SINGLE RELEASE

This haunting new single from bluegrass band Backline re-emphasizes the familiar melodies and messages listeners gravitate toward in acoustic music. This Tennessee Ernie Ford cover features the soul-strong vocals of Katelyn Ingardia, as she throttles the throat along this period piece about a coal miner’s dedication—and detriment—to his back-breaking job. “Sixteen tons, what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt. Peter don’t call me, I can’t go. I owe my soul to the company store.”

While Backline typically writes most of their own music, they were thrilled to create their unique version of the Merle Travis tune he first recorded in 1946. Merle recorded the song at the Radio Recorders Studio B in Hollywood, California, and it later became a gold record. In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford reached #1 on the Billboard charts, and in 2015 his version was inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

The song will be included on an upcoming album scheduled for release on Mountain Fever Records, anticipated in 2022.