Review - Logan Halstead: Dark Black Coal
Photo by Allen Ralph
“I’m more famous on the internet than I am in real life.” That’s how Logan Halstead greeted the crowd at the FoxFire Music Festival in Ashland, Kentucky last fall and he wasn’t wrong. The young man had only a few videos out and a limited touring schedule under his belt at the time but with the upcoming release of his debut album Dark Black Coal, set to drop May 5 and distributed by Thirty Tigers, that should change.
His story really begins in 2020 when the world was in pandemic lockdown and Logan released a cellphone video of a tune he had written a few years before, at the age of 15. With a haunting chorus you would associate with someone much older, that song was “Dark Black Coal.”
“Dark black coal, take my soul / I owe it to you anyways /
Just don’t let my children become the victims / Of the mountains evil ways”
Immediately, folks began to take notice and that video has since amassed nearly 6 million views on YouTube. It may have helped that the internet was about the only place to find new music and so many people were hungry for it. The success of that video opened the door for more performance opportunities and he soon found himself on the same bill with the likes of Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin (a fellow West Virginian), Town Mountain, and others.
The experience of playing for bigger crowds further from home increased his exposure and confidence and he wrote more songs about the things he knew best: the people of the Appalachian Mountains and the everyday struggles they endure just to survive. Halstead says his musical influences are varied but he likes the simple, straightforward approach to songs and a subdued instrumentation that keeps the lyrics out front. That’s exactly what Dark Black Coal offers. Backed only by a trio of fiddle, mandolin and upright bass, Logan’s acoustic guitar brings the stories to life. Those words resonate with the people of West Virginia and Kentucky because they are their stories, told by one of their own. In addition to the mining songs “Dark Black Coal” and “Coal River” are the stories of the damage caused by Nature (“The Flood” written by Cole Chaney), the damage to a man’s pride caused by poverty (“A Man’s Gotta Eat”) and the damage to friends and family caused by drugs:
“Tell my momma that I’m sorry / For I’m riding that long black train /
I don’t want to be here / But I can’t seem to numb the pain”
From “Far From Here” and this from “Good Ole Boys With Bad Names”:
"Put that fire to my pipe / Hits my lungs like a blast from a gun /
And keeps me up for days /
My heart gets to racing / My Hands get to shaking”
Remember, these are lyrics written by a 19-year old!
Check out this stanza from “Uneven Ground” for another example of words far beyond most young people his age:
“Uneven ground, stumbling around through the day /
Mouth full of words, but too fucked up to know what to say /
Sunlight’s too bright, Dark sky is too cold for me /
So I’ll set sail for a dark bourbon sea”
And this couplet from another original, “Bluefoot”:
“This holler’s quite away from space / But I can feel the stars flying past my face /
And I taste, raindrops dropping on the trees / Wind will bring me to my knees”
Logan doesn’t dwell on the negative aspects of mountain life and shows great appreciation for the beauty of his native land with the songs “Mountain Queen” and “Kentucky Sky.” Both songs name-drop West Virginia and Kentucky because he says it was always a kick when he was younger when he would hear songs that mentioned his home area and he wanted to continue that with his songs. He wants to bring a sense of pride to the people of the mountains since much of the rest of the country tends to denigrate them.
With Dark Black Coal, Logan Halstead establishes himself as a significant voice in the pantheon of great songwriters telling the story of Appalachia. These songs paint a picture of the 21st century reality that threatens the very culture of thousands of Americans. For someone so young, he manages to do it with a maturity beyond his years. His days of being more well-known on the internet than in real life are soon to be a thing of the past.
Find out more about Logan at the links below: