Working in the Coal Mine and Singing About It, Too

By Juli Thanki

The majority of us aren't coal miners, we don't know coal miners, and we wouldn't last a week in a coal mine. Are coal mining songs, then, still relevant? [9 February 2009]

(more Torch & Twang)

Kathy Mattea: Coal

By Steve Horowitz

Mattea may claim to have coal mining in her blood and bleed whenever a mountaintop is sheared for ore, but that doesn’t really matter. What matters is the music, and the music is terrific. [3 April 2008]

Kathy Mattea: Right Out of Nowhere

By Matt Cibula

She doesn't want to set the world on fire, because it's already burning. Who could blame her for wanting to extinguish the flames?" [30 September 2005]