Dear Companion Tackles A Real World Issue
Three Kentucky natives use music to raise awareness of mining issues in the Appalachian region.
Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore
Dear Companion
Released on Feb 16, 2010
In the aptly titled track “Only a Song,” collaborators Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore admit that music has limited power, singing, “This is only a song. It can’t change the world.” That realization however will not stop them from trying. The two Kentucky natives have come together with fellow bluegrass-stater Yim Yames, also known as Jim James of My Morning Jacket and The Monsters of Folk, to create a collection of songs aimed at bringing attention to the issue of Mountaintop Removal coal mining (MTR).
An outgrowth of strip-mining, MTR has become much more common throughout the American coal region known as Central Appalachia which stretches through parts of four states; Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency MTR is, “a mining practice where the tops of mountains are removed, exposing the seams of coal Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of the summit to get at buried seams of coal. The earth from the mountaintop is then dumped in the neighboring valleys” According to iLoveMontaints.org, the resulting effects for families living nearby can include loss or pollution of drinking water, flooding and damage to their homes from dynamite being detonated as close as just 300 feet from their houses. More information on this issue is available at http://ilovemountains.org/
This devastation led the two musical newcomers who met on MySpace to decide to collaborate on a musical release highlighting the plight their native area is facing. This effort is Sollee’s third release following the full-length “Learning to Bend” and an earlier EP. Moore’s only previous effort, “Stray Age,” was released in 2008. The two originally planned on an EP but the project expanded when Yames came aboard as producer. He was so impressed with the pair’s chemistry that he convinced them to go further.
The result is a haunting, though by no means completely depressing, collection with songs that both directly and indirectly address the challenge and despair the Appalachian community faces. The music includes touches of gospel, bluegrass, country and folk but with very up-to-date sensibilities and a large dose of cello courtesy of Sollee. Some songs like “FlyRock Blues” and “Try” speak openly of the issue at hand while others like “Only a Song,” and “Something, Somewhere, Sometime,” could easily have nearly any meaning a listener ascribes to them.
In retrospect, the project may have been better served as an EP than a full-length. There are several instrumentals that only serve to interrupt the flow and power of the release. Without these and one or two weaker tracks Dear Companion would be a much more powerful work. Regardless, some of the more poignant lyrics mixed with two penetrating voices and excellent musicianship make Dear Companion a unique and interesting project. Add in the exposure of a worthy cause and the result serves as a great reminder of the potential music has to advance societal change, even if the artist says it is, “only a song.”
High Point
Powerful haunting songs like “Only a Song,” and “Something Somewhere Sometime.”
Low Point
Unnecessary musical interludes that only bog down the collection.
Posted by Mike Stern on Feb 16, 2010 @ 9:00 am
