William Matheny

There’s no shortage of great songs about West Virginia, but for my money the two best are Utah Phillips’ “Green Rolling Hills” and Hazel Dickens’ “West Virginia, My Home” - two songs that function both as love letters to home as well as laments of being forced to leave the place you love and not always being able to return to it. In most ways, these songs describe West Virginia as an idealized potential afterlife for the singer. A version of heaven where you didn’t have to “move away into some crowded city” or “pay the price for the leaving.” If such a place exists for me, I know I’d be happy if it was nothing more than a pot of strong coffee brewing on a Saturday morning and “Hazel & Alice” on the turntable.

“I Wish I Was Back in West Virginia” is my best attempt at something like that. Another rock in the stream of WV songwriting that has flowed long before me and will continue to flow after I’m gone. I’ve been playing it live off and on for many years now and it seemed like the right time to get it down for posterity. It’s out now everywhere.

Produced, engineered and mixed by Justin Francis
Mastered by Raelynn Janicke at Infrasonic

WM - vocals, guitar
Adam Meisterhans - guitar
Bud Carroll - guitar
John R Miller - vocals, bass
Jeremy Batten - piano
Clint Sutton - drums

Art by jen