★★★★★
Honest, captivating content, delivered through her a rich, pliable alto, has been the hallmark of Grammy-winning singer Kathy Mattea's career. Past hits, like "Where've You Been" and "18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses," and current offerings delivered on her new disc, Coal, share a common thread: these are stories that originate in the heart. Produced by Marty Stuart, the arrangements on Coal are spare next to Mattea's former discography...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2013-04-25
★★★★★
"Let me introduce myself/Hello, my name is coal," sings Kathy Mattea on her striking version of Larry Cordle's song. It takes guts along with self-confidence to turn your back on a commercially successful style to head for the rough edges on the sidelines. But that's often where the most challenging and poignant music lies...
- www.americansongwriter.com
2012-10-15
★★★★★
I don't get no opinion With four mouths to feed I'd sell off my future To get what we need --The Elms, "Bring Me Your Tea" The September 11th release of Calling Me Home, Kathy Mattea's fourteenth studio LP, is fitting given the subject material. The plight of the coal miner has been around for a considerable amount of time in the history of the United States, but when "the world stopped turning on that September day", the state of things for blue-collar workers changed significantly...
- www.popmatters.com
2012-09-17
★★★★★
Living songs about the power of blackness and the illusory allure of green ("The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore," "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive").
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
here's hoping her real marriage is this real ("Where've You Been," "Life as We Knew It")
- www.robertchristgau.com
2009-07-10
★★★★★
Though the hunk trend in country music is in full swing, threewomen with new albums have still managed to scale the charts. LorrieMorgan has amended her ready-and-willing "Victoria's Secret" look toa more innocent pixie image, but her fourth album, Watch Me,preserves both her no-nonsense persona ("What Part of No") and herdramatic flair for woman-to-woman ballads about heartache ("Someoneto Call Me Darling")...
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
This time out,
country's classiest mezzo-soprano elects bigger pop and
California-country production in an effort to get on the radio. Her
themes, however, remain the same: self- respect (''Walking Away a
Winner''), regard for others, especially women (''Maybe She's
Human''), and appreciation of family (''Who's Gonna Know''). Walking Away a Winner has style and
substance-with a '90s punch. B+
- ew.com
2009-06-12
★★★★★
M.GIFore than a decade removed from her commercial peak, which found an uncommon balance between deservedly successful mainstream country hits and progressive cross-genre hybrids, Kathy Mattea ranks among many other veteran country artists who have embraced the artistic freedom afforded by going the indie route...
- www.slantmagazine.com
2009-06-08
★★★★★
The back story goes like this. As the granddaughter of coal miners, Kathy Mattea deeply understands the effect coal mining has had on human lives and rural communities. As an active environmentalist who has toured with Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, Mattea intellectually comprehends the ecological devastation coal mining has had on her Appalachian mountain home...
- www.popmatters.com
2009-03-20
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