[Verse] Backroads twist through fields of green Where the pines whisper secrets unseen Old barns creak Tales untold In the morning light The stories unfold [Verse 2] Tobacco leaves drying in the sun Rivers run through where time begun Gravel paths lead to nowhere fast Ghosts of the mill They never passed [Chorus] It's where the heart beats slow and steady Mountains rise and the folks are ready From the blue ridge to the ocean's sway North Carolina’s where I'll stay [Verse 3] Sweet tea on a porch swing sways Cicadas sing in the summer haze Church bells echo in the morning light Children laugh as day turns night [Verse 4] Fields of cotton beneath a southern sky Grandma's wisdom as the years drift by Old-time tunes on a fiddle's string Makes my spirit rise Hear the banjo ring [Chorus] It's where the heart beats slow and steady Mountains rise and the folks are ready From the blue ridge to the ocean's sway North Carolina’s where I'll stay