Exciting news! Country singer Kathy Mattea joins the list of guests who will be attending the March 1 reception at GW’s Lisner Auditorium. Others speaking include Terry Tempest Williams, Janisse Ray, Bill McKibben, Gus Speth and the great environmental poet, Wendell Berry.
Mattea is not a stranger to our issues. Last year, she released an album entitled Coal after she was moved by the Sago Mine disaster. Growing up in West Virginia, the granddaughter of coal miners, Mattea has a deep connection to the human cost of coal and the way of life in coal-country. She is a welcome addition to our list of authors and artists who will be speaking that night and she will also join us on March 2 as we demand that congress solve the climate crisis now.
From All Music Guide:
Coal is a heartfelt examination of the hard, often dangerous life of coal miners, and includes classic mining songs by the likes of Merle Travis, Hazel Dickens, and Jean Ritchie all arranged in a delicate, muted acoustic style by Mattea and her producer this time out, Marty Stuart. Mattea grew up in West Virginia, and while her father escaped the mines, both her grandfathers were miners, so when the 2006 Sago Mine disaster hit, which left 12 good men dead, she made up her mind to record this sparse, striking album. It won’t land her on the new country stations, but it’s a beautiful testament to a difficult way of life, and working on an independent label, she’s been given the freedom to make an album that has more to do with the heart than the ring of distant cash registers.
Kathy Mattea – “Coal Tattoo”
Earlier this week, we had to move the location to GW’s Lisner because we had already maxed capacity at Foundry Methodist Church, so take action quickly. Buy your tickets now!
