Limited edition of 500 copies: 250 ‘Blood Sweat Red’ / 250 ‘Coal Mine Black’ (randomly inserted)
Deluxe gatefold LP with exclusive scholarly liner notes by Alvin Lucia!

18 timeless tales of clanging Hammers and pounding Shovels – from wry, dry working-stiff diatribes to bare-chested exclamations – Birth / Work / Death maps the human work experience from anger to joy, poverty to riches. From the muck-crusted mines to late-night jukeboxes – backwoods outsiders and Nashville icons alike waxed odes to the entwined necessities of Work and Money, Status and Competition, Survival and Servitude.

Harrowing laments of dank deaths underground, fevered hymns to Mammon, snide ripostes to debt-bondage and exuberant celebrations of family and sustenance. Most originally waxed on private press labels and distributed in tiny amounts, these town criers and tavern-bound troubadours sing of golden highways, slothful byways, factory-floor drudgery and fallow, heartbreaking fields.

Years in the making – ‘Birth / Work / Death‘ presents calloused anthems and bloody ballads from dusty LPs and long forgotten 45s. All for your lunch hour listening pleasure.

•WITNESS Howard Vokes and the tragic fate of THE MINER!

•HEAR Charlie Gore chase the BLACK DIAMOND!

•SEE Tex Williams worship the almighty MONEY!

Bill Carter - By The Sweat Of My Brow
Bobby Barnett - Workin' Man
Tex Ritter - A Working Man's Prayer
Mr. Connie Dycus - Dark As A Dungeon
Dave Dudley - Workin' Hands
Eddie Noack - Cotton Mill
The Westport Kids - You Kaint Take It With You
Arlie Duff - Money Hungry
Tex Williams - Money
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Sixteen Tons '65
Charlie Gore - Black Diamond
Howard Vokes - The Miner
The Wray Family - Down In The Mine
George Davis - Little Lump Of Coal
Doc Williams - Don't Want To Work
David Hiser - On Strike
Buddy Durham - Sixteen Tons
Sunshine Boys Quartet - Checking Up On My Payments