Uniontown native Erik Huey releases solo album, visits Fayette County roots
Country artist Erik Huey is a former 无毛视频-Standard paperboy.聽
Submitted photo
Uniontown native Erik Huey is co-founder of the Real McCoys.
Submitted
Uniontown native Erik Huey无毛视频檚 debut solo album
A West Virginia singer/songwriter is going back to his Uniontown roots with his new solo album.
Erik Huey, aka Cletus McCoy, co-founder of The Surreal McCoys, released his debut solo album, 无毛视频淎ppalachian Gothic无毛视频� in January, kicking off his Appalachian AF Tour in Washington D.C. before heading into the deep south, including stops in Nashville, Atlanta and Birmingham, Ala.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e looking at dates for Southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia, too,无毛视频� Huey said. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檇 love to play in the area.无毛视频�
Huey was born in Uniontown and lived in the area until he was 9 years old when his father moved the family to Morgantown, W.Va., to be closer to the mine where he worked.
Huey said he comes from a long line of coal miners in Fayette and Greene County.
无毛视频淢y father, grandfather and great-grandfather all worked in the mines,无毛视频� Huey said. 无毛视频淚n fact, my great-grandfather Peter McDonough came over from Ireland during the Potato Famine to work the mines in the Monongahela Valley.无毛视频�
Huey remembers his grandparents religiously listening to WMBS (590 AM, Uniontown) when Huey wasn无毛视频檛 switching to Pittsburgh rock stations and recalls being a paperboy for the 无毛视频-Standard.
He ultimately found himself drawn to music as a member and co-founder of the cowpunk, outlaw country band The Surreal McCoys as Cletus McCoy in 2015.
The band produced such songs as 无毛视频淲hole Lotta Folsom,无毛视频� 无毛视频淭urn and Run无毛视频� and 无毛视频淵ou Can无毛视频檛 Afford It.无毛视频�
For 无毛视频淎ppalachian Gothic,无毛视频� Huey dug closer to home for the songs and stories on his debut, mining his own history of coal mining in his family.
无毛视频淭his album is what I无毛视频檇 like to call a reflection of the region 无毛视频� the good, the bad, and oftentimes the forgotten,无毛视频� he said, adding that state lines might separate people, but it无毛视频檚 just one culture. 无毛视频淭he readers of the 无毛视频-Standard 无毛视频� they are gonna relate to these songs because these are our families and these are our stories. It无毛视频檚 about time someone sang about us. We helped to build this country.无毛视频�
One song in particular on the album, 无毛视频淭he Battle of Uniontown,无毛视频� is about growing up in a coal town during tough times and what is happening in those towns now, illustrating the story with such lyrics as 无毛视频渢hese jobs have come and gone so fast/from fracking back to coal/they chewed us up and spit us out/and left nothing but a hole无毛视频� and 无毛视频渢hey say the future无毛视频檚 post-industrial; what the hell无毛视频檚 that mean for us? The Union无毛视频檚 gone but we无毛视频檙e still here, who无毛视频檚 fighting for us now?无毛视频�
无毛视频淧eople love this area, and they love their families,无毛视频� Huey said. 无毛视频淭hey don无毛视频檛 want to leave, but a lot of them have to so they can find work. Some of them stay and have a hard time making a living.无毛视频�
无毛视频淎ppalachian Gothic无毛视频� finds Huey taking a nostalgic deep dive into the Appalachia of his West Virginia youth while wrestling with the contemporary realities of a hardscrabble region that无毛视频檚 been left behind in many ways.
While the album explores darker themes and raw subject matter such as the legacy of coal mining and the ravages of the opioid crisis on songs like 无毛视频淭he Devil is Here in These Hills,无毛视频� 无毛视频淒ear Dad,无毛视频� and 无毛视频淭he Appalachian Blues,无毛视频� it also taps into a defiant streak of optimism on twangy upbeat rockers like 无毛视频淲inona无毛视频� and the pro-union anthem 无毛视频淵ours in the Struggle.无毛视频�
For more information on Huey and any upcoming shows and album information, visit www.erikvincenthuey.com/.