Danny Roberts, founding mandolinist with The Grascals, is stepping out front again this year with another solo project with Mountain Home Music.
A second single from this next album, How I Live, How I’ll Die, which delivers a somber look at the life of a coal mine, hits this week. The lyrics paint a bleak image of the darkness by day and the health concerns of anyone who digs coal deep in the earth.
Danny says that this song went through a number of major changes on its way to this recording.
“How I Live, How I’ll Die started off as a Monroe-style instrumental that I had written several years ago. I really liked the melody and decided it would actually be well-suited for a vocal song, and it just felt like it should be about coal mining.
I’ve never worked in a coal mine, but I have a good friend that grew up in West Virginia in a mining family, and my wife’s family is from Southwest Virginia with a coal mining legacy, and the lyrics came from the stories that I heard from them. I basically had the song written but felt like there was just something missing so I sent it to my friend and great songwriter, Daryl Mosley, and he added just what I felt like the song needed.
How I Live, How I’ll Die has a bit of a spooky, lonesome sound and feel, and I believe that’s exactly what it’s like living a coal miner’s life.”
Support comes from Tony Wray on guitar and banjo, Jimmy Mattingly on fiddle, and Andrea Roberts on bass. Dennis Parker sings harmony.
Have a listen…
How I Live, How I’ll Die, the single, will be available on February 3 from popular download and streaming services online. Radio programmers can get the track now from AirPlay Direct.
