Podcast Summary: Our Common Nature (WNYC)

Episode: West Virginia: Yo-Yo Ma and West Virginia Coal
Air Date: November 5, 2025
Host: Ana González
Guest: Yo-Yo Ma, with coal miners, musicians, and poets from West Virginia

Episode Overview

This episode explores the intertwined history, culture, and personal stories of coal mining in West Virginia, using music as a bridge to the land and its people. Host Ana González and cellist Yo-Yo Ma join local miners, musicians, and poets to uncover what it means to call this region home, focusing on its natural beauty, the legacy of coal, and the power of shared song and survival—especially for Black families in the region. Through moving conversations, music-making, and a trip down the New River, they showcase how culture, hardship, and nature shape the Appalachian experience.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Coal, Family, and Music: Cultural Roots

• Opening Scene (00:03-01:09): Diane Williams recalls singing “16 Tons” for coal miners as a child for penny candy, setting up the episode’s motif of music, labor, and family.
  • Quote (Diane, 00:31): “I owe my soul to the company store.”
• Host’s Introduction (01:47-03:10): Ana frames coal as both the backbone and the burden of West Virginian identity—the contradictions outsiders struggle to grasp.
  • Quote (Ana, 03:01): “To see what keeps people holding onto this place and the black fossil falling out of its hills.”
• Yo-Yo Ma’s Reflection (03:37-04:14): He speaks with wonder about the land’s beauty and the warmth of its people.

2. Country Roads and Complicated Truths

• Song Myths (05:19-07:38): Kathy Mattea, acclaimed West Virginian singer-songwriter, reveals that “Take Me Home, Country Roads”—an anthem for the state—was written by outsiders about Virginia, not West Virginia.
  • Quote (Kathy, 06:49): “The people who wrote it didn’t know…but where else are you going to find a song…that screams West Virginia mountain mama?”
  • The song’s power is less about literal accuracy and more about giving visibility and pride to a sometimes ‘invisible’ place (07:13-07:38).

3. Race, Labor, and Lean on Me

• Bill Withers and Community (08:03-09:13): Bill Withers wrote “Lean on Me” about his experience growing up in a racially supportive coal camp—miners looking out for each other regardless of race.
  • Quote (Kathy, 08:13): “Nobody cared what color anybody was. That’s why he was on the ground…everybody just helped each other.”
• Reality Check (09:15-10:36): Diane and Zora, a Black mother-daughter duo, challenge this rosy version. Zora spent 20+ years in the mines and faced discrimination and extra burdens as a Black woman.

4. Present-Day Mining: Surviving and Thriving

• Chris Saunders’ Story (12:57-22:28): Zora’s son, Chris, still works in the mines. He describes the camaraderie underground, the changing economy, and the ongoing stigma against women and Black miners.
  • Quote (Chris, 13:38): “There’s still a stigma about women being in the coal mines…plus she was a Black woman, so that stigma was there.”
  • Chris shares stories of his mother’s resilience—outworking the men, responding with wit to racism, and defending herself (14:11-15:10).
  • Despite hardship, Chris says, “she taught us how to love people” (15:34-16:00).

5. The Complexity of Coal: Health, Industry, and Identity

• Health Costs (16:13-16:40): Chris is aware that mining paid for the family’s needs but deeply worries about his mother’s declining health due to black lung and the potential risk to himself.
• Economic Reality (17:05-19:21): Coal remains a major employer (90% of area jobs), but automation is reducing opportunities. Outsiders struggle to understand why people stay in or value the industry.
  • Quote (Chris, 19:06): “I said now I don’t want to say, you know, be nothing negative to what I do and it’s negative to every job.…But it has been great to my family financially and stuff like that.”

6. Survival, Redemption, and the Metaphor of Coal

• Personal Redemption (19:29-20:02): Chris talks about finding salvation and purpose in coal mining after a troubled youth, following in his mother’s footsteps.
• The Pride of Appalachian Coal (20:55-21:56): West Virginia’s high-metallurgical coal is world-renowned; there is pride that “King Coal” powered American progress, even as global exports continue.
  • Quote (Yo-Yo Ma, 20:55): “The pride that I think that people in West Virginia must feel for having…been the power source behind…the development of iron and steel in this country.”

7. Tragedy and Grief: Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster

• Site Visit (25:14-28:48): Chris takes Ana to the site of the 2010 Upper Big Branch explosion, where 29 miners died.
  • Quote (Chris, 28:01): “Lost a lot of friends. Yeah, knew every one of them…29 people that day.”
• Aftermath (29:04-30:21): Chris laments that miners had to return to work right after the disaster, sensing a lack of respect from the company.

8. Black Diamonds—Memory, Justice, and Art

• Poet Crystal Good (30:21-36:30): Crystal performs her poem “Black Diamonds” about the disaster, the erasure of Black miner history, and the struggle for justice in Appalachia.
  • Quote (Crystal, performing; 31:49): “Black diamonds form on days like April 5, 2010…the pressure, the pressure, and the salt of her tears.”
• She highlights the ongoing health and environmental toll, water crisis lawsuits, and declining life expectancy, yet also the love for West Virginia’s landscape and resilience.

