Coal-fired Folk

(Photo from Amazon.com)

The August edition of Virginia Living magazine includes a story by Don Harrison about the 48-song box set "Music of Coal: Mining Songs From the Appalachian Coal Fields."

Don writes: "'Music of Coal' is a treasure trove for fans of Virginia mountain music. There's a rare live recording of the Norton banjo legend, Doc Boggs, and a touching duet featuring the late Carter Stanley and his daughter."

You can read more about the box set at this official site, but here's the track listing:

Disc: 1
1. Down in a Coal Mine Excerpt (The Edison Concert Band)
2. Mining Camp Blues (Trixie Smith)
3. Sprinkle Coal Dust on My Grave (Orville Jenks)
4. Coal Miner's Blues (The Carter Family)
5. Hard Times in Coleman s Mine (Aunt Molly Jackson)
6. He s Only a Miner Killed in the Ground (Ted Chestnut)
7. Coal Black Mining Blues (Nimrod Workman)
8. 31 Depression Blues (Ed Sturgill)
9. Prayer of a Miner's Child (Dock Boggs)
10. That Twenty-Five Cents You Paid (Sarah Ogan Gunning)
11. The L & N Don t Stop Here Anymore (Jean Ritchie)
12. Dark as a Dungeon (Merle Travis)
13. Come All You Coal Miners (The Reel World String Band)
14. My Sweetheart s the Mule in the Mines (Mike Kline)
15. Thirty Inch Coal (Hobo Jack Adkins)
16. Black Waters (Jim Ringer)
17. Roof Boltin Daddy (Gene Carpenter)
18. Dream of a Miner s Child (Carter Stanley)
19. Coal Miner's Boogie (George Davis)
20. The Yablonski Murder (Hazel Dickens)
21. What Are We Gonna Do? (Dorothy Myles)
22. Explosion at Derby Mine (Charlie Maggard)
23. Blind Fiddler (Jim Bud Stanley)
24. Loadin Coal (John Hutchison)
25. Coal Town Saturday Night (Randall Hylton)
26. It s Been a Long Time (Sonny Houston & Roger Hall)
27. Fountain Filled with Blood (Elder James Caudill & Choir)
Disc: 2
1. West Virginia Mine Disaster (Molly Slemp)
2. Union Man (Blue Highway)
3. Blue Diamond Mines (Robin & Linda Williams)
4. Set Yourself Free (Billy Gene Mullins)
5. Redneck War (Ron Short)
6. Sixteen Tons (Ned Beatty)
7. There Will Be No Black Lung in Heaven (Rev. Joe Freeman)
8. Deep Mine Blues (Nick Stump)
9. I m a Coal Mining Man (Tom T. Hall)
10. Dirty Black Coal (Kenneth Davis)
11. Black Lung (A. J. Roach)
12. Coal Dust Kisses (Suzanne Mumpower-Johnson)
13. Coal Tattoo (Dale Jett)
14. A Strip Miner s Life (Don Stanley & Middle Creek)
15. Daddy s Dinner Bucket (Ralph Stanley II)
16. In Those Mines (Valerie Smith)
17. Miner s Prayer (Ralph Stanley & Dwight Yoakam)
18. Dyin To Make A Livin (W. V. Hill)
19. You ll Never Leave Harlan Alive (Darrell Scott)
20. They Can t Put It Back (Jack Wright)
21. Which Side Are You On? (Natalie Merchant)