Masterfully produced by Marty Stuart, who also contributes mandolin, acoustic guitar, and harmonies, this CD is a compilation of some of the best written songs about the coal mining culture. Patty Loveless, Stuart Duncan, Byron House, Bill Cooley, along with Tim and Mollie O’Brien all provide exceptional assistance here as well.

The vocal abilities required to properly convey this style of music was entirely new to Mattea. To her credit, she does a remarkable job. The bare string backwoods musical arrangement by Stuart accentuates Mattea superbly.

The album opens with two songs written by Jean Ritchie, “The L&N Don’t Stop Here Anymore” and “Blue Diamond Mines.” Both songs portray the physical and economic changes that throttled the coal mining communities. The sparse instrumentals and harmonies illustrate the desperation very well.

Mattea does a phenomenal job with “Red Winged Blackbird,” written by Billy Edd Wheeler. Her vocals carry a delicate guitar and fiddle arrangement, allowing the words to paint a mesmerizing dark picture of the sadness of coal mining tragedies. Wheeler also composed “Coal Tattoo” that appears on the CD. It is a metaphoric look at how the coal can get under a miners skin.

Mattea and Stuart shine best with Darrell Scott’s captivating “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” Merle Travis’ gripping “Dark As A Dungeon,” and Hazel Dickens’ riveting “Black Lung.” The strong vocals are accentuated by the bare arrangements, again allowing the profound lyrics to not be over-shadowed. After a brief instrumental opening on “Black Lung,” Mattea sings this chilling song a cappella, an elegant choice.

Although the material on the CD is dark, and quite poignant at times, it is the delivery which captures you. Stuart does a tremendous production job, allowing Mattea’s strong vocals to pay this emotional tribute.