9. Nature, Healing, and the Next Generation

• Yo-Yo Ma on Finding Balance (36:40-38:20): Yo-Yo explains that nature—being in the mountains, hearing a stream—restores him and reminds him of the cycle of life.
  • Quote (Yo-Yo Ma, 36:56): “It’s inseparable that we are part of this world. We are part of nature, we are part of the stars, we are part of the earth…Now I do think that more and more.”
• Whitewater Rafting (38:20-40:12): Ana, Crystal, Yo-Yo, and local students go rafting on the New River. Yo-Yo plays Bach by the river; the kids write and perform a song together.
  • Quote (Yo-Yo Ma, 39:56): “It’s fantastic, it’s goofy, it’s fun. And guess what? It was memorable. You still remember it?”

10. Collective Song & Shared Future

• Final Gathering (40:34-42:20): At day’s end, the community gathers for food, dancing, and music—with Yo-Yo and Dom Flemons leading singalongs, including “Take Me Home, Country Roads”—ironically acknowledged as geographically inaccurate, but emotionally resonant.
  • Quote (Ana, 42:04): “It’s just always like a great…opportunity for everyone to sing along.”
• Absent Friends (43:06-45:57): Ana calls Chris after his mom Zora’s passing. He speaks about her strength, the solidarity of coal miners—even in funeral arrangements—and sings “Jesus on the Main Line,” Zora’s favorite gospel song.

11. Closing Note: Song as Memorial

• Dom Flemons’ Tribute (46:03-47:39): Dom sings the old song “We Are Almost Down to the Shore,” recalling its origin from a blind Black coal miner, Jimmy Strothers. The performance transforms the sorrow of the hills into transcendent communal memory.
  • Quote (Ana, 46:48): “Despite it all, coal led us here to this sweet moment along the New River.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I owe my soul to the company store.” – Diane Williams (00:31)
• “Coal…formed this country, really. But there’s a dark irony to coal.” – Ana González (01:31)
• “How many times would you estimate you’ve played ‘Country Roads’ in your lifetime?” – Ana González (05:19)
• “Nobody cared what color anybody was. That’s why he was on the ground…everybody just helped each other.” – Kathy Mattea (08:13)
• “There’s still a stigma about women being in the coal mines…plus she was a Black woman, so that stigma was there.” – Chris Saunders (13:38)
• “Lean on Me was probably not true for Zora—but it is for Chris.” – Ana González (16:00)
• “We have what I call…‘kiss my butt’ curves…” – Chris Saunders, on mountain roads (17:05)
• “In the ’80s…I got into the drug trade…and then I started going to church. In ‘93…I went into the mines. That was just a prayer.” – Chris Saunders (19:29)
• “The pride that…people in West Virginia must feel…having been the power source behind…the development of iron and steel in this country.” – Yo-Yo Ma (20:55)
• “Lost a lot of friends…29 people that day.” – Chris Saunders (28:01)
• “Black diamonds, black diamonds, hey, hey, hey, hey…” – Crystal Good (30:21)
• “It’s inseparable that we are part of this world. We are part of nature, we are part of the stars.” – Yo-Yo Ma (36:56)
• “There’s nothing like being in nature and doing something participatory, and that breaks the ice.” – Yo-Yo Ma (39:20)
• “You can’t get time off?…They only gonna give me three days…I talked to my mom. My mom loved me and I loved her. I said, and we just coal miners, you know?” – Chris Saunders (44:26-44:51)
• “Despite it all, coal led us here to this sweet moment along the New River.” – Ana González (46:55)

Key Segments & Timestamps

• Diane sings “16 Tons”; Coal and Family: 00:03–01:09
• Yo-Yo Ma and Ana arrive; reflections on West Virginia: 03:10–04:14
• Kathy Mattea on “Country Roads”; Song’s True Origins: 05:19–07:38
• Black families in mining; Zora’s Story: 09:15–10:36
• Chris Saunders on mining now; Racism and Resilience: 12:57–17:05
• Coal as Survival; Route 3 road trip: 17:05–19:29
• Chris’s Redemption Story; Labor Pride: 19:29–21:56
• Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster: 25:14–30:21
• Crystal Good’s “Black Diamonds”; Environmental Injustice: 30:21–36:30
• Yo-Yo Ma on Nature and Healing: 36:40–38:20
• Whitewater rafting/children’s music-making: 38:20–40:12
• Community gathering; line-dancing and singalongs: 40:34–42:20
• Chris after Zora’s death: 43:06–45:57
• Dom Flemons tribute; “We Are Almost Down to the Shore”: 46:03–47:55

Tone, Language & Style

The episode blends oral history, folklore, music, and unvarnished, working-class testimony. The tone is heartfelt, searching, occasionally mournful, but always resilient. It is alternately warm, raw, and poetic, matching the voices of the region’s miners, musicians, and poets.

Overall Takeaways

This journey through West Virginia is both an homage and a critical examination of coal’s enduring presence—economic, ecological, spiritual—in the lives of Appalachians. Through intergenerational family stories, the complexity of race and gender, the pride and pain of labor, and the healing force of music and nature, Ana González and Yo-Yo Ma shape a portrait of a place both wounded and wondrous, where solidarity is forged underground as often as it is celebrated above. Music—be it folk, pop, or Bach—serves as both a bridge to community and a means of survival, memory, and hope.

For Further Listening

• For a studio recording of “We Are Almost Down to the Shore,” check out Dom Flemons’s album Traveling Wildfire.
• Explore more music from the series on the Our Common Nature EP, featuring Yo-Yo Ma with Eric Mingus, Jenn Kreisberg, and an Icelandic choir.