‘COAL’: Kathy Mattea’s new album
Kathy Mattea’s “Coal” is full of poetry, the lyric blended wonderfully with the music — I’m thinking particularly of the Billy Edd Wheeler songs like “Coal Tattoo” and “Red Winged Black Bird.” From Cross Lanes, W.Va., Mattea says this is her tribute to “my place and my people.” Both of her grandfathers were coal miners and her mother worked for the UMW. Mattea said the Sago Mine disaster that killed 12 miners in January 2006 prompted her to make the album of coal songs. It’s due out April 1, 2008, right around the corner. Try Amazon.com for a pre-order price guarantee. Check out this YouTube of “Black Lung,” the last song in the collection, for a vivid swath of reality.
