One Less Place Setting | Erica Full Length Country Ballad (Grief & Empty Chair)

Erica sings "One Less Place Setting" – an original country ballad by heartfelt female country singer Erica about the quiet, everyday grief of loss and learning to live with an empty chair at the table. 🎵 Watch the Short Visualization of this song here:    • One Less Place Setting | Erica Country Bal...   Hey y’all, it’s Erica 🌲🪑🤍 “One Less Place Setting” is the song that still catches in my throat every time the light hits the kitchen table just right. I wrote it thinking about those quiet evenings when you go to set the table out of habit and suddenly realize there’s one less plate, one less glass, one less chair that needs pulling out. The silence at the table talks louder than any voice ever could. This one’s tender, honest, and full of deep hollow ache. Lyrics: [Verse 1] The sourwood we planted by the winding creek Has pushed its reaching limbs toward the sky. I remember when its stem was thin and weak, Before it learned to stand when the cold went by. Now it casts a long, dark shadow o’er the yard, A quiet little spot where the light goes to hide. Watching it grow shouldn't be this hard, While I’m breaking up the ground on the inside. [Chorus] At the table where the sunlight hits the grain, There’s a silence that is talking in its breath. I count the forks and feel the hidden strain, Mapping out the map of what is left. It’s just a simple chore, a habit I’m forgetting, To account for the absence, and one less place setting. [Verse 2] The heavy lonesome pools around my feet, Like the mountain runoff in the early thaw. I watch the garden grow together, bittersweet, Following a wild and restless law. The tines of the silver are cold against my palm, While the whistle of the wind begins to play. There is no bitter voice in this hollow calm, Just the slow wearing down of another day. [Chorus] At the table where the sunlight hits the grain, There’s a silence that is talking in its breath. I count the forks and feel the hidden strain, Mapping out the map of what is left. It’s just a simple chore, a habit I’m forgetting, To account for the absence, and one less place setting. [Bridge] Years are recorded in the rings beneath the bark, A long and steady shadow in the wood. The kitchen is a stage for the dark, Where I do the things I never thought I would. I see the branches reach for a sky so blue, Growing taller for the lack of you. [Outro] One less plate to dry, one less glass to fill. The tree keeps reaching, but the heart stands still. In the lonely light, I’m still waiting. One less place setting. If you or anyone you know has ever felt the empty chair like a quiet thunder in the room… this song is for you. Thank you for listening, darlin’. I’m writing more songs just like this one for you. #CountryBallad #OriginalCountrySong #HeartfeltCountry #EricaSings #AppalachianCountry #HealingCountry