You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive

Scott wrote "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" and first released it on Aloha from Nashville (JustUs, April 22, 1997, 5:03), which he produced with Verlon Thompson. It is about the hard lives of the underground coal miners of Harlan County, Kentucky. Scott went to Harlan to research his family's history, and while looking in a cemetery for his great-grandfather's grave he saw the phrase on a tombstone.

Patty Loveless recorded it in 2001 for Mountain Soul, with Scott on banjo; the record was produced by her husband Emory Gordy Jr., and the song was an IBMA song of the year nominee in 2002. Brad Paisley's version (2001, Part II) closes the first season finale of the series Justified and returns in the second; Dave Alvin's version closes the fourth season, the Ruby Friedman Orchestra's the fifth, and the series finale used Scott's original. Kathy Mattea recorded it for Coal (2008), Montgomery Gentry on Outskirts (2019), and Michael and Carrie Kline, Red Molly and Beth Davidson also have versions. In November 2022 Loveless and Chris Stapleton performed it at the 56th CMA Awards, with Scott on dobro, and Loveless's version reached number 16 on Billboard's country digital song sales chart that year.

Setlist.fm lists it 22 times among 127 of his setlists from 1997 to 2026, his most played song. It is not known whether our upload is the studio recording or a live take.