Amy Goodman
@DemocracyNow·3.2M subscribers·19.4K videos
“Union, God and Country”: New Steve Earle Song Is About the Upper Big Branch Coal Mine Explosion
Posted
May 5, 2020
Views
27,509
Likes
234
Comments
38
Engagement
May 5, 2020
27,509
234
38
0.99%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
2:21Now PlayingToday Democracy Now! played the audio premiere of Steve Earle's new song, "Union, God and Country," from his latest album, "Ghosts of West Virginia," that will be released on May 22 and centers on the Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion that killed 29 men in that state in 2010, making it one of the worst mining disasters in American history. Earle told Democracy Now! he started working on the album after being approached by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, a playwright team that would create "Coal Country," a play with music about the disaster. They interviewed the surviving West Virginia miners, along with the families of the miners who died. "West Virginia was the most unionized place in America until very recently. Upper Big Branch was the first non-union mine on that mountain — and it blew up and killed 29 men. This is a song about better days," Earle said.
#DemocracyNow
Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 89AM ET
Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today
FOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! ONLINE:
Daily Email Digest
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
