Jeni and Billy The Cherokee County Public Library will showcase Jeni and Billy on Thursday, Oct. 15, from 12:15-1 p.m. for this month’s Music Sandwiched-In concert.

Miners and moonshine, coal dust and methadone, a Tazwell Beauty Queen and the ladies of the Friendly Chapel Church – those are the images that haunt "Jewell Ridge Coal,” the duo’s new CD from Jeni and Billy.

The granddaughter of coal miners, Jeni Hankins crafts lyrics that conjure the rapidly vanishing culture of the Southwest Virginia coalfields and spins tales worthy of Flannery O'Connor. Jeni's mournful, lonesome vocals have been compared

to Iris Dement, Hazel Dickens and Sara Carter.

A Baltimore native, Billy comes to the duo with a long history of music making. From the Grand Old Opry to the Birchhmere, he has shared the stage with Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Kathy Mattea and others. Billy's syncopated melodic guitar style echoes Willie Nelson and Maybelle Carter.

Together, Jeni and Billy will draw you into captivating narratives of heartache and hard living, of true life blues and unexpected grace.