“5/5 STARS & 2019 UNDERGROUND ALBUM OF THE YEAR - Ohio composer and sound-artist paints his masterpiece.”
— Andrew Male, MOJO Magazine (UK)

“100 Best Recordings of 2019"
— Ted Gioia

“[There is] a strong sense of engagement... in the ability to absorb oneself so deeply in the history of a place that the most trivial happenings, rather than the most dramatic, turn out to be the telling ones.”
— Brian Morton, The Wire (UK)

“A great piece of work.”
— Max Reinhardt, Late Junction, BBC Radio 3

“The more I feel unable to figure it out, the more I like the work... Harnetty’s created modern art out of regional history.”
— Justin Cober-Lake, Dusted

"Shawnee, Ohio“ is a sonic portrait––past and present, real and imagined––of a small Appalachian town in the United States.

Tracks:
PART 1: TOWN AND PEOPLE
1. Jim : Remembers the people and buildings of Shawnee
2. Boy : Asks his grandmother about the "olden days"
3. Amanda : Sings a murder ballad from Gore, Ohio: "Terrill"
4. Lucy : Talks of playing music and social life

PART 2: MINING AND DISASTER
5. Judd : Recalls working as a miner and mine inspector
6. Sigmund : Describes the Millfield Mine explosion of 1930
7. Reuben : Sings of the New Straitsville Mine fires, 1884-present
8. Ina : Sings another murder ballad from Gore: "Pearl Bryan"

PART 3: PROTEST AND HOPE
9. Jack : Resists fracking in the Wayne National Forest, 2012
10. John : Listens to music and community in Rendville
11. Neva : Sings "My Station's Gonna Be Changed" in Murray City

Shawnee emerged as a coal mining town in the 1870s. A century of decline forced businesses and people to leave, and today local residents fight to hold their buildings and community up amid a new “fracking” boom. Despite an uncertain future, these residents continue to work for environmental, economic, and cultural enrichment. Since 2010, I have been visiting and working in Shawnee. I have also been retracing the footsteps of my family, who immigrated there as Welsh coal miners in the nineteenth century.

“Shawnee, Ohio” focuses on eleven portraits of local residents recounting their lives, work, friendships, and deeds. They talk and sing of mining, disasters, underground fires, social life, protest, and hope. They include women and men, are black and white, and are across generations and centuries. Working directly with community members, I use archival samples of their voices and weave them together with my own ensemble, which features PAUL DE JONG (THE BOOKS) and ANNA ROBERTS-GEVALT (ANNA AND ELIZABETH). Past and present are tangled together in a haunting world of music, stories, and images.

released April 26, 2019

Performers:
Katie Porter Maxwell (Bass Clarinet)
Jeremy Woodruff (Sax/Flute)
Anna Roberts-Gevalt (Banjo/Violin)
Jocelyn Hach (Violin/Viola)
Paul de Jong (Cello)
Aaron Michael Butler (Vibes)
Brian Harnetty (Piano)

The recording of Sigmund Kozma is used with permission from Justin Zimmerman. The recording of Jack Wright is used with permission from him. Recordings from the Anne Grimes Collection are used with permission from the Grimes Family and the Library of Congress, with thanks to the families of Amanda Styers Hook, Reuben Allen, Ina Simmons, and Neva Randolph. All other sampled recordings are used with permission from the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Archive, Shawnee, Ohio.

Shawnee, Ohio was co-commissioned by the Wexner Center for the Arts at The Ohio State University, Duke Performances at Duke University, and the Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati). Shawnee, Ohio is a project of Creative Capital.

Mastering: Cauliflower Audio
Design: Karl Records