The Music of Coal: Music from the Mountain's Soul

It's a black soul these mountains have, and that soul is coal. For years men and women have ventured beneath the hills, feeling the heartbeat of the mountains as they mine the coal that feeds their families.

The Lonseome Pine Office on Youth has put together one of the most amazing, heartrending collections of music I have ever had the privilege to hear: "Music of Coal: Mining songs from the Appalachian Coalfields." From the clear, childlike beauty of Molly Slemp singing "West Virginia Mine Disaster" to the frightening "Dirty Black Coal" sung by Kenneth Davis, I was spellbound.

There is no mining where I live. The coal, they say, is too deep and too thin to be worth mining. My connection to the industry that both makes and breaks West Virginia is through my husband, son of a coal miner and raised in the coal camps of southern Kanawha County, WV. It is so hard for me to envision the life of miner--the days spent crawling through tunnels that might be no more than 30 inches high, never trusting the roof above him, always seeking that perfect place to cut coal. I look at old photos and strain to imagine what it must be like to be in those mines, but always my imagination fails.

But these songs, ah, they tell the story as no photo can. I will listen again and again and again, and I will be astounded each time with the passion and pain in the music of coal.

And added to the music is the book that explains the origin of each song in the 2-CD collection, and all for only $35.00. The set is a fundraising project for the Lonesome Pine Office on Youth.

To purchase a set you can visit their website, call them at 276-523-5064, or write to LPOY, 219 Wood Avenue E, PO Box 568, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219.

I heard about the collection on West Virginia Public Radio. The interview with Jack Wright , producer of the project, was fascinating and sent me straight to the computer to order my collection. Anyone with an interest in coal mining and mountain music will find the collection as magnificent as I do.