Josh Vana’s folk song “To the River” has the good bones of a powerful protest anthem: a timeless chord progression, an urgent message of opposition, and an uplifting chorus ready for joined voices. In the lyrics, he laments environmental degradation at the hands of industry, and speaks for the small communities that have been embroiled in a decade-long fight against the impending Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Nearly complete, the controversial natural gas pipeline is supposed to span 303 miles from northwestern West Virginia to southern Virginia. Since its initial proposal in 2014, the project has become what many have called a start-stop boondoggle, with costs ballooning to more than $7 billion, and been mired in lawsuits and fines for environmental violations. Critics are appalled at the construction footprint, which burrowed under streams and through the slopes of the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains, scarring scenic landscapes both public and private. They’re also fearful of the pipeline’s long-term operational safety and environmental impacts, particularly on water quality.
Vana, who’s based in Albemarle County, has performed “To the River” at many of the indefatigable protests that have taken place around the pipeline’s path.
“That song has seemed to take meaning with a lot of folks, and I’m happy to keep singing it,” says Vana, who’s the director of ARTivism Virginia. “Artists and musicians reflect the world back at it through their mediums and give people on the front lines of a struggle some hope.”
His song is now getting even more reach as the first track on STOP MVP: Artists From WV, VA & NC Against the Mountain Valley Pipeline, an impressive compilation released in December on the Charlottesville-based WarHen Records, that features a diverse cast of artists from the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.
The collection of tunes was put together by two additional fixtures of Virginia’s independent music scene, WarHen owner Warren Parker and guitarist Daniel Bachman, who had been searching for a collaborative project. Last year, after the Biden administration streamlined federal approval for the pipeline as a concession during debt ceiling negotiations, Bachman felt renewed urgency to create an artistic statement of opposition, and started reaching out to fellow musicians.
“It grew really fast and was almost like it assembled itself,” Bachman says. “Each of the people that I knew introduced me to a new web of artists and activists. This feels like an easy way to get involved and bring in people from everywhere. It’s broad in its musical expression and really became a cross-section of the creative communities in these three states.”
Throughout the compilation’s 40 songs, the Charlottesville music scene is well represented with familiar faces, including thoughtful songwriters Ned Oldham and Sarah White, indie rockers New Boss, and experimental explorers Grand Banks. Contributions also come from staples of the WarHen roster, including West Virginia alt-country outfit Tucker Riggleman and the Cheap Dates and Americana upstarts Dogwood Tales.
Branching out further, the eclectic set features heavy noise from Christiansburg’s Dog Scream, laid-back rhymes from Appalachian rapper geonovah, and a dynamic newgrass instrumental from string whiz Yasmin Williams. Many of the participating artists live near pipeline construction.
“I like to think of the whole thing as an incredible tapestry of the music in the affected region of the pipeline,” says Parker. “It covers a lot of bases and turned out to be a special thing that touches upon a lot of different types of music.”
With a heavy hand in the song sequencing, Bachman filled one of the slots, contributing a banjo-led take on Hobart Smith’s “Last Chance.” He also enlisted his dad to sing a version of the 1960s song “The Coal Tattoo” to honor an elder relative who worked as a miner and suffered the titular injury.
Bachman now lives in Madison County, not far from Shenandoah National Park, and the landscape has inspired a new zone of creativity, resulting in a fascinating new phase for an artist still known best as a skilled fingerstyle guitar innovator. His 2022 album, Almanac Behind, captured climate anxiety through natural disaster field recordings, and his latest effort, last year’s When the Roses Come Again, interprets a family lineage of old-time music through a digitally processed lens.
“He’s a truly inspirational artist and a gift to Virginia,” Parker says of his collaborator. “Daniel is a forward-thinking human and that translates to his music in a vibrant and poignant way.”
Bachman says he’s currently working on a piece he calls a “play-by-play” of the recent wildfires near his home. “In the last four or five years something has clicked,” he explains of his musical pivot. “It’s energizing to bring awareness to historical events and some of the stuff we’re living through, like climate breakdown. Disaster tunes are just another type of story song that we’ve always had in this region’s creative communities. I think of it as extending that tradition.”
Parker and Bachman have plans to organize a series of regional live events, likely in Charlottesville and Washington, D.C., to promote the compilation. Proceeds from the sale of STOP MVP, available as a limited-edition CD or digital download at WarHen Records webpage at online music platform Bandcamp, are donated to the nonprofit Appalachian Legal Defense Fund, which is assisting those working to stop the pipeline construction with legal expenses.
According to Parker, “It’s a way to give back to the people that have been in this fight for a long time.”