Coal: A New American Musical is getting a concept EP. Joy Machine Records will put out six tracks from Nicholas Connors’s new musical on December 11, with Jordan Fisher singing the first single, Delilah, on November 20.
Connors wrote the book, music and lyrics. The show is set in Appalachia in 1921, as the West Virginia coal wars break out. Its hero is a young miner trying to get his share of the American Dream while the fighting closes in around him. The score leans on folk and bluegrass.
The recording features Andrew Durand, Tony-nominated for Dead Outlaw, alongside Fisher, Lizzy McAlpine and Solea Pfeiffer. Playbill reports that the lineup also includes Jane Bruce, Vincent Jamal Hooper, Paul Alexander Nolan, Nathan Salstone and Nathaniel Stampley. Fred Lassen, the show’s music director, produced the EP with Connors.
Coal has no stage production announced yet. It has been in development for several years. This summer it had a workshop and concert presentation at The Orchard Project’s 2026 Summer Arts Festival in Saratoga Springs. Connors also developed it through a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship and the Lortel Theatre’s 121 Project, and with residencies at New York Stage & Film and the Goodspeed Johnny Mercer Grove. It was a finalist for the NAMT Festival in 2025 and 2026.
The EP and Delilah can be pre-saved on the Joy Machine Records page for the album. More about the show is on its official website.
