Nichols Family's CD Embodies West Virginia

Copyright © 2009 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Finally this hour, a country gospel trio from West Virginia. The debut album by the Nichols Family has been released by the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. The Nichols Family hasn't been inducted into the hall of fame, but our critic Meredith Ochs says they embody West Virginia.

MEREDITH OCHS: Driving along the New River, a couple of hours from his home in Charleston, West Virginia Music Hall of Fame director Michael Lipton spotted a sign promising hot dogs and music. He followed the road and saw three women singing on the riverbank, and this is what he heard.

(Soundbite of music)

THE NICHOLS FAMILY (Music Group): (Singing) Sometimes we get a faith of mind to judge a brother. Inside and out of everyone God makes a star. Lend a helping hand and lift your arms to Jesus. Look in the mirror, the real meaning's in your heart.

OCHS: Nichols family matriarch Marshalene Nichols grew up in a small mining town. She and her brothers would sing by the side of the railroad tracks for workers hauling coal. She'd been singing and writing ever since.

Marshalene wrote 11 of the 12 songs on this CD, inspired by her faith and by West Virginia itself. She wrote the title track after watching water run slowly down a mountain and imagined that the mountains were crying.

(Soundbite of music)

THE NICHOLS FAMILY: (Singing) The rocks and the mountains will cry out if we don't pray (unintelligible) even the ocean could roar at the praise. Let a song in your heart cry out to the one whose worthy of praise every day.

OCHS: The music of The Nichols Family captures the essence of life in West Virginia: from vast, scenic beauty to coal mines and poverty; from fire-and-brimstone fatalism to hope. Marshalene Nichols' songs are filled with love of nature, God and family. But she believed that something better lay ahead. And at age 71, before the CD came out, she left this life to find it.

(Soundbite of music)

Ms. MARSHALENE NICHOLS (Singer): (Singing) There's a place where I want to go, where I'll live after this. There'll never be no sorrow. All is happiness. And I'm moving out. I can't stay here any longer. So excuse me, world, the lord's power is much stronger.

THE NICHOLS FAMILY: (Singing) Excuse me, world, I'm gonna live for Jesus. There's nothing you can do to hinder me.

BLOCK: The CD is called "A Cry from the Mountains" by The Nichols Family. Our reviewer Meredith Ochs is a talk show host and DJ with Sirius satellite radio.

(Soundbite of music)

THE NICHOLS FAMILY: (Singing) …your painted picture I can't see.

Ms. NICHOLS: (Singing) A light shone down from heaven much brighter than the sun. And I'm on my way. There's great works to be done. All you have is darkness…

Copyright © 2009 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.