Patty Loveless, 'Diamond In My Crown'

Patty Loveless Supports Christian Appalachian Project

As part of the launch of her new Mountain Soul II album, Patty Loveless is taking the opportunity to support the Christian Appalachian Project. By logging on to www.christianapp.org/ visitors to the site can make a donation to the organization and will receive a free download of the gospel chestnut "Working on a Building" from Mountain Soul II. All donations will help bring real change to the lives of the men, women and children of Appalachia living in poverty. As a tax-deductible gift, the funds will help provide meals to children suffering from hunger, shelter to seniors living in unimaginable conditions in what was called “A Hidden America” in a 20/20 special report by Diane Sawyer this past February.

Speaking to TheBluegrassSpecial.com about her involvement with CAP, Loveless pointed out that as a coal miner’s daughter herself (her father died at age 58, of complications from black lung disease), she remembers “families living in a lot of poverty” in Appalachia, where the wondrous natural beauty can obscure the truth of life on the ground.

“Sometimes the beauty of the mountains tends to hide some of that poverty,” she notes. “Sometimes you can’t see through those beautiful trees until about fall, when the leaves start to fall. Then you start to see the deterioration.”

Although the Loveless family had it hard—“When daddy worked in the coal mines I remember mama going out to the shed in knee-deep snow, before her kids got up in the morning, and get coal. I knew mama and daddy struggled”—Patty says hers was better off than others’ “back there in the mountains.

“That’s the reason I felt good about having the opportunity to give something of myself,” she adds, “and what that is is music. It’s really wonderful to know that I’m able to give through music to make people aware of some of the problems, the issues, people are facing in Appalachia. You know, it’s not just Kentucky and Virginia and West Virginia. There are places in North Carolina, Tennessee that are hurting, too. Christian Appalachian Project is doing everything they can to help with the medical situation, getting some of the elderly people to doctors and providing food and housing, just trying to help. To me that’s doing God’s work; that’s why people are here for each other. I feel a part of what God wants us to do, and that is to love one another and be there for each other. It’s good to be a part of something like this. I think it’s wonderful what they’re doing.”

About the Christian Appalachian Project
Mission Statement: The Christian Appalachian Project is an interdenominational, non-profit Christian organization committed to serving people in need in Appalachia by providing physical, spiritual and emotional support through a wide variety of programs and services.

Guiding Principles:
I. To promote the dignity and self-worth of individuals by promoting self-help.
II. To practice and encourage good stewardship of and accountability for all of the resources entrusted to us.
III. To foster individual growth among staff, volunteers, donors and program participants.
IV. To live out and promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ through all of our actions.
V. To foster open, honest and effective communication both inside and outside the organization.
VI. To involve the Appalachian people at all social and economic levels in developing a solution to poverty.

Support the Christian Appalachian Project. Visit www.christianapp.org/ and give a donation and/or offer to volunteer to help people in need.

Patty Loveless, ‘Half Over You,’ from Mountain Soul II

Follow this link to a review of Mountain Soul II album and the complete interview with Patty Loveless.