We've recently heard about Kathy Mattea's
album Coal but, there is a bigger,
better and more historical look at coal
mining -- the Lonesome Records and
Publishing Music of Coal: Mining Songs
from the Appalachian Coalfields.
I've spent about a week reading the lyrics
in the book and listening to the two volumes
of music contained in this awesome Jack
Wright production and find that it is one
of those works that not only puts you in the
fields too, but it covers the spectrum of
the music as well. Bluegrass music covers
the topic of coal mining but this
collections goes another dimension beyond
that. This is an collection and anthology
that pulls at your heartstrings and once you
immerse yourself into the coal mining way of
life, may even bring a tear to your eye.
The 48 songs cover old and new as they are
performed by artists old and new. Contained
within the cover of the book and embossed
within the two CDs is the music of The
Carter Family, The Stanley Brothers, Hobo
Jack Adkins, Hazel Dickens, Orville Jenks,
Sarah Ogan Gunning and even Natalie
Merchant. Also presenting their versions of
coal mining sorrow are Blue Highway, Tom T.
Hall, Valerie Smith, and a whole lot more.
The producer, Jack Wright, notes that the
music contained in this volume was prepared
from many sources old and new and that the
transfers from wax, metal, shellac or vinyl
contain imperfections that were an artifact
of the pressings of the time. Also, some of
these are also monaural analog recordings of
coal mining music that is rarely heard
today. The production took two years for the
music and the book.
The book contains the lyrics, songwriter
information and a lot of rare or unique
photographs of the coal mining region. Old
photos from within the mines, of families of
coal miners and of the artists contained
within the volume are all present here. Coal
mining favorites like "Prayer of a Miner's
Child," "Sixteen Tons," "Thirty Inch Coal,"
"Union Man," "That Twenty-Five Cents You
Paid," and "Explosion at Derby Mine" are
contained here as well as lesser known songs
that tell the true painful story of those
who dug the black gold from the mountains of
the region.
These songs tell of the hardships before
unionization and the pain and suffering of
families who lost their loved ones in the
mines. How generations of miners couldn't
get out of the rut of mining that filled the
cemeteries of the grandfathers, fathers and
sons who lost their lives to coal. There
isn't a lot of joy in between the covers of
Mining Songs from the Appalachian
Coalfields: Music of Coal. The losses due to
black-lung and the environmental impacts due
to mining are artistically presented with
music and verse.
The Lonesome Pine Office on Youth announces
the release of the two-CD set Music of
Coal: Mining Songs from the Appalachian
Coalfields. Lonesome tells us some of
the details of the project. "This has been a
collaborative effort involving many people
in the Wise County area as well as noted
experts across the country," said Paul
Kuczko, director of the Lonesome Pine Office
on Youth and executive producer of the CD
project. "We've assembled more than two
hours of music that truly gives the flavor
of our coal mining heritage." According to
Jack Wright, who produced the CDs and wrote
the liner notes, the musical collection is a
"hybrid" of old and new songs—some
previously recorded, others produced
specifically for this project.
"We chose some songs that came out
previously on independent labels and may not
have been well known, but are vital in
telling original stories from the heart of
the coalfields," Wright said. "In addition,
we have well established artists represented
here, like Ralph Stanley, Dwight Yoakum,
Natalie Merchant, Tom T. Hall, Blue Highway
and the Carter Family."
Kuczko emphasized that the project made
extensive use of local talent, including
Maggard Studio in Big Stone Gap, where Alan
Maggard served as associate producer and his
father Charlie recorded a song chronicling
the 1934 mine explosion at the Derby mine.
Other local performers include Molly Slemp
of Norton, Ron Short of Big Stone Gap, Jim
Stanley of Derby and the Rev. Joe Freeman, a
former Wise County resident. Ron Short of
Big Stone Gap and Rich Kirby of Dungannon
served as assistant producers. For Wright,
who hails from Wise but now lives in Ohio,
the Music of Coal project was a
chance to delve more deeply into the history
of his native region and to discover
archival photographs and recordings that had
been "lost" or overlooked. For example, he
became interested in the work of John "Ed"
Sturgill, a well known musician around the
town of Appalachia who died in 1965. Wright
tracked down Sturgill's daughter, Sally
Sturgill Gibson, who sent him a post card of
her father playing his banjo in the outdoor
drama "Trail of the Lonesome Pine." He also
learned that Ed Sturgill had sent a tape of
his original music to famed folklorist Alan
Lomax. The tape eventually ended up at the
Lomax archive, which made a copy available
to Wright.
"It was a thrill for me to be able to give
Ms. Gibson a copy of her dad's music. She
had no idea that the tape existed and got to
hear her father's voice and music forty
years after he'd passed away. That was one
of the many small joys of producing this
project. Another was to include a song from
a live performance by Dock Boggs from the
first festival I produced at Clinch Valley
College in 1969. My longtime friend Mike
Seeger had recorded it and made it
available." Wright said.
The Music of Coal project began in
2005 with the formation of an advisory group
of representatives from around the region.
Funding was provided by the Virginia
Foundation for the Humanities as well as
Wise County Sesquicentennial Commission. The
work is dedicated to Archie Green, a noted
author and expert on coal mining music, who
served as an advisor to the project.
The CD set and book can be purchased for $35
at the Lonesome Pine Office on Youth at 219
Wood Ave E, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219. It may
also be ordered through the website
www.MusicOfCoal.com or by calling the office
at 276-523-5064 ext. 10.
of Coal 