Finally, Mattea leaves us with a gem from the great songwriter activist Hazel Dickens, entitled "Black Lung." The dangers of the mines are not always in the mines themselves. Many miners suffer and die from coal workers' pneumoconiosis, or black lung, due to prolonged exposure to coal dust (over 10,000 American miners have died from this in the past ten years). Mattea sings the song a cappella, sending chills up and down the listener's spine both from the intensity of her voice and from the sad tale told by the song.
Coal is a beautifully arranged and produced album. The collection of songs fit well both with the theme and with each other. It is evident that Mattea and the other musicians on the album (Byron House, Bill Cooley, Stuart Duncan, and a handful of guests) have poured their heart and soul into these songs, making them their own in the process.
Coal is also an important album for our times. The Sago Mine Disaster is not the only tragedy that has struck mining communities in the past few decades, and they continue to be exploited for the wealth buried under the soil of the lands they love. Exploited by you and me, because we all benefit from the cheap energy produced by burning coal. Mattea offers these songs as a reminder of the real and present danger that miners face, even in this age of high-tech machinery and modern health care.
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