NRDC presents Music Saves Mountains at Nasheville's premier Ryman Auditorium
featuring Emmylou Harris, Dave Matthews, Patty Griffin, , Buddy Miller, Sam Bush, Patty Loveless, Kathy Mattea, Big Kenny, and Brandon Young.
The set list:
(I was a little late; according to Rob Perks there were 3 events prior to Kathy Mattea's "Redwinged Blackbird".)
-1 - Naomi Judd
-2 - Emmylou Harris - "Green Rolling Hills"
-3 - Harris, Mattea - duet
01 - Kathy Mattea - "Red-Winged Blackbird"
02 - Mattea, Loveless, Harris - Jean Ritchie's "Black Waters"
03 - Sam Bush & cracker jack band - old road tavern song
04 - Patty Loveless - Dialogue 1: Intro by Sam Bush
05 - Patty Loveless - "Busted"
06 - Patty Loveless - Dialogue 2: "My daddy was a coal miner"
07 - Patty Loveless - “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive”
08 - Patty Loveless - Dialogue 3: Intro for Big Kenny
09 - Big Kenny - Dialogue 1
10 - Big Kenny - "Less than Whole"
11 - Big Kenny - Dialogue 2
12 - Big Kenny - "Wake Up!"
13 - Big Kenny - Dialogue 3: Intro for Brandon Young
14 - Brandon Young - Dialogue
15 - Brandon Young - Darling Oh Darling (I'll Dry Your Eyes)
16 - Dave Berry - Dialogue: Gibson Rising Music Program
Intermission (approximately 15 minutes)
17 - PBS Film Clip: Mountain Top Removal
18 - Buddy Miller - Steve Earle’s “Mountain”
19 - Buddy Miller - Dialogue: Intro of cracker jack band & Patty Griffin
20 - Griffin, Miller - John Prine’s “I Want to Be With Your Always”
21 - Patty Griffin - "Move Up"
22 - Patty Griffin - "Up To The Mountain (MLK Song)"
23 - Alison Krauss - "Jacob's Dream"
24 - Alison Krauss - Dialogue
25 - Alison Krauss - "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow"
26 - Harris, Loveless, Krauss - "Don’t Leave Nobody But the Baby"
27 - Dave Matthews - "Dont Drink the Water"
28 - Dave Matthews - "You & Me"
29 - Dave Matthews - "Rye Whiskey"/"So Damn Lucky"
30 - Harris, Krauss, Mattea, Loveless - John Prine's "Paradise"
31 - Emmylou Harris - Applause and set change
32 - Griffin, Loveless, Matthews, et al - "I Shall Be Released"
33 - Emmylou Harris - Dialogue: Closing Remarks
List compiled with the aid of my recording's of the concert and the following news articles, which are all well worth a quick read to get the feel and highlights of the event:
: : Music Saves Mountains Concert Proves it Can Move Them, Too, Bryan Wawzenek | 05.21.2010
: : Dave Matthews Joins Nashville Stars in Rallying Against Mountaintop Removal Mining, Written by Chris Parton | May 20, 2010
: : Music City Loves Mountains, Rob Perks | May 20, 2010 ________________________________________
Now that all that official promotion stuff is complete let me move on to my personal view of the event.
Firstly, I didn't know it was a charity event against the mining method known as "mountain top removal". Imagine my shock after squeezing into an oak pew in balcony section 10, row N, seat 7, and enjoying a few moving songs, to realize I was participating in a service against the evils and sins of mining.
Parks said it well; The historic Ryman Auditorium is considered the "Mother Church of Country Music", which as Emmylou Harris noted to the crowd, made it an appropriate venue for the concert given that the Appalachian Mountains are the sacred birthplace of Country Music. So there we sat -- a sold-out audience of thousands -- sitting below high stained-glass windows on wooden pews in worshipful rapture in the face of so many talented and legendary musicians and singers on stage.
I agree, we were in rapture, but I felt like the guy that was going to be left behind by the great Musician in the sky. I was alone in the audience, a mining engineer who knows the secrets of modern alchemy, turning rocks into gold, and mountain tops into hollowed out pits. I sat very still, and very self-consciously, trying my best to not give away to the crowd that I was the enemy. (I felt like the guy dressed in the tomato suit while investigating Killer Tomatoes; I just wanted to avoid his fate, as he innocently asked them to pass the ketchup.)
The music, though, was fascinating, intriguing, and amazing. I've re-listened to the concert several times now, and I'm more impressed each time. These are some amazing performers. The highlights of the show, in my mind, were Alison Krauss and Dave Matthews. When Alison Krauss began singing, all conversation stopped, the spot light got brighter, the darkness blacker, the air stiller, and the music fuller. That was amazing. Among a crowd of extremely talented singers, she displayed virtuosity in her ability to do the common uncommonly well.
Dave Matthews played boldly by himself; nothing but a guitar, and his rambling, engaging, and entertaining dialogue between songs. "I'm nervous, and then I talk too much." He stammered after one particularly enjoyable aside. "Well I'm pleased to be here, and I'm gonna get to it," followed immediately by an exaggerated hillbilly, "You'all lower your standards now!" His performance also was common (in comparison to the excellent talent on stage that night) yet performed uncommonly well, so that it was markedly different and improved upon his peers. It was amazing how he played in such a bold and interesting way that it sounded like 2 or 3 guitarists, not just 1.
