Rich Kirby & Mike Kline

An anthology of mining songs, “They Can’t Put It Back” is a musical chronicle of the struggles of American mines and mountain people with songs on deep and strip mining, black lung, union organizing, and topical ballads. Rich Kirby, one of the founders of Appalshop’s record label and a long-time staff member of our radio station, learned mountain music at the feet of his grandfather, Addie Graham, who also released an album on June Appal Recordings. Mike Kline records and performs mountain music and stories with his wife Carrie all through central Appalachia, flat-picking, singing, and amplifying old-time music like the kind heard on “They Can’t Put It Back.”