Coal Minor Canary
Photo Credit: Brittany Boote
About Coal Minor Canary
Hailing from the culturally–diverse and economically–depressed anthracite coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania, David Hage makes dusty black diamond music under the epithet, Coal Minor Canary. Well into the 20th-century, canaries served to provide an early-warning signal to coal miners so that they could escape the mines before carbon monoxide, or methane gasses reached lethal levels. Similarly, Hage’s music and songwriting serve as a metaphor to uncover nuances of experiences that are not adequately expressed through any other means other than the immediacy, sincerity, and intensity of his music.Coal Minor Canary merges traditional Travis picking with progressive fingerstyle guitar and percussive techniques accented by layers of ethereal effects and looping. Coal Minor Canary’s lyrical exploration paired with rich alternate tunings and often-sparse melodic arrangements make for a unique and memorable auditory experience.
3:42 EP (2017)
3:42 is Coal Minor Canary’s (2017) six song EP release ranging from delicate fingerstyle guitar work to energetic ballads orchestrated with rich layers of cello accompaniment. The title track, “3:42” takes the listener on a journey through recollections of the delicate acknowledgment of beauty and love balanced with hope vs. doubt. The beehive and bees on the cover aptly illustrate relational experiences, ranging from the sweetness of honey (a metaphor for love) to the stings a bee may leave; similar to the pain that love’s absence brings in the process of tasting its sweetness.
Praise for Coal Minor Canary
David Hage wields his detuned guitar like a paintbrush on the end of a pickaxe. Impassioned vocals dare the listener to take a second or third look at the pile of rubble he has meanwhile turned into a laughing statue of a miner. Or is that a soldier or a slave? A native American landscape both sublime and decaying, but a place you most definitely want to go. At the end of the day, these are love songs. Let them in.
Coal Minor Canary (David Hage) combines elements of catchy fingerpicking and altered tunings, which pull the listener’s ears into fresh and exciting new territory. He is a must see act for any real music fan. One can clearly tell, David is drawing his inspiration from a genuine place and is playing music that is honest and real.
Northeastern Pennsylvania musician David Hage chose the moniker Coal Minor Canary as his performing name, a title that hearkens to the bleak but important economic and cultural history of the region. The name also holds a bit of mystery, which is fitting for Hage, a progressive fingerstyle guitarist whose songs, which you can hear on his recently released debut EP, “3:42,” are intriguing and difficult to pin down.
David of Coal Minor Canary has made the acoustic guitar an instrument of his own. When I close my eyes and listen to his fingerstyle playing style combined with the contemplative lyrics, I imagine sitting in front of a fireplace in a cabin drifting away to the music.