Twenty-six ghosts, 26 lives taken away
In a flash of light
Damn that dirty old coal mine
What would they give for one last chance,
One last kiss, one last dance
With the ones they left behind
But there’s 26 ghosts in the Westray mine
E.B. (Bert) Anderson was a young boy growing up in a musical family in Trenton when the Westray mine exploded in May, 1992.
“Anybody who was living here at the time, they remember when the mine blew up. Everybody knew of somebody who worked there. Even as a child, you knew the tragedy of it,” he said.
For 15 weeks 26 Ghosts, released this past spring, was in the East Coast Top 30.
“You can only stay on for 15 weeks and it finished at the very top of the list so that was a thrill. Mind you, it is a fan based vote and I admit I have a large extended family who were likely casting a lot of votes,” he joked.
Written during the first year of COVID 19, the initial draft came together in a half hour.
“I already knew I didn’t want it to be too personal and that’s why it opens with a woman looking out her window. She could be the wife of any miner, not a particular miner.”
She looked out the window
Around half past five
She could see the smoke
Rising up from the colliery lights
She never felt the rumble
She never felt the bump
But the sight of the smoke
Made her heart start to jump
He also juxtaposes the speed with which the miners died with the ravages of the explosion.
He probably never saw it coming
Probably never felt a thing
When the devil showed up that morning
And he started to sing
He let the song percolate for a few days, wondering if his initial satisfaction with it would last. Then he sent it to local musician and producer Dave Gunning.
“Dave was my litmus test and I was really nervous until I heard back from him. When he said he’d produce it, I was relieved and excited.”
Still sensitive to the feelings of those directly affected by the explosion, he reached out to a family connection who had lost a loved one. He also talked to Vernon Theriault, a miner who learned of the explosion on his way to work the next morning, and who has fought hard to ensure the lost miners will never be forgotten.
“Ann MacGregor put me in touch with the United Steelworkers of America and they connected me to Allan and Debbie Martin who also lost a family member. I talked to them to see if they were comfortable with the song. I spent a good five months just talking to people to gauge how they felt about the song.’’
Production was slow, interrupted by periods of COVID-imposed isolation but the song was honed into a lament that coal was valued higher than the men who mined it. The song was released close to the 30th anniversary of the Westray tragedy.
“It was my first new music since 2015 so it was pretty important to me, but I really wanted to do it in a way that respected the families and with some measure of community support and that figured into the timing of the release.”
Now teaching in Truro, Anderson left Pictou County for university and returned in 2016 when he and his wife, also a teacher, were expecting twins. Their identical twin boys are now in Grade 1.
“We knew we were going to need some help with the twins and the housing prices at that time were pretty darned attractive compared to other places. I also knew Pictou County is a pretty good place to fly fish which is another passion.”
Growing up, Anderson was exposed to a wide range of music, from his grandparents Stan and Rose Guthro’s old traditional country hits to his father’s younger brothers who were big fans of AC DC and heavy metal.
“I got a guitar when I was in Grade 5 or 6 and played some punk music with my brother. My cousin, Joe Fraser, is a good musician and another cousin, Rob Anderson, who now plays with The Young Bucks in Hong Kong, had a band. My mother and her sisters made up a good part of the Christ the King church choir so I was surrounded by all kinds of music.”
When Christ the King closed a few years ago, his mother claimed the downstairs piano for him while his father and uncles delivered it to the old home he and his wife are renovating in New Glasgow.
“I started playing music more seriously during university in Halifax. The Resolutes Club used to let a group of us play for free beer and we still play together 11 years later,” he said, adding they play most frequently at Bearly’s on Barrington Street in Halifax.
With a few albums and some international touring to its credit, the band is often called alternative country, possibly because it has elements of rock, folk and blues.
“Lately, we’re being classified as Americana which immediately leads me to think, so what’s Canadiana? But the music business always comes with labels and classifications.”
Right now he is working on a new album and expects its first single, Pictou County Love Song, will be out before long.
“I’m looking forward to getting the new single out and then the new album but in the meantime, the band is pretty excited about seeing where 26 Ghosts goes because it feels like an important song,” he said.
Now what’s left has all been razed
But in the early morning haze
They say you can still hear the miners
Singing from their graves.
