Hazel Jane Dickens was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist died she was , 75.. She was the eighth child of an eleven-child mining family in West Virginia.[1] Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-union, feminist songs. Cultural blogger John Pietaro noted that "Dickens didn’t just sing the anthems of labor, she lived them and her place on many a picket line, staring down gunfire and goon squads, embedded her into the cause." The New York Times extolled her as "a clarion-voiced advocate for coal miners and working people and a pioneer among women in bluegrass music".(June 1, 1935 – April 22, 2011)
Career
Dickens was born in Mercer County, West Virginia. She met Mike Seeger, younger half-brother of Pete Seeger and founding member of the New Lost City Ramblers and became active in the Baltimore-Washington area bluegrass and folk music scene during the 1960s. During this time she also established a collaborative relationship with Mike Seeger's wife, Alice Gerrard, and as "Hazel & Alice" recorded two albums for the Folkways label: Who's That Knocking (And Other Bluegrass Country Music) (1965) and Won't You Come & Sing for Me (1973). Dickens and Gerrard were bluegrass bandleaders at a time when the vast majority of bluegrass bands were led by men. According to Bill Warren, her "music, and especially her songwriting, assumed an even more political cast almost as soon as she began pursuing a solo career."[2]Dickens appeared in the documentary Harlan County, USA and also contributed four songs to the soundtrack of the same film. She also appeared in the films Matewan and Songcatcher.
Memorial concert
Extolling that "music saves mountains", fans and supporters of Dicken's activism announced a special memorial entitled "Tribute to West Virginia Music Legend Hazel Dickens" at the Charleston, West Virginia Cultural Center June 5, 2011. The text is replicated verbatim:"Legendary bluegrass singer Hazel Dickens passed away this April after a lifetime fighting for social justice in Appalachia. Her legend lives on as hundreds mobilize for the march on Blair Mountain, a five-day, fifty-mile action calling for an end to mountaintop removal, strengthened labor rights, and investment in sustainable jobs. Join us for a special night of music honoring Hazel and those who will walk in her footsteps during the March on Blair Mountain."[3]
The goals of the march are consistent with Dickens' longstanding involvement with environmental justice, with the announced goals of to preservation of Blair Mountain, abolition of mountaintop removal, strengthening of labor rights, and an investment in sustainable job creation for all Appalachian communities.[4]
Discography
With Alice Gerrard
- Who's That Knocking (1965)
- Strange Creek Singers (Arhoolie, 1970) – Also with Mike Seeger and Tracy Schwarz
- Won't You Come & Sing for Me (1973)
- Hazel & Alice (Rounder Records, 1973)
- Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard (Rounder Records, 1975)
- Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard – Pioneering Women of Bluegrass (Smithsonian Folkways, 1996) – Re-mastered and re-sequenced compilation of first two albums
Solo albums
- Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People (Rounder Records, 1981)
- By the Sweat of My Brow (Rounder Records, 1984)
- It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song (Rounder Records, 1986)
- A Few Old Memories (Rounder Records, 1987) – Compilation "best of" first three albums
With Carol Elizabeth Jones, Ginny Hawker
- Heart of a Singer (Rounder Records, 1993/1998)
Compilations
- Rounder Old-Time Music (1987)
- Mountain Music Played on the Autoharp (Folkways Records, 1962)
- American Banjo: Three-Finger and Scruggs Style (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
- Don't Mourn—Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
- Blue Ribbon Bluegrass (1993)
- The Old Home Place: Bluegrass and Old-Time Mountain Music (1993)
- Live Recordings 1956–1969: Off the Record Volume 1 (Smithsonian Folkways, 1993)
- Old-Time Music on the Air, V. 1 (1994)
- Hills of Home: 25 Years of Folk Music on Rounder Records (1995)
- Hand-Picked: 25 Years of Bluegrass on Rounder Records (1995)
- Songs of the Louvin Brothers (1997)
- They'll Never Keep Us Down: Women's Coal Mining Songs – Re-issued under the title: Coal Mining Women (1997)
- Blue Trail of Sorrow (2001)
- There Is No Eye: Music for Photographs (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)
- Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2002)
- Bluegrass Mountain Style: Over 60 Minutes of Classic Bluegrass from Rounder Records (2002)
- Mama's Hand: Bluegrass and Mountain Songs about Mother (2002)
- Classic Bluegrass from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2002)
- Mountain Journey: Stars of Old Time Music (2005)
- Classic Bluegrass Vol. 2 from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2005)
- Harlan County USA: Songs of the Coal Miner's Struggle (2006)
- Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways (Smithsonian Folkways, 2006)
- Masters of Old-time Country Autoharp (Smithsonian Folkways, 2006)
Films
Films in which Dickens appears
- Hazel Dickens: It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song (2001). Directed by Mimi Pickering (Appalshop).
- Matewan (1987). Directed by John Sayles.
- Songcatcher (2000). Directed by Maggie Greenwald.
Films in which Dickens contributes to the soundtrack
- Harlan County U.S.A. (1976). Directed by Barbara Kopple.
- Coalmining Women (1982). Directed by Elizabeth Barret. Whitesburg, Kentucky: Appalshop.
- Matewan (1987). Directed by John Sayles.
- Black Lung (2006). Directed by Shane Roberts.
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