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Sweetness Keen As Pain

from Jewell Ridge Coal by Jeni & Billy

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Jewell Ridge Coal is steeped in the traditions of the mine and the families whose lives depended on them. The production is simple and uncluttered; the lead instrument is clearly the voice of Jeni, for whom these songs are like members of the family.
    – Wayne Winkler, Now & Then: The Journal of Appalachian Culture

    Jewell Ridge Coal is the best CD by folk, edge of bluegrass artists I've heard in a long time. Jeni's singing sounds to me like a cross between the young Hazel Dickens and Iris Dement. The songs range from raw and powerful to sweet and funny. The instrumental work is excellent and the harmony is just what you'd want it to be." – Si Kahn, Songwriter and Activist

    A six panel eco-friendly wallet, designed by Jeni and her father, Greg Hankins, featuring photos from Jewell Ridge and the Smith Family archives. A 16-page booklet includes all lyrics and credits — plus more photos of Jewell Ridge. The envelope also includes a souvenir postcard.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Jewell Ridge Coal via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 26 Jeni Hankins releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of String Unraveller Demo May 2021, The American Dream (Harlis and Freda), Voice Memo Demo, I'm Letting Go of You – Kitchen Single, The Wondarium: Songs For Kids, A Body is a Delicate House, I Fell Into the Fire, The Loneliest Snowman, I Fell Into The Fire – Limited Edition Handprinted, and 18 more. , and , .

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lyrics

Sweetness Keen as Pain

for Edith

She kissed me down at the county fair
and I paid her a dollar just to kiss me again.
I heard she saves all her money for fancy clothes
to catch the eye of wealthy men.

And I can’t get enough of that Jewell Ridge Girl.
Over my heart she reigns.
From that coal black jewel all the sweetness I knew
was a sweetness as keen as pain.

I told her that I was a medical man,
but I don’t know nothing but the coal.
When her sister told her, she got so mad
the fire in her eyes was a sight to behold.

And I can’t get enough of that Jewell Ridge Girl.
Over my heart she reigns.
From that coal black jewel all the sweetness I knew
was a sweetness as keen as pain.

I heard she’s a-working at the company store.
She swore she’d kill me if I came round her place.
But she gives me a pain right down in my soul
and I’m willin’ to die just to see her face.

And I can’t get enough of that Jewell Ridge Girl.
Over my heart she reigns.
From that coal black jewel all the sweetness I knew
was a sweetness as keen as pain.

© 2005 Jeni Hankins, BMI

credits

from Jewell Ridge Coal, released January 1, 2008

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all rights reserved

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about

Jeni Hankins London, UK

Jeni Hankins grew up in the coalfields of Appalachian in Southwest Virginia among a family of miners, moonshiners, and journalists. Her writing pulls the grit, gumption, and keen sense of observation out of that heritage like drawing water from her grandmother’s well.

In every song, Jeni’s “true sense of place shines through – old as the hills, but brand new at the same time.”
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