The Woodie Guthrie “Talking Blues” Style Song  

Chronicles the Trials and Triumphs of Gardening Enthusiasts 

 

 

 

Watch Rory’s music video here. Stream the new single here. 

NASHVILLE, TN (September 19, 2025) – Americana, country, and gospel artist, Rory Feek, releases the new single “Harvest Time” on September 19th just in time for the fall season. et in an amusing and playful Woody Guthrie “talking blues” style, the song that deftly paints the scene of an obsessive gardener and homesteader. The resulting track is a rootsy acoustic romp, infused with shotgun-style lyrics and a sing-along chorus. Destined to be a garden and homesteader’s anthem. Rory shared a backstory on how this song, written by Stephanie Davis, was selected as his next project.  

“Nearly ten years after the loss of my late wife, Joey, to cancer—and the end of the Grammy Award-winning country music duo Joey+Rory that we were part of together—this single isn’t just about the joy and pain of gardening. It’s an analogy for the peaks and valleys we all experience in life, and the importance of “picking up our hoe and continuing the work at hand.” 

For me personally, “Harvest Time” is the long-labored-for fruit of new love springing up again (I got remarried this past July) and a new mama for our 11-year-old daughter, Indiana, after nearly a decade of being on our own. 

Living on a 100-acre farm and being an avid gardener and homesteader myself (besides being a songwriter and artist), I know well the springtime hopes of planting seeds that will become healthy, delicious food for our family… the reality of long summer days spent hoeing and weeding and wondering if it’s worth it… and the celebration when the harvest finally comes in.” 

“Harvest Time” was written by Montana-raised Stephanie Davis (best known for Garth Brooks’ “Learning to Live Again” and “We Shall Be Free”) as well as her numerous appearances on The Prairie Home Companion. The single was produced by Ben Isaacs (of Gospel music’s The Isaacs). The music video was filmed and directed by Rory Feek and Mikel Hunt.  

 “Harvest Time” will be available on all digital music platforms starting on September 19th. For more information about Rory, visit roryfeek.com.  

HARVEST TIME LYRICS  

Well, it starts with a catalog that comes in the mail 

In the middle of the winter, when you’ve had it with those pale 

Thick-skinned, store-bought, sorry, hard-as-rock 

Excuses for tomatoes with the flavor of a sock 

  

And there on the cover sits the juicy, red 

Ripe homegrown tomato you’ve had dancing in your head 

Never mind you said last August you’d had it up to here 

With the hoeing and the weeding—that’s what you say every year! 

  

So, you fix a cup of coffee, sink into your favorite chair 

Put your feet up and you thumb through the pictures and compare 

Big Boys, Better Boys, Early Girls and Romas 

The new disease and drought-resistant hybrid from Sonoma! 

  

Then it’s on to peas and carrots, lima beans and beets and kale 

And you’ve never tried kohlrabi—say, the lettuce is on sale! 

What’s a garden without sweet corn—better plant some marigolds 

And you just read in ‘Prevention’ ‘bout how garlic’s good for colds! 

  

So, you phone an order in that nearly melts your Visa card 

And stare out at the foot of snow that blankets your backyard 

And visualize your garden, oh, so peaceful and serene 

Until at last you close your eyes and slip into a dream (about) 

   

Harvest time… bushels of red, ripe tomatoes! 

Harvest time… sweet corn that melts in your mouth 

  

Well, the days turn to weeks and the next thing you know 

There’s a robin at the feeder and the last patch of snow 

Disappears ‘bout the time that a UPS truck 

Backs up to your house and you stand there, awestruck 

  

As 47 “Perishable—Plant Right Away”- 

Marked boxes are unloaded on your porch as you say, 

“Are you sure?” “Yes, sir”, need your signature here— 

Looks like someone’s gonna have ‘em quite a garden this year!” 

  

Well, you watch him drive away, then you sink to your knees 

‘Cause you feel a little woozy: Forty-seven boxes—Please! 

God, I know I’ve got a problem and we’ve had this talk before 

But if you help me this one last time—I won’t order anymore! 

  

Just then, as if in answer to your prayer, your sister’s van 

Pulls up into the driveway with Aunt Martha, Uncle Stan, 

Two nephews and a cousin, who just stopped to say hello 

But soon are sporting calluses as up and down each row 

  

You, their warden, push ‘em; it’s a scene from “Cool Hand Luke”: 

“Over there those clods need breaking…Leave more space around that cuke! 

See those bags of cow manure?  Bring a dozen over, fast! 

Yes, I know you Have arthritis, but you’ll thank me when at last (it’s) 

   

Harvest time…  show you what a real strawberry tastes like! 

Yeah, harvest time… might even let you help me dig potatoes! 

 

Well, that night it starts to sprinkle and you can’t help feeling smug 

‘Cause your garden’s in the ground and getting watered while you’re snug 

Underneath the covers, or at least until midnight  

When the temperature starts dropping and in no time you’re smack right 

  

In the middle of your garden, in your jammies, on your knees 

With a headlamp and a hammer and some tarps and jeez Louise 

It’s cold but you keep working ‘till the last plant’s safe from harm 

And there’s holes in your new jammies and bursitis in your arm 

  

‘Cause by gosh, you’re a gardener right down to your muddy clogs 

And even when the rabbits take your lettuce and neighbor’s two stray dogs 

Pee on your zucchini and a fungus coats your kale 

‘Cause it’s rained for two weeks’ solid—do you falter- do you fail? 

  

Yep!  You throw your hoe down, stamp your feet and call it quits— 

Declare to all the Heavens that gardening is the pits 

And you’ll never plant another and this one can bloody rot 

Then suddenly the sun breaks through the clouds and, like as not 

  

You see a couple weeds you must have missed the last go-round 

And you shake your head and meekly pick your hoe up off the ground 

And you hoe and keep on hoeing ‘till your Roma’s dangle red, 

Ripe and juicy on the vine and sweet corn towers overhead, 

  

Beans hang from their trellis, big orange pumpkins sprawl about 

And you get that satisfying feeling once more when you shout: 

  

Harvest time… break out the canning jars! 

Yeah, harvest time… man the pressure cooker! 

Oh, harvest time… you have to take zucchini—we’re related! 

Harvest time… now THIS is a tomato! 

Harvest time. 

  

Song Written by:  Stephanie Davis