A country music duo takes a break from a concert tour, for a coal tour.

Halfway to Hazard's latest tune is all about Kentucky's coal industry. We followed their tour at a Perry County surface mining site to hear what it's all about.

The sound of coal mining is music to this country singing duo's ears. Chad Warrix and David Tolliver's "Friends of Coal" tour bus carried them home to Eastern Kentucky to promote the industry's benefits.

"We're trying to, you know, put a face with the movement, so to speak," Warrix said.

"If you take away the coal, you take away jobs from people, you take away their lives," Tolliver said.

The duo says it's about more than jobs. They say land re-claimed after surface mining creates places to fish, hunt, and view wildlife, things the Breathitt and Knott County natives say they were lucky to grow up with.

"This creates land that's usable, that's safe, and beautiful," Warrix said.

They say improved environmental regulations over the years makes water discharged from sediment ponds, safe enough to drink.

"It's great water," Warrix said.

A surprise fan was along for the ride. Kentucky Coal Association President Bill Caylor hopes the duo's influence will help spread a positive message about coal.

"It's important to the national security of our country, it's important to the rate payers in forms of cheap electricity, and coal can help this country get past this energy crisis we're in today, if we let it," Caylor said.

"This place, this land is a part of us too, and we want people to see how beautiful it is," Warrix said.