'Dust and Smoke' by Sam Barber - Lyrics and Meaning

Sam Barber is currently knee deep in his 2025 tour across North America, but has still found time to be writing, recording and releasing. His latest EP, titled ‘Music For The Soul’, was released on August 1 and sits strong with 7 tracks in the already timeless singer-songwriter style we’ve come to expect from the young artist from Missouri.

Music For The Soul acts as a follow up to his impressive 2024 debut album Restless Mind, with the title track opening the EP. We saw the first sneak peek of the EP back in June, when Barber posted a clip of him singing the title track with an acoustic guitar in hand, simply captioned ‘music for the soul’. Then came the release of ‘Home Again’, but ‘Dust and Smoke’ was kept hidden until release day.

Kicking off with a familiar acoustic guitar before Barber’s classic gravelly vocals launch this song’s story, the singer keeps the first half of the track simple and understated, even the first chorus remaining just Barber and guitar.

The song really picks up when strings are added to the mix, while restrained instrumental touches deepen the layers of the track. Towards the end of the song, an impressive guitar solo adds a touch of bluegrass to bring 'Dust and Smoke' to a close.

“Fire’s a burning on a mountain, you can smell it from miles around
It’s getting heavy, and the ash is snowing softly on this town
It’s getting hard to see the ground
Burns to breathe, it’s hard to see
It’s getting darker by the day
Try to speak, but I’m too weak
From all the coughing I can take
All that’s left to do is pray”

Barber kicks off ‘Dust and Smoke’ with an intensely visual description of a fire burning on the mountain, the smoke spreading across the town and covering everything. Although the image is very visceral, we quickly understand that this fire is all taking place in our protagonist’s mind, as he becomes overwhelmed by the thoughts he has and the darkness that has been creeping in.

As things are getting ‘darker by the day’, it seems that he is searching for the light and feels that ‘all that’s left to do is pray’.

“Far too wasted, hollowed out
Far too faded to talk me down
It carries through my bones
And that’s something I hold close
If I start choking on my lies
Would you leave me here to die?
‘Cause all I’ve ever known
Is everything I hold just turns to dust and smoke”

The protagonist of the story is really starting to struggle and it seems like he’s been carrying too much weight on his shoulders. He’s starting to lose himself in the thoughts, lies and darkness that he 'carries though [his] bones.

However, perhaps he does have someone that can help him out of some dark places, as he asks if this person would ‘leave [him] here to die’ if he can’t keep carrying all those lies.

“I’ve been dreaming about the moment that I saw you in my sleep
Told me I was too damn young to be the type of man you’d keep
Girl, that lives inside me
They say the only way to make it out of hell is through
That the darkest times can bring out a light in you
Well, if only that were true”

As we move into the next verse of the song, it might be that the person he could previously lean on was a past love, but this girl didn’t quite get the same support from our young protagonist.

Being told that he was ‘too damn young’ is something that has stayed with him, and is perhaps the root of these thoughts, that he’s just not got his life figured out enough yet. But in a wise piece of sentiment, he reminds himself that 'the only way to make it out of hell is through.'

The singer-songwriter has remained fairly quiet about the release of the EP ‘Music For The Soul’, since posting the first glimpse on social media back in June and then announcing the release of ‘Home Again’ in July - another song that found its home on the EP.

With Barber currently out on tour though, we expect to be hearing a few of these moving tracks, including ‘Dust and Smoke’, as he’s on the road - that’s something to look forward to.

Fire’s a burning on a mountain, you can smell it from miles around
It’s getting heavy, and the ash is snowing softly on this town
It’s getting hard to see the ground
Burns to breathe, it’s hard to see
It’s getting darker by the day
Try to speak, but I’m too weak
From all the coughing I can take
All that’s left to do is pray

Far too wasted, hollowed out
Far too faded to talk me down
It carries through my bones
And that’s something I hold close
If I start choking on my lies
Would you leave me here to die?
‘Cause all I’ve ever known
Is everything I hold just turns to dust and smoke

I’ve been dreaming about the moment that I saw you in my sleep
Told me I was too damn young to be the type of man you’d keep
Girl, that lives inside me
They say the only way to make it out of hell is through
That the darkest times can bring out a light in you
Well, if only that were true

Far too wasted, hollowed out
Far too faded to talk me down
It carries through my bones
And that’s something I hold close
If I start choking on my lies
Would you leave me here to die?
‘Cause all I’ve ever known
Is everything I hold just turns to dust and smoke

Far too wasted, hollowed out
Far too faded to talk me down
It carries through my bones
And it’s something I hold close
If I start choking on my lies
Would you leave me here to die?
‘Cause all I’ve ever known
Is everything I hold just turns to dust and smoke

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