Coal (Bonus Track Version)

Kathy Mattea strikes a resonant vein on 2008's Coal, her most impressive release in well over a decade. The album’s exploration of coal miners’ lives taps into the singer’s own West Virginia heritage, and Mattea connects viscerally to these powerful expressions of longing, struggle and resolve, revealing a pain-wracked edge to her vocals only hinted at in her more mainstream country recordings. “Blue Diamond Mines,” “Lawrence Jones,” and “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” evoke memories of the region’s bloody labor battles while Mattea’s readings of “Green Rolling Hills” and “Coming of the Roads” capture the haunting beauty as well as the sufferings of Appalachia. The music here is traditional in feel, tapping into bitter roots beneath modern bluegrass. Tracks like “Coal Tattoo” and “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore” move with the insistent shimmer of a mountain stream. Producer Marty Stuart keeps the album’s mostly-acoustic arrangements lean and supple, supplying guitar and mandolin work as well. Coal is a dark gem of an album, a moving work of conscience with the shine of truth.