This article originally published by The Herald-Dispatch

July 10, 2007

Country singer Mattea tours mine sites, listens to residents

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER
Associated Press Writer

ON KAYFORD MOUNTAIN, W.Va. (AP) -- From the sky, a doughnut of lush green mountains circles Charleston. But 30 minutes beyond that, a moonscape of mined land stretches for miles and miles.

"The pilot told us you could drive for five hours and it would look just like that. Just mountaintop after mountaintop after mountaintop, for five hours," said country music singer Kathy Mattea, weeping as she returned from a tour of mountaintop removal mining sites Tuesday.

The Cross Lanes native toured by air and by land before meeting with residents of Kayford Mountain, near a large coal mining operation about 30 miles from Charleston. Mountaintop removal mining blasts away parts of mountains to get at multiple coal seams.

"When Sago happened last year I decided to make an album of coal mine songs," Mattea said, referring to the Sago Mine disaster that killed 12 miners in January 2006.

Mattea says her next album will draw on Appalachian musical traditions and coal camp songs, and is a nod to generations of coal miners who have come before her, including her own grandfather. Experiences like the flyover and the visit will help inform her music, she said.

Once on Kayford Mountain, Mattea spoke to residents, weeping with each person's tale of how coal mining had changed their lives.

Kayford Mountain resident and local activist Larry Gibson led Mattea to an overlook where mining operations could be seen.

"This is our heritage right here. This is the destiny of our people," Gibson said, pointing to the mine site. Mattea shook her head, surveying the land, and said, "There are just no words."

"I think it's a basic human need to be heard, and it's a gift to have the opportunity to listen," Mattea said. "I don't always do that well, but I wanted to try and do that here today."

Raleigh County resident Sharon Bailey came to Kayford Mountain to talk to Mattea, and said she was grateful for the singer's compassion.

"So many times you talk to people, you call your representatives, and nobody cares. They'll tell you your problems don't matter, that your problems are an act of God. Her being here is very sweet, she's good to listen to us," Bailey said. "She's from West Virginia, she knows how our politics work down here."

During the tour of Kayford Mountain, 13-year-old David Russell loped behind Mattea along a mountain trail he knows well.

"It used to be real pretty here," Russell said. He's here every few weeks, riding his all-terrain vehicle, watching all the mining operations take apart the mountains bit by bit.

The Cabin Creek resident describes the dusty mountains, where echoes of beeping and grinding can be heard, with two words.

"Nothing," he says, shaking his close-cropped, blonde head. "Horrible."

But the barren vista isn't what he likes least about the mining operation 8 miles from his family's home.

"I don't like it when they blast, cause I don't like it when the ground shakes," he said, baring his braces in a grimace. "You never know how hard it's gonna be, how long it'll go."

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