Coal gave rise to industry—and air pollution and misery for anyone who went underground in search of that black gold. Singer Mary Hott returned to West Virginia coal country for the inspiration that congealed into Devil in the Hills. Hott is better known for jazz and blues but here, she ventures toward Americana country in songs drawn from the oral history collection at a West Virginia museum. The stories she collected are as dire as the songs she sings, telling them matter of factly in a folk-rock setting often influenced by the balladeering transplanted to Appalachia centuries ago. Eight-year-olds working in the mines? It happened. Devil in the Hills concludes with a weary rendition of John Denver’s lone claim to writing a classic, “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”
