Coal Mining Top Ten: Blue Diamond Mines (#4)
By Four Walls
@FourWalls (86654)
United States
June 26, 2018 8:56am CST
Continuing onward with my list of favorite songs about coal mining, I've reached what's probably the last "surprise" or "gee, didn't see that coming" moment. If you know me, even casually, the top three songs are no shock. You may not be able to name them at the moment, but in the next three days you'll nod and admit that sounds like me. (Thankfully, the singers don't sound like me. 
) Here's today's song.
#4: Blue Diamond Mines - Johnson Mountain Boys
Truthfully, this isn't that big a shock, either. I love the Johnson Mountain Boys. Fiercely underrated during their career, they're now seen as one of the acts that dragged traditional bluegrass sounds back into the genre after a decade or so of "progressive" sounds (heck, even the Osborne Brothers recorded with electric guitars, steel, and drums in the 70s!). And Dudley Connell's voice? As Laurie Lewis said when he won "male vocalist of the year" at IBMA in 2001 ("I was beginning to feel like the Susan Lucci of bluegrass," he quipped after nominations stretching back to the advent of the awards [and this remains his only victory]), "You're not male vocalist of the year, Dudley. You're male vocalist of a lifetime."
Amen.
This is the quasi-title track from the last Johnson Mountain Boys album. The band broke up -- amicably -- in 1994, with bassist Marshall Wilborn joining wife Lynn Morris' band, Dudley Connell joining the Seldom Scene (thankfully getting to play some with John Duffey before Duffey's death from a heart attack in 1996), and fiddler Eddie Stubbs moving to Nashville and beginning his Disc Jockey Hall of Fame career on WSM.
Connell's incredible voice reiterates the agony that of the lyrics about poverty, illness, unemployment, and hopelessness in the life of a miner screamed. Dudley said he heard this recording from its author, Jean Ritchie, and thought it would transfer to a good bluegrass song.
He was wrong. It transferred to a spectacular bluegrass song.
Blue Diamond Mines
Written by Jean Ritchie
Recorded by the Johnson Mountain Boys
From Blue Diamond, 1993
Last night they took away my hospital card:
) Here's today's song.
#4: Blue Diamond Mines - Johnson Mountain Boys
Truthfully, this isn't that big a shock, either. I love the Johnson Mountain Boys. Fiercely underrated during their career, they're now seen as one of the acts that dragged traditional bluegrass sounds back into the genre after a decade or so of "progressive" sounds (heck, even the Osborne Brothers recorded with electric guitars, steel, and drums in the 70s!). And Dudley Connell's voice? As Laurie Lewis said when he won "male vocalist of the year" at IBMA in 2001 ("I was beginning to feel like the Susan Lucci of bluegrass," he quipped after nominations stretching back to the advent of the awards [and this remains his only victory]), "You're not male vocalist of the year, Dudley. You're male vocalist of a lifetime."
Amen.
This is the quasi-title track from the last Johnson Mountain Boys album. The band broke up -- amicably -- in 1994, with bassist Marshall Wilborn joining wife Lynn Morris' band, Dudley Connell joining the Seldom Scene (thankfully getting to play some with John Duffey before Duffey's death from a heart attack in 1996), and fiddler Eddie Stubbs moving to Nashville and beginning his Disc Jockey Hall of Fame career on WSM.
Connell's incredible voice reiterates the agony that of the lyrics about poverty, illness, unemployment, and hopelessness in the life of a miner screamed. Dudley said he heard this recording from its author, Jean Ritchie, and thought it would transfer to a good bluegrass song.
He was wrong. It transferred to a spectacular bluegrass song.
Blue Diamond Mines
Written by Jean Ritchie
Recorded by the Johnson Mountain Boys
From Blue Diamond, 1993
Last night they took away my hospital card:
Track off the JMB's 1993 album, Blue Diamond
2 people like this
2 responses
@FourWalls (86654)
• United States
27 Jun 18
They're a lot of fun, if you like music, sitting out in the sun for four days, and stuff like that. 
Seriously, it is quite an enjoyable experience!
Seriously, it is quite an enjoyable experience!
@JohnRoberts (109841)
• Los Angeles, California
26 Jun 18
You loves your bluegrass.
1 person likes this
