Let Rogue Valley, my favorite band, from Minneapolis, Minnesota be your guide to the modern ghost town of Centralia, PA
'Pennsylvania 61 through the very heart for some where industry has long been gone looks like any old abandoned town it looks like any other place forgotten and left to waste its residents have long been chased away
steam rises from the fields smoke-clouds skim the streets a fire burns underneath the fallen city
this old mining community is hotter than the planet mercury a statuette without a face disfigured and erased
four hundred acres all unseen been burning since 1960 the government gave it up paid money for all the people to move out they took their pictures and precious things their families, their histories level it all, let nature reclaim this town
smoke rises from the hills like some kind of poison spell the mines are smoldering still after fifty years
they'll burn for a hundred more hollowing a harrowing core the coal went when the soul went the other way down Pennsylvania 61
level it all
don't look back on Pennsylvania 61'
You can listen to Rogue Valley's fantastic brand of Americana at their Bandcamp, like them on Facebook, and find out more about their expansive 'Four Seasons' albums through their website.
