Black Lung Heartache

Album: Dust Bowl (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • American singer-guitarist Joe Bonamassa is in the tradition of such classic blues influenced acts as Led Zeppelin. However, lyrically the songs on Dust Bowl are a far cry from the macho posturing of Whole Lotta Love. He told UK newspaper The Sun: "The early Zeppelin albums are timeless - that's why we're still listening to them 40 years after they were made. But I want to update that style to 2011. I'm not Bob Dylan but I want my songs to mean something. So 'Black Lung Heartache' is about coal miners in West Virginia who have to make the decision whether to do a job that will kill them slowly with this disease so they can feed their families, or default on their mortgage."

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