Saved By the Dust and the Cross

[Verse 1]
Boots by the door
Bible on the table, still stained with beer
Dust in the sun
Same old chair I sank in every year
Ash in my lungs
Hands that shook from all the roads I chose
Name on a warrant
Heart like a prison where the good can't go
[Pre-Chorus]
But that old hymn cracked the silence
Floating through my neighbor's wall
Every mile of my missteps
Crawled back in that call (oh Lord)
[Chorus]
Now I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
Double-time heart beating under this skin
You broke those chains I thought I'd die in, hallelujah
I'm walking out free where the dark used to win
Happy in the hurt, there's peace in the scars
What was dead in me is breathing again
Now I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
And I ain't going back to who I been
[Verse 2]
That Sunday creek
Cold on my shoulders, washed me clean and shook
Mama in the third row
Crying with that old, worn Good Book
Choir like thunder
But soft as a whisper in my chest
Graveyard behind us
Names on stones, but my soul at rest
[Pre-Chorus]
Every lie I ever swallowed
Rose up like a drowning man
Then Your mercy hit me sharper
Than a worn-down preacher's hand (oh yeah)
[Chorus]
Now I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
Double-time heart beating under this skin
You broke those chains I thought I'd die in, hallelujah
I'm walking out free where the dark used to win
Happy in the hurt, there's peace in the scars
What was dead in me is breathing again
Now I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
And I ain't going back to who I been
[Bridge]
I was the wolf in Sunday clothing
I was the rust on every ring
You were the voice I kept ignoring
Till it tore right through my shame and sin
Now every breath feels like a blessing
Every sunrise like a hymn
[Chorus]
Now I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
Double-time heart beating under this skin
You broke those chains I thought I'd die in, hallelujah
I'm walking out free where the dark used to win
Happy in the hurt, there's peace in the scars
What was dead in me is breathing again
Yeah I'm saved by the dust and the cross, hallelujah
And I'm never going back to who I been

country, Brooding orchestral-country fusion with male vocals: low strings and solemn choir under a sparse picked acoustic guitar, upright bass hitting deep roots. Verses stay slow and heavy, timpani and pedal steel swelling on key lines. Double-time drums and hand-slapped percussion kick in for the chorus while the choir opens up in bright, triumphant harmonies. Fiddle and mandolin add rustic motion around a cathedral-sized hook, closing with a soaring key change and long reverb on the final word., orchestral, happy, healing, male vocals