Wheeler uses color as a metaphor again in the song "Coal Tattoo":
"Well, somebody said, 'That's a strange tattooThe arrangement of the song uses one of my favorite train song tropes — the frenetic energy of mandolin and fiddle to create a sense of a large engine chugging down the line. It's fitting for a song that tells the perspective of a miner escaping the life of the mines for something (hopefully) better somewhere else.
You have on the side of your head'
I said, 'That's the blue mark left by the coal
A little more and I'd a been dead'"
After a traditional instrumental interlude, "Sally in the Garden," performed by Stuart Duncan, the listener is given the flip side of "Coal Tattoo" — Darrel Scott's "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive." The lesson in the song is that even though some might try to get out of the mines and take safer jobs elsewhere, eventually those jobs will fail or go away, and they'll be forced to return to the mines, where it's likely they will stay until they die or are killed by mining accidents. It's grim, but also an honest reflection of the reality that many still face in the impoverished areas of Appalachia where the mines are often the only options for gainful employment without commuting hundreds of miles each day to work elsewhere. Mattea deftly conveys the resignation felt by those in that situation.
Merle Travis' "Dark as a Dungeon" is the song that initially inspired Mattea to begin to collect coal mining tunes. As with "Redwing Blackbird," the arrangement serves to focus the attention on the lyrics and the mood created by Mattea's vocals. The instrumentation shifts from the time-stopping mode of sustained piano chords in the first verse and chorus to a full band with the expected combination of guitar, mandolin, and hints of steel pedal guitar throughout the rest of the song. Befitting the theme of the album, it is a warning to the listener of the dangers of the mine, while retaining an element of hope for a better future.
Wheeler's last contribution to the album is "Coming of the Roads." The arrangement — beautifully plucked on acoustic guitar, accented by violin, and sung in the delicate way that Mattea pulls off so effortlessly — belies the anger expressed by the protagonist over the loss of a loved one to the lure of life outside of the hills made more accessible by the roads built by the mining companies. Unlike the rest of the album, this song is in the style of modern acoustic folk, which does not often address the themes presented here.
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