Emmylou Harris Mines Music for Mountains

Since the beginning of May, Nashville has been digging out from the devastating affects of an unexpected flood. The community has pulled together, and outsiders have been amazed at the extent of humanity and neighborly goodwill Music City has expressed.


The flood was an example of Mother Nature wreaking havoc on humanity. But people have been messing with Mother Nature, Emmylou Harris observes, in a way that is destroying another part of Tennessee. Emmylou wrote a guest editorial in Sunday’s edition of The Tennessean explaining why she and some of her fellow musicians — Kathy Mattea, Big Kenny and Dave Matthews, among them — are performing a Music Saves Mountains concert Wednesday at the Ryman Auditorium.

The concert calls attention to mountaintop removal, a form of mining in which explosives are used to blast the tops off of mountains so that coal companies can access strips of coal, which eventually gets converted into energy for everyone’s households. Mountaintop removal is employed in the hills of Kentucky, West Virginia and east Tennessee. It permanently destroys the landscape, and it pollutes the environment, including the drinking water for the local residents.

“To date more than 500 Appalachian mountains have been dynamited and nearly 2,000 miles of rivers and streams have been choked by this irreverent practice,” Emmylou wrote. “The Appalachians are the only mountain range in the country where this practice is allowed.”

Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Sam Bush, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin and Brandon Young are among the Ryman guests, as some of country and Americana’s most passionate artists attempt to instill some passion for the environment in the community at large.

“This is not an anti-coal campaign, it is an effort to promote sustainable mining practices that will not destroy our mountain heritage,” Emmylou wrote. “We are at a pivotal moment, and as musicians have done for generations, we intend to use our art form to inspire action on a global scale. Together with our fans we believe music can save mountains.”

Go here to read Emmylou’s complete column. Visit www.iLoveMountains.org to learn about the issue.