Highly Recommended Album: DARK BLACK COAL (Logan Halstead)

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by Connor McCormick on June 12, 2023

in CD-DVD

Logan Halstead, 18 years old, is a country/folk/americana singer-songwriter who grew up in Comfort, WV. Logan pulls most of his music from the struggle and hardship of his life and those around him. Small-town living isn’t intensely stimulating socially or economically, but spiritually there is always a yearning for more. Being from WV and KY, it’s no surprise that Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson influence him, but he has also found a lot of inspiration from Nicholas Jamerson and Cole Chaney. “All these folks mentioned have laid a path and shown that it’s okay to be from these parts; we’re not so looked down on anymore…” says Logan. It’s given him the ability to be proud of who he is and has led him to be a driving force in the scene of young artists from the Appalachian region.

Logan doesn’t like to put himself in a box sonically or stylistically. Still, many would adorn it as Appalachian/Americana music. Above all, it is raw and honest, and the writing wrapped in wisdom one might only think someone two decades older than could conjure. While the masses clamored for more content, Halstead took his time and found the right partners for his debut album, Dark Black Coal. He decided to cut his project at the famous Sound Emporium Studios in Nashville, TN. He was accompanied by the one and only Lawrence Rothman (Amanda Shires, Margo Price, Angel Olson, and many more).

In 2020 Logan released “Dark Black Coal” on Youtube, which has since amassed over 6 million views. The success of that single has allowed Logan to build a great fan base through YouTube, touring, and opening for folks like Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, Town Mountain, and many more.

Watch the Official Music Video for “Man’s Gotta Eat”:

“These are songs that highlight the singer’s life growing up in a region of Appalachia known only for its coal mines, severe poverty and being one of the many small towns deeply affected by the opioid epidemic… there are little cracks of light that Halstead allows in that somehow sound even more beautiful coming out of the pitch black.” Holler.

Good Ol’ Boys with Bad Names
01:55

The Flood
05:41

Man’s Gotta Eat
02:43

Dark Black Coal
04:14

Mountain Queen
02:57

Kentucky Sky
03:50

Coal River
03:41

Far From Here
02:45

1952 Vincent Black Lightning
05:30

Uneven Ground (feat. Arlo McKinley)
05:51

Bluefoot
04:51

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