Country artists ally against mountaintop removal

The country music scene was headlined by the Country Music Awards last week, but several musicians found time to join in a Monday-night event focused on ending mountaintop-removal coal mining. The meeting, sponsored by the National Resources Defense Council, gave the artists a chance to hear from NRDC senior attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and senior scientist Allen Hershkowitz about Music Saves Mountains, an artists’ initiative intended to help protect the peaks of the Central Appalachian coalfield from MTR, Peter Cooper of The Tennessean reports.

"The mountains of Appalachia are responsible for countless folk, country and bluegrass songs. Now, the home of that rich tradition is being destroyed," Emmylou Harris told Cooper. Hershkowitz added, "We have to change the cultural assumption that it’s okay to blow up Appalachian mountains, and okay to blow up 502 ridgelines and peaks and get away with it." Other artists at the meeting included Randy Travis, Ben Sollee, Big Kenny Alphin, Delbert McClinton, Dierks Bentley, Gloriana, James Otto, J.D. Souther, Matraca Berg, Jeff Hanna, Michelle Branch, Kid Rock and Patty Griffin. (Read more)