LIFE OF AN APPALACHIAN COAL MINER + SANG, MOONSHINE & THE BIBLE | Miner | Matt Frame

Matt Frame is a coal miner, avid outdoorsman, & son of a Baptist preacher in Nicholas County, West Virginia. After a folkloric intro about mine-rats, we get into what life is like for both miners today & in Matt's grandfather's time: the machines; depression from the darkness; dogs hauling coal; the quiet killers "black damp" & "black lung;" losing three fingers & narrowly missing a ceiling collapse; the job-site latrine; finding fossils as large as trees; & a miner's soul. For the last third of the conversation, we surface from the coal pit to the light of day guided by folkways & The Bible. First Matt tells of heartbreak while digging ginseng; fox trapping, his grandma's rabbits, a pie crust signature, & making medicine from river yellow root. Then we get into his faith with his salvation, preaching revival, & lessons learned about the sin of pride. We end this slice-of-West-Virginia-life on a story about a haunted moonshine still & pig worms. 
 
Music provided by Jim Cook

"Big Bad John" [Cover]
Written by Jimmy Dean and Roy Acuff
Performed by Jim Cook

"Dark as a Dungeon" [Cover]
Written by Johnny Cash
Performed by Jim Cook

"Call Daddy From the Mine" [Cover]
Written by Johnny Cash
Performed by Jim Cook

Reading segment from A Journal: Traditions of West Virginia Folk Culture and Educational Awareness; Volume 9 - 2004 by the West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State.

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