Emmett’s college thesis was about the Frac Sand boom in Wisconsin and Minnesota. This is one of three songs he wrote while completing that thesis, and has previously been published in The Driftless Reader, an anthology of writing about the Driftless Region.
lyrics
I am nothing but a man, made my life upon the land
west Wisconsin is my home
In a town of farms and mills, high up in the Driftless Hills
Where as I boy I’d roam
Those sand bluffs would remain, until the company came
To strip the hillside bare
Digging up the sand to frac someone else’s land
In some other town somewhere
Chorus:
and I know it's for the best, I should count myself blessed
that's what the companies say
but I'll turn my eyes, hang my head and cry
'cause they’re haulin’ the sand hills away
Well, I know that times are tough, this economy is rough
and we’ve all seen better days
and when they’re mining out the hills, there’ll be jobs to be filled
at twenty dollar an hour’s pay
but the mine don’t seem to care if our kids can breathe the air
or the water’s there for all
and when the boom is through, those jobs will be gone, too
and leave the country raw
chorus
Is this the best way, as some people say
to power our country ?
because it seems a damned high cost,
when there’s so much to be lost
and the wind and the sunshine’s free
the more I think, the more I find
that it’s burning in my mind
that it’s a damned and shameful sin
to put creation up for bids, and leave nothing for our kids
but ghosts of sand hills in the wind
This album has been a powerful mix of hitting home and expanding my horizons. This is great music, both from and for the ongoing fight for universal human dignity. I don't know how he does it, but Emmett has a way of saturating each story he tells - even the ones far removed from his own experience - with a rich feeling of authenticity. Two thumbs up! jwberns
This album speaks to the continuum of African diasporic culture that is central to the vibrant canon of Americana folk music. Bandcamp Album of the Day May 29, 2020
Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 5, 2020
Proceeds from this excellent new darkambient/neofolk comp from LEFT/FOLK goes to benefit American Near East Refugee Aid. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 10, 2024