Coal
R.E.D. Distribution - R.E.D. Distribution
Kathy Mattea
Release date: 2008-04-01
Audio CD
Americana, Country, Country & Western, Country-Folk, Folk Music, Pop
1. the L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore
2. Blue Diamond Mines
3. Red-Winged Black Bird
4. Lawrence Jones
5. Green Rolling Hills
6. Coal Tattoo
7. Sally in the Garden
8. You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive
9. Dark as a Dungeon
10. Coming Of the Roads
11. Black Lung
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Coal
Date undefinedJust a moving and wonderful bunch of tunes as one could ever want to hear. Just beautiful and heartfelt. My grandpappy and his brothers were coal miners in Arkansas all their lives and the songs put me right there with them.
Coal
Date undefinedIt makes me cry everytime I listen to this CD. In country worlds this is a good thing. Coal mining is a dirty job, no pun intended. OK, maybe intended. This is a good lesson in Ky. mining mentality in a West Virginia girls mind. What a great CD.
Coal
Date undefinedI was first introduced to Kathy Mattea nearly 20 years ago, when she was more of a Country-style singer. I have liked her voice from the start, as it reminded me a little of a cross between Anne Murray and Lori Lieberman (two of my other favorite female singers!). As time has passed, however, Kathy has been delving more into folk, bluegrass and Celtic music -- and I have enjoyed her voice even more.
"Coal" is one of her best albums to date. These are all songs that are about and dedicated to the coal-mining lifestyle. As someone whose grandfathers were both coal miners -- and to whom Kathy has dedicated this album -- she has experienced much of what she sings about on this album, which also explains why she sings these songs with such pathos, passion and feeling.
Another thing which strikes me is the simplicity of this album, from the acoustic-only instrumentation (fiddles, mandolin, banjo, piano and guitars -- the acoustic guitar of which Kathy plays in a couple of tracks -- to the eco-friendly packaging (a cardboard rather than jewel case), which is also fitting with Kathy's environmental concerns.
Among the standouts on this album are "Red-Winged Blackbird," "Green Rolling Hills" (Kathy's tribute to Virginia), the fast-paced "Coal Tattoo," "Sally in the Garden" (a banjo solo by Stuart Duncan, represented by the love that coal miners had for Celtic music), "Dark as a Dungeon" (describing the life inside the coal mines), and the environmental cry in "Coming of the Roads."
Probably the biggest standout is "Black Lung/Coal." It starts out as a mandolin solo, and then segues into Kathy Mattea's beautiful a capella rendition of "Black Lung," describing a disease which has taken many a coal miner's life. After Kathy's solo, the acoustic instruments fade in to "Coal."
Just as black coal is transformed into diamonds, Kathy Mattea's "Coal" has transformed into a "gem" to be treasured!
