Music of Coal | |
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Compilation album by Various artists | |
Released | 2007 |
Genre | blues, bluegrass, country, folk |
Label | Lonesome Pine Records & Publishing |
Producer | Jack Wright |
Music of Coal: Mining Songs from the Appalachian Coalfields is a 70-page book and two CD compilation of old and new music from southern Appalachian coalfields. The project was produced by Jack Wright and is a benefit for the Lonesome Pine Office on Youth in Wise County, Virginia.
The songs included cover a range of topics related to coal culture such as mining accidents and black lung disease. Some of the artists are natives of the U.S. coal mining region while others have less direct ties. Both vintage recordings and contemporary music have been combined with detailed liner notes giving context to both the songs and the artists. Musicologist Archie Green adds a "Sanctus" note to Wright's "Introduction."
In the preliminary round of nominations for the 50th Grammy Awards the boxed set was under consideration for a number of awards, including, Best Recording Package, Best Liner Notes and Best Historical Album.[1] The compilation did not, however, make it the final round of nominees.[2]
Track listing
Volume one
- "Down in a Coal Mine (Excerpt)" - 1:25
- The Edison Concert Band
- "Mining Camp Blues" - 2:59
- "Sprinkle Coal Dust on My Grave" - 2:46
- Orville Jenks
- "Coal Miner's Blues" - 3:04
- "Hard Times in Coleman’s Mine" - 2:36
- "He’s Only a Miner Killed in the Ground" - 2:35
- Ted Chestnut
- "Coal Black Mining Blues" - 1:13
- "‘31 Depression Blues" - 2:52
- Ed Sturgill
- "Prayer of a Miner's Child" - 1:51
- "That Twenty-Five Cents You Paid" - 2:25
- "The L & N Don’t Stop Here Anymore" - 3:10
- "Dark as a Dungeon" - 1:55
- "Come All You Coal Miners" - 2:21
- The Reel World String Band
- "My Sweetheart’s the Mule in the Mines" - 0:22
- Mike Kline
- "Thirty Inch Coal" - 2:36
- Hobo Jack Adkins
- "Black Waters" - 3:38
- Jim Ringer
- "Roof Boltin’ Daddy" - 2:26
- "Dream of a Miner’s Child" - 2:46
- "Coal Miner's Boogie" - 2:57
- George Davis
- "The Yablonski Murder" - 3:00
- "What Are We Gonna Do?" - 3:01
- Dorothy Myles
- "Explosion at Derby Mine" - 4:02
- Charlie Maggard
- "Blind Fiddler" - 3:05
- Jim “Bud” Stanley
- "Loadin’ Coal" - 2:29
- John Hutchison
- "Coal Town Saturday Night" - 3:06
- Randall Hylton
- "It’s Been a Long Time" - 3:15
- Sonny Houston & Roger Hall
- "Fountain Filled with Blood" - 3:56
- Elder James Caudill & Choir
Volume two
- "West Virginia Mine Disaster" - 2:48
- Molly Slemp
- "Union Man" - 3:36
- Blue Highway
- "Blue Diamond Mines" - 4:26
- "Set Yourself Free" - :50
- Billy Gene Mullins
- "Redneck War" - 5:22
- "Sixteen Tons" - 2:32
- "There Will Be No Black Lung in Heaven" - 2:05
- Rev. Joe Freeman
- "Deep Mine Blues" - 3:45
- Nick Stump
- "I’m a Coal Mining Man" - 2:22
- "Dirty Black Coal" - 4:27
- Kenneth Davis
- "Black Lung" - 3:21
- "Coal Dust Kisses" - 4:06
- Suzanne Mumpower-Johnson
- "Coal Tattoo" (Billy Edd Wheeler) - 4:06
- Dale Jett
- "A Strip Miner’s Life" - 3:00
- Don Stanley & Middle Creek
- "Daddy’s Dinner Bucket" - 3:26
- Ralph Stanley II
- "In Those Mines" - 3:43
- "Miner’s Prayer" - 3:14
- "Dyin’ To Make A Livin’" - 3:47
- W.V. Hill (of Foddershock)
- "You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive" - 6:06
- "They Can’t Put It Back" - 2:31
- Jack Wright
- "Which Side Are You On?" - 5:04
References
- ↑ "Music of Coal earns Grammy Nominations", Kingsport Times-News, October 6, 2007
- ↑ Nominees for the 50th Grammy Awards show from grammy.com
Further reading/listening
- "Music of Coal rings so true" by Cheryl Truman, Lexington Herald Leader, October 25, 2007
- "CD Celebrates Music from the Coal Mines" by Melissa Block, All Things Considered, NPR, September 3, 2007
- Archie Green, Only a Miner: Studies in Recorded Coal-Mining Songs (University of Illinois Press, 1972).