Kathy Mattea: Station Inn, Nashville

IT'S AMAZING how expansive Kathy Mattea's old leaves and fall rainwater alto can be. With just a few acoustic guitar notes cascading around her on the opening verse of the cautionary mining dirge 'Dark As A Dungeon', it filled Nashville's shrine of bluegrass the Station Inn with a comforting presence, turning the dingy little tavern into a Celtic pub for this grim view of the miner's life.