Songs of the Coal Mines

AMG Review of Songs of the Coal Mines

Bruce Eder
All Music Guide

Travis recorded this concept album over a period of three days in March 1963, consisting of 12 originals dealing with the lives of coal miners, a subject that Travis knew well, as the only male member of his family to have escaped a livelihood earned underground. The material consists of folk and blues ("Pay Day Comes Too Slow" is one of the best pieces of white blues you'll ever hear, regardless of how many Eric Clapton albums you may own already), all very vivid in its textures and sensibilities, and it's a crying shame that the album never made the charts, as this was obviously a project very close to Travis' heart. The cover is also something of a classic, though it hardly emphasized this as a Travis album, consisting of drawings that might've come out of any miner's family album.