Curtis Lovejoy
Who is Curtis Lovejoy?
Curtis Lovejoy is a folk and protest musician from Pineville, West Virginia. His music carries the weight of working life, quiet resistance, and the stories that shape everyday people. Lovejoy and his song “One Big Beautiful Bill” were featured prominently in The Financial Times as a musical anchor for their reporting on the healthcare crisis in West Virginia.
Blending traditional storytelling with a timeless Folk sound, his work is deeply rooted in the mountains and the moral clarity of the social gospel tradition, delivering a voice for the poor and the downtrodden. From labor anthems like "Remember Blair Mountain" to commentary on the water crisis with "West Virginia Water", his songs offer acoustic truth grounded in the tradition of Appalachian resistance.
By day, Lovejoy works operating four Assisted Living Facilities with his family; in the quiet in-between, he crafts songs that are universally observant. His music is built for porches, picket lines, university stages, and any venue that values sincere, urgent conversation.
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Videos
Press Quotes
"Curtis Lovejoy is a protest musician that isn’t afraid to say what he feels about the political climate and those in charge."
— Born and Bred Music
“Lovejoy runs a number of assisted-living facilities in the area but is also a singer, with many of his self-penned songs addressing the cuts to health programmes, such as Medicaid, that were part of last summer’s sweeping spending plan that Trump called his “one big beautiful bill”.
“You’re in an area where people only survive because of Medicaid,” he said, citing research from the University of North Carolina which found seven rural hospitals in West Virginia were at risk of closure because of cuts in the taxpayer-funded programme for low-income and disabled Americans.”
— The Financial Times
"Curtis Lovejoy, a singer-songwriter from West Virginia, has written many topical protest songs in the folk tradition of the ‘Singing Journalist.’ A notable example is his recent tune, which is a scathing critique of the H.R. 1, 'The Big Beautiful Bill Act.'"
— The Ongoing History of Protest Music
"Meet Curtis Lovejoy, a rare kind of troubadour from Southern West Virginia who doesn’t just sing about the land; he bleeds for it. With roots tangled in country and folk traditions and a heart lit by justice, Curtis is part singer-songwriter, part truth-teller, and full-time mirror to the Appalachian experience."
— SongWeb
"The officer was not named in any of the news stories, which struck Curtis Lovejoy as intentional, a way to protect the man he had witnessed assaulting someone in the middle of a mental health crisis. So he picked up his guitar and wrote the song that same day, making sure to name Officer Helsley of the Clarksburg Police, who punched a man repeatedly in the face."
— StartTrack Substack, "Sound of Revolution"
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