From the recording America, this is Appalachia Callin'
This song gives voice to a warning that has been sounding from the hills for generations: when working people are controlled by debt, restricted choices, and distant power, the danger is already in the air. Using the old coal-mine canary as a living symbol rather than a simple story, it frames Appalachia as the place still willing to sing the truth when others have gone quiet. The bigger message is resilience — that freedom is not finished simply because it has been buried under weight, and that ordinary Americans can still dig their way back into the light. Against every effort to silence or exhaust that spirit, the call continues, held steady only by God’s grace.
Lyrics
Down in the black seam where the lanterns burn low
They sent little yellow birds so the miners would know
When the air turned poison and the canary fell still
It was time to run for daylight or the mountain would kill
Paid in company scrip with the store locked tight
Every meal and every tool dug us deeper that night
Shackles every six feet on that chain-gang of debt
Same old heavy hand we ain't forgotten yet
America, this is Appalachia callin'
Hear that distant song that refuses to die
Canary in the coal mine still singin'
Dig deep freedom ain't dead yet, not by a mile
They tried to crush us and silence the land
But the mountains keep singin'
By God's grace alone, we're still standin'
Now the shafts run deeper than any old mine
Debt like black water risin' past the timberline
Same hands on the levers that never once cared
For the sweat of the worker or the freedom we shared
They chained us with soft words and screens full of lies
Tried to stop every warning before it could rise
But the bird in the cage keeps on whistlin' clear
America's buried in debt but she ain't dead yet
America, this is Appalachia callin'
Hear that distant song that refuses to die
Canary in the coal mine still singin'
Dig deep freedom ain't dead yet
Stand and rise
They tried to bury us under the weight of thier plans
But the mountains keep singin'
And the canaries still live in this land
America!
America!
America… this is Appalachia callin'
Hear that yellow bird still singin' in the black
Dig deep dig deep through the company store dust
The canary refuses to die
Freedom's still breathin' under all that weight
By God's grace alone
We're diggin' out
We're diggin' out
We're diggin' out