RISING to stop Mountain Top Removal...

I recently went to the CD release party from a consortium of Kentucky bred singers, musicians and poets. The evening at the Rudyard Kipling included performances by many of the artist on the CD as well as readings from several poets and storytellers; it was a beautiful, soulful night full of emotion.

Rising: A Gathering of Voices for New Power is a very centered release that voice the urgency to save our mountains. I'll spend more time informing you about the dangers and consequences of mountain top removal before getting to details about the music... Mountain top removal is a form of coal mining that uses explosives to blast off the tops of mountains to gain access to coal seams. MTR is most commonly associated with mountains in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern US. This form of coal mining is highly damaging to the biodiversity of the areas affected as well as impacting the drinking water that many families have to use. It is truly a devastating and tear evoking site...

This is one of those albums that you need to sit and listen to... this is not a cd to play in the background, it needs to be heard. Starting with the emotional, somber "Not What it Meant" by 11oby Jay the cd picks up pace with other songs such as "Mi$ter Coal and Mi$ter Green" by Bob Masterson that highlight the greed of the coal mining companies that do this damage to our lands. Peppered between fiddle and banjo tracks are readings from authors that tell stories that will make you well up if you have any sort of heart at all. If you recall, Woody Guthrie reminds us that "this land is your land and this land is our land;" land we should be proud of, land we should take care of. Without the trees to assist in the production of oxygen and provide homes for thousands of species of animals and insects, without clean drinking water, what kind of species would we really be? A greedy self center species is the answer... There's nothing quite like the beautiful rolling mountains of Appalachia; If you haven't driven east to witness the beauty or you live on the other side of the country or the other side of the world just imagine beautiful rolling hills more so than jagged mountains filled with deciduous and coniferous trees as far as the eye can see. These mountains seem to reach up and grab the clouds and pull them into their valleys and produce a profound site. This is an issue for all of us to stop; this is a call to tell Big Coal that we don't need your barbaric form of energy production; we need to find new ways to power the modern conveniences of life we all enjoy. We need New Power.


To purchase the cd, visit http://www.ear-xtacy.com/, itunes or CD Baby. All proceeds go to Kentuckians for the Commonwealth to assist in the efforts in ending Mountain Top Removal.


If you'd like to see photos from the cd release show at the Rudyard Kipling, click here.


For more information about stopping Mountain Top Removal please visit http://www.kftc.org/ or http://www.appvoices.org/ and be sure to head over to the facebook page located here.