Coal

Grammy winner and environmental activist Kathy MAttea, known for such classic hits as "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses," has dreamed quietly about one day recording an album like COAL. Raised near Charleston, West Virginia, her childhood was steeped in the Appalachian culture and her mining heritage is thick: bother her parents grew up in coal camps, her grandfathers were miners, and her mother worked for the local UMWA. But the songs on COAL are more than just mining songs. Mattea says she wanted to pay tribute to "my place and my people."

The idea for COAL began to gel during the Sago Mine Disaster, which killed twelve WV miners in 2006. "I knew the time was right," says Mattea. COAL forced her to dig really deep to find the power to let these songs come forth. Co-producer Marty Stuart understood her core relationship to these songs, that they were "in her blood." As Mattea says, "I think there's a mystery there. Somewhere in my DNA, there's my great grandmother singing, my grandma, and my people singing through me, with me." Singer, songs, producer, and pickers have come together flawlessly to form COAL, a career record for Mattea and a great gift for music lovers.