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When I Go To West Virginia (Coal Mine Owner's Daughter​)​/​Sally Ann

from Each Other's Story 2011 by Original Songs by Aubrey & Elwood

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    EACH OTHER’S STORY (2011)
    Here is an interesting blend of genre: a collection of original songs spanning 30 years in the careers of Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly, with a bonus track of a song Elwood wrote in 1966. Some were previously recorded, and on those we’ve added more instruments and voices.

    Thanks to all the fine musicians who added immeasurable depth and warmth to this recording, to whom Aubrey and Elwood are forever grateful: Cathy Clasper-Torch on violin, cello, piano and vocals; John Cerrigione on bass; Heidi Cerrigione on autoharp; Kevin Doyle on percussion; Paul Dube on accordion; Morgan Santos on cello; and Alex Krepkikh on harmonica and tambourine.

    Also thank you to the musicians who were with us during the original recording of some of these songs: Everett Brown on piano accordion; Steve LaValley on djembe; Rick McKinney on mandolin; Cari Norris on guitar and vocals; and Lisa Schmitz on guitar and vocals.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Each Other's Story 2011 via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.     ... more
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  • Full Digital Discography

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    Get all 14 Atwater-Donnelly releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Boat You Row Atwater-Donnelly 2022, The World Is Old Tonight, Each Other's Story 2011, The Weaver's Bonny 2009, The Halfway Ground 2007, When Winter Calls 2005, The Blackest Crow 2004, And Then I'm Going Home 2001, and 6 more. , and , .

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about

When I Go to West Virginia (Coal Mine Owner's Daughter)/Sally Ann
Words and music by Aubrey Atwater, BMI ©1996

Originally recorded in 1997, this song was inspired by Aubrey's family's history of owning and operating coal mines in the early 1900s. The Atwater Coal Company transported coal from Bluefield, West Virginia to the Fall River knitting mills in Massachusetts. This song took Aubrey months to write because she wanted to deal with controversial issues in a way that was respectful to her family, especially her father who was always so generous with sharing family history.

lyrics

Well on a good day, you can see very far,
Just drive up high and get out of your car.
On 77 or 460, just look and the view then look at me

Chorus:
Oh the hills of West Virginia are green and lush,
And I go to hear the music

One small mountain after another, pushes out of the earth
They're falling over each other, like children, except look over there
It must be an apparition, in the distance, a mesa
Strip mining has left one hill naked, and oddly flat...Chorus

When I go to West Virginia, I don't say much
Years ago my people owned mines in the Pocahontas coal field
Well you might say now what's all the fuss
And why do I say I don't say much
But I wouldn't call parts of two states a "field"…Chorus

Instrumental

Now the stripped land, the faces, the sickness,
The unemployment tell me too much
And all that happened all of those years was before my time…Chorus

I was raised well in a New England town,
And educated at expensive schools
Our lives were warmly heated
By the coal transported by ship from West Virginia
By the coal transported by ship from West Virginia
By the coal transported by ship from West Virginia

And on a good day, you can see very far,
Just drive up high and get out of your car.
On 77 or 460, just look at the view then look at me
Look and the view then look at me,
Look and the view then look at me

credits

from Each Other's Story 2011, released May 9, 2011
Aubrey Atwater: lead vocals, banjo
Elwood Donnelly: vocals, bones
Cathy Clasper-Torch: violin
John Cerrigione: bass
Kevin Doyle: rhythm block
Steve LaValley: djembe
Cari Norris: vocals, guitar

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Atwater-Donnelly Warren, Rhode Island

Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly, present delightful programs of traditional American and Celtic folk songs, a capella pieces, old-time gospel songs, dance tunes, and original works, blending gorgeous harmonies with guitar, Appalachian mountain dulcimer, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonica, banjo, bones, spoons, limberjacks, and Appalachian clog dancing and French Canadian footwork. ... more

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