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Steve Earle & The Dukes—Ghosts of West Virginia—New West
Records

There is a long tradition of celebrating, eulogising and
memorialising coal and coal miners in American indigenous music.
One of the greatest songs is Merle Travis’. ‘Dark As A Dungeon’

(“Where the rain never falls and the sun never shines, for it’s dark
as a dungeon way down in the mine.”) and here are a few more to
add to the genre.

The recording features his latest incarnation of Steve Earle’s
backing band The Dukes; Chris Masterson on guitar, Eleanor Whitmore on fiddle & vocals, Ricky
Ray Jackson on pedal steel, guitar & dobro, Brad Pemberton on drums & percussion, and Jeff Hill on
acoustic & electric bass.

The album is built around the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed twenty-nine men in
West Virginia, on April 5, 2010 roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) underground in Raleigh County at
Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch coal mine located in Montcoal. Twenty-nine out of thirty-one
miners at the site were killed. It was one of the worst mining disasters in American history.
Investigations revealed hundreds of safety violations, as well as attempts to cover them up, and the
mine’s owners were forced to pay more than $200 million in criminal liabilities.

The music was created for a theatre piece about the Upper Big Branch disaster. Earle functions as
“a Greek chorus with a guitar,” as he puts it. He was on stage for the entire play and performed
seven of the songs that lead Ghosts of West Virginia, including the powerful ‘It’s About Blood’, in
which Earle honours all the men who died.

Click here to listen to ‘Devil Put The Coal in the Ground.’

This is a magnificent album, from a artist at the top of his powers, an award winner if I ever heard
one. The album was produced by Steve Earle and engineered by Ray Kennedy at Jimi Hendrix’s
legendary Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The 10-song set is Earle’s 20th studio album and
was mixed entirely in mono. In recent years, Earle has experienced partial hearing loss in his right

ear and can no longer discern the separation that stereo is designed to produce.

None the worse for that.

Ian K McKenzie

Upper Big Branch Mine Memorial
Whitesville, West Virginia