KATHY MATTEA "Coal" Captain Potato
Kathy Mattea is polished on "Coal," her new album of coal-mining songs.
(By James Minchin)
TOOLBOX   Resize
 Save/Share +
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
|
KATHY MATTEA"Coal"Captain Potato
SINGER KATHY MATTEA grew up in West Virginia; both of her grandfathers were coal miners and her mother worked for the United Mine Workers. After 12 miners died in the Sago mine explosion in 2006, she resolved to make an album of the coal-mining songs she had been stockpiling for years. "Coal" combines the mountain string-band sound of her roots with the studio polish of her Nashville stardom far better than might be expected.
The album climaxes with Mattea's take on Hazel Dickens's classic protest song, "Black Lung." Dickens sang it in a high, lonesome twang that was as unpolished as it was eerily powerful. Mattea, framed by producer Marty Stuart's mandolin intro and Stuart Duncan's fiddle conclusion, delivers the same lyrics in a controlled, pleasurable alto that meets the listener halfway, unlike Dickens's vocal. It may not be better, but it is more accessible.
Mattea's song choices are astute: You can't beat Jean Ritchie's "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," Merle Travis's "Dark as a Dungeon" or Darrell Scott's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive." The originals appear on last year's terrific box set "Music of Coal: Mining Songs From the Appalachian Coalfields," but Mattea adds a precision and warmth that make it easier to enter this rich but hard-to-get-at musical vein.
-- Geoffrey Himes
Appearing Tuesday and Wednesday at the Barns at Wolf Trap (877-965-3872,http:/