There were a lot of good songs and moments, and I'm glad that I was able to attend. Kathy Mattea really set the performance off right with "Red-Winged Blackbird", not only in hillbilly country, moving musicality, but in content as celebration of the hard life of miners and their widowed wives. It's a song that well worth a listen.
Brandon Young sang a new song he wrote after he found out about the recent deaths of the coal mine explosion in West Virginia a few months back. He sang in the most beautiful tenor voice I have ever heard. One article compared him to a choir boy in church, staying with the Ryman as church analogy, and his comparison is not far off the mark. A moving, beautiful song. I encourage you to find this song if you can.
Big Kenny was very entertaining, and connected with the audience immediately. He is a performer that could turn a wake into the party of the year, and it was enjoyable to be in the audience that he transformed when he said, "Sing with me! You're all members of my band tonight!” The two songs he played, Wake Up and Less than Whole, were new to me but well played, and well worth the hearing.
Alison Krauss singing of "Jacob's Ladder" is the saddest song I have ever heard, and it was a struggle not to relent and let my chest heave in sobs and my eyes water the dry wood of the oak pews. She commented after the song that when she first heard that song, after the first notes she thought to herself, "Whatever happens in this song, it's not going to be good." I'm thankful she so easily and gracefully eased the crowd back up from the depths of despair.
Dave Matthews commented that he barely stopped crying in time to walk out on stage after that song. He wasn't alone. Matthews also talked about the first time he was to rehearse with Emmylou Harris. He said, "She opened her mouth to sing, and then I couldn't play, I just listened." Nice.
Anyway, a great concert. I'm glad to have attended.
As for the service, it stirred my curiosity. The comments hoping for food and water aplenty for the children, for jobs for the men and women, for good safe homes for the families; those are all things that I too hope and want for my fellow country men, and my fellow man. I was honored by the respect for the miner, and the miner's life. I was saddened by the ignorance of economic principles that led to the leap of logic from pride in the hard work of the miner to the "greed" of the evil mining company that hires the miner.
I love mining; I respect the life of the miner, having lived that life for some years. I am saddened by the death of my fellow miners, such as the recent deaths of the 29 coal miners in West Virginia. But I don't share with other in the attacks on the mining company. When a Soldier, or a policeman or fireman, dies, his fellow Soldiers mourn and grieve for the loss of a comrade. They investigate the death, and try to find the culprit or perpetrator or murderer. They fix methods and systems that failed. What they don't do is hate the military.
When mining companies, and senior managers, needlessly destroy the environment that is a bad thing, in mining or industry. I'm not sure if mountain top removal in the south is a problem; meaning I'm not familiar with the media and community relations concerns of the mines involved. Mining companies in general are very aware of the public mood on issues. Is this really a problem for the locals, or is this just a few people who hate all mining?
Our country is huge; most mines exist in the most austere conditions imaginable, so as to not interfere with people or communities. The only community is the miners who fly in to work. Wal-Mart parking lots cover more land in the US than all the open pits in our country combined. Roads destroy vegetation more permanently than any pit; before a permit is granted a mining company has to set aside money's to "reclaim" the land, and it usually looks greener and healthier after reclamation than prior to mining.
Mining is a valuable profession to the betterment of our fellow men, and to the benefit of our society as a whole. The miners I have worked with are some of the hardest working, smartest thinking, and most conscientious individuals I have had the honor of meeting and knowing. They are the people that make up a mining company and slandering mining companies and mining in general is slandering them and the necessary and important work they do. Without mining we wouldn't have the things that make the US go round everyday. Without coal we would not have the power we have that protects and provides for families and children. Mining is important.
Husbanding and managing our land and our natural resources is also important to society as a whole, and it is good to have these conversations and disagreements about the best way to balance our limited resources with their unlimited uses. Is the land worth more as a beautiful vista than a hollowed out pit? Maybe. That's why companies have to apply for permits, and hold hearings with the local community. Our system works, so lets trust people to do the right thing, whatever that may be for the local community and for the country.
I applaud the effort to educate people on the methods and purpose of mining. I am open to hearing the arguments for and against mining. I trust the local community to decide whether jobs or scenery are more important; and when they choose scenery I will wish them well, pack up, and tramp to the next mine. That's my life, and it's a good life.
One more note on the concert. My mom and sister had seats in the front center. On the left, was a group of anti-mining activists; stereo-typically with bright, slogan lettered t-shirts, poor hygiene, and irritatingly high whistling ability. Sitting on the right was a group of self-proclaimed hillbillies from the deep mountain regions of Virginia and Kentucky seeking to save their scenery.
One nice woman from the right asked, "Are ya'll from Virginia?" "No, no we're not," my sister replied. The woman, obviously taken aback by this unexpected answer asked again, "Are ya'll from Kentucky then?" "No, we're not from Kentucky either." She exclaimed anxiously, "Are you from Tennessee or Carolina then?!" "No Ma'am, we're not from the south." "Oh," she sighed finally understanding, "So you're just an ordinary person then." And thus ended the conversation.
Are you an ordinary person today? I hope you are, friend.
Send me an email if you want to hear some of the concert.
Later.
