Kathy Mattea Sings About "Coal"

The title of Kathy Mattea's signature song, "Where've You Been?," is a question you could ask her. After two Grammy awards, a CMA Female Vocalist of the Year Honor, and a series of hits in the 1980s and 1990s, the songstress has been off the charts and off the road for a while.

Her last major radio hit came in 1997, more than a decade ago. So, where has she been?

Apparently exploring her own roots and preparing another major album. She's back, now, touring to promote her new CD, "Coal," a tribute to her childhood years in South Charleston, West Virginia.

Her tour included a stop in Birmingham, where she headlined a show at Workplay Theater. About 200 fans filled the small venue, and Mattea seemed to feel at home in the intimate setting.

She opened with a crowd favorite, "Love at the Five and Dime." The tune was her first major hit, rising to the top ten in 1986.

After that, Mattea quickly moved into her latest work, performing a number of singles from "Coal." The album was a trip into her own personal history, one that she quickly acknowledged to the audience.

"Both my grandfathers were coal miners, and my mother worked for the UMW [United Mine Workers union]," she said. "I went back to my roots in West Virginia for this album. It was a chance to return home and explore my own past."

The first cut that she featured was her cover of "Dark as a Dungeon," a Merle Travis classic. She followed with a series of beautiful yet depressing numbers - "The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," "Red Winged Blackbird," "Coal Tattoo," and the Darrel Scott classic, "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive."

The collection reminded me of Patty Loveless' "Mountain Soul" album, which - like "Coal" - was an exploration of a singer's childhood roots. Interestingly, both albums include "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive."

But "Coal" has a much somber tone than the Loveless CD. Mattea's interpretation emphasized the depressing nature of the coal miner's life.

She even acknowledged the dark tone of the songs, many bordering on morbid in mood. "We should put the number for the suicide hotline on the back of your ticket," she told the crowd.

She noted that fans in Birmingham could related to the songs. "Birmingham is a coal-mining town," she said. "I didn't know that until I started to prepare to come down here.

"There's coal in Utah, coal in Indiana, there's even coal in Nova Scotia," she added. "They don't tell you that in West Virginia. When you live there, you think that's the only place that has coal."

Each song was sung in Mattea's deep alto voice, one that captured the mood of the tunes without the twang of bluegrass. Her musicians had the look of a bluegrass band - fiddle/mandolin, guitar, bass fiddle, and no drums - butt Mattea's voice brought a sophistication to the song's that's effective, even if its outside the roots of the genre.

The songs made their point, recounting the tribulations and frequent futility in the lives of many miners. It represents a full circle for the singer who moved away from the area when she was 19.

That's when Mattea moved to Nashville to pursue a music career. Too young to work as a waitress in -bars, she got a job as a tour guide for the Country Music Hall of Fame.

There she was introduced to a number of "new" artists, such as Bob Wills. That's where she also first heard the Merle Travis song, "Dark as a Dungeon."

"I had a guitar teacher who taught me Merle Travis-style picking, but I didn't know who he was until I started working at the Hall of Fame," she said. "It was really a light-bulb moment for me."

The latter part of Mattea's show was a return to her classic hits, including the 1988 Song of the Year, "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses," and the 1994 hit, "Walking Away a Winner."

She delayed singing "Where've You Been," which was co-written by her husband, Jon Versey. She called the tune "the money song," adding, "If I sing it too early, everybody would leave."

She used it to close her regular set, but came back for an encore with an a capella version of "Black Lung." It served as an exclamation point for the evening.

Mattea is justifiably proud of her past accomplishments and her string of chart-topping hits. But the songs from "Coal" are foremost on her mind now.