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The Mountain Miners

from The Last Tree by Jack Warshaw

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about

Written in 1974, after viewing a documentary about the lives of coal miners in Kentucky and West Virginia who work the “dog holes,” dangerous, small-scale mines dug into mountains, in horrifying conditions. Lives mean little to owners and unions are enemies

lyrics

Way down in the land of the hills and hollers
Way down in the land of the lonesome pines
Way down where the land is scarred and blasted
Live the men who work in the mountain mines

There’s lots of dog holes right in this county
Where none of the men are organized
They’re told they’re lucky to work at all
And most believe the bosses’ lies

We drill and blast in a three foot seam
Then the scoop moves in through the narrow hole
Under your feet is coal black water
The only roof is tons of coal

We go to the meetins at the union local
But they ain’t done much since John L died
Every once in awhile the government man
Sends another report to the Bureau of Mines

Those big bulldozers they roar like thunder
They strip the land and then move on
They take our topsoil and mountain forest
And leave the dead and broken land

Them little dog holes in every hillside
They work ‘em out till the coal is gone
They take our strong and healthy miners
And leave the dead and broken men

Down in Kentucky and West Virginia
Across the land we love so dear
The operators lay down the law
Just like they done for forty years

Oh the years have come and the years have gone
But the time has come to tell the man
We’ve dug our graves for long enough
You take your hole – we’ll take our land

credits

from The Last Tree, released February 14, 2020
Jack, vocal and autoharp; Ben, fiddle

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Jack Warshaw UK

Veteran of the 1960s folk revival, he passionately believes, writes and sings with authenticity and respect for traditional American styles and song carriers. He has met, learned from or worked with such legends as Pete, Mike and Peggy Seeger, Tom Paley, Ewan MacColl, Bob Dylan, Mississippi John Hurt, Clarence Ashley, Dave Van Ronk, Stuart Burns and many others. Watch Youtube. Bio on Wikipedia ... more

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