Morning whistle cryin’ through the valley gray
Coal dust risin’ with the break of day
Boots on the porch and a lunch pail in hand
Another long shift in that black seam land
Pickup trucks rattlin’ down Route 9
Men with tired eyes standin’ in line
Sun barely risin’ over the ridge of brown
That’s how the day begins in a coal town
In a coal town, where the mountains stand tall
Where the good Lord’s name gets whispered through it all
Life ain’t easy but the roots run deep
Where neighbors don’t let neighbors fall too steep
We may not have much when the sun goes down
But there’s pride in the dirt in a coal town
Sunday mornin’ bells from the little white church
Preacher talkin’ hope while the choir finds the words
Ladies bring casseroles wrapped in foil and prayer
And every hard time gets lifted up there
Old men talkin’ on the courthouse square
Stories of the mines and the years down there
Blackened hands but their backs still proud
That mountain grit runs strong and loud
In a coal town, where the mountains stand tall
Where the good Lord’s name gets whispered through it all
Life ain’t easy but the roots run deep
Where neighbors don’t let neighbors fall too steep
We may not have much when the sun goes down
But there’s pride in the dirt in a coal town
When a hard wind blows and a job runs dry
You’ll see a dozen trucks pullin’ right on by
Someone’s fixin’ a roof, someone’s cuttin’ wood
Just folks doin’ what mountain people should
Mama stretchin’ supper from a bag of beans,
Daddy coughin’ coal dust from the mining machines.
But laughter still echoes when the work day’s done,
On a porch with a jar and a settin’ sun.
These hills raised us tough, raised us proud
Ain’t no fancy roads in these mountain clouds
But the blood in our veins runs strong and true
From the miners before us who dug it through
In a coal town, where the mountains stand tall
Where the good Lord’s name gets whispered through it all
Life’s been hard since the day we were born
But these old hills keep carryin’ us on
We may not have much when the sun goes down
But we stand real proud, In a coal town
Yeah the whistle still echoes through the morning sound
And the heart of these hills beats in a coal town
“In A Coal Town” is track number 9 on the Thumper Barrel album, In A Coal Town.
Track: In A Coal Town
Album: In A Coal Town
ISRC: QZNWY2695567
ASCAP: 935077950