“Mountaintop removal’s definitely in our backyard,” Sollee said. “We’ve got so much cultural heritage invested in these mountains as a nation that it’s baffling to me that it exists at all. If this was happening in the Rocky Mountains or Adirondacks, people just wouldn’t stand for it. It would’ve stopped a long time ago.”

Coal mining is engrained in Appalachian culture, Sollee said, “because as a nation, we’ve asked a lot of them, for their greatest natural resource – coal – and they’ve given it. This record should let the nation know that we’ve been giving a little too much.”

“We want people to leave with a feeling that they’re really connected to the music of Appalachia,” Sollee said. “Not really a tribute or homage to it, but as much as these are our roots, and this is what it sounds like where we’ve grown up.”

Read more about what Ben has to say about the album, tour, and mountaintop removal here