means to do.
I just learned the truth I couldn’t betray —
The longer I stayed, the darker my days
Love ain’t always the place you rest,
Sometimes leaving’s how you love yourself best.

Your coffee cup still on the sill,
Steam long gone, but the ache sits still.
I scrubbed your name off every wall,
But the silence kept whispering through it all.
I packed my bags quiet, like a prayer unsaid,
A goodbye that hurt more than what you said.

You’re a ghost that time won’t chase,
Still lingers soft in every empty space.
But peace don’t grow where pain still feeds,
And hearts need more than a love that bleeds.
I ain’t bitter about you, just tryin’ to be free
And find the woman you couldn’t see.

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