Burt Nagra

My first project was helping my dad compile some of them.

First it was just a book, but he eventually managed to get some of them on wax, too.

That was where I caught the bug, so to speak.

Sounds like your dad was a big influence on your work.

Oh, he was.

He mainly focused on recording locally, but I think he would have wanted to travel more if he could.

Working and supporting the family made it tough for him, so I had to carry the torch.

And there was a personal connection to your first recordings with the coal miners?

My grandfather and great uncle, they both worked the mines.

Didn't like to talk about it because of the coal wars and the unions and the like.

Knew a lot of people that ended up hurt or killed or in jail.

Weren't exactly positive associations.

Then there's the whole matter of losing your livelihood when the company decides to just up and leave.

But that sourness they had towards it made it feel all the more important to document the songs.

There was this one instrumental number for banjo called Coal Creek Treaty.

Some of these tunes, they sounded pretty upbeat, but they were about dark stuff.

A lot of bluegrass is that way.

A happy song sounds sad, and sad songs sound happy.

This one was like that.

The banjo has this real lightness to it.