Hazel Dickens

Hazel Jane Dickens (June 1, 1925 – April 22, 2011) was an American bluegrass singer, songwriter, double bassist and guitarist. 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." With Alice Gerrard, Dickens was one of the first women to record a bluegrass album.

Career

Hazel Dickens was born in Montcalm, Mercer County, West Virginia on June 1, 1925, the eighth of eleven siblings in a mining family of 6 boys and 5 girls. Many of Hazel's relatives were miners, including her brothers, cousins, and, eventually, her brothers-in-law.

In the early 1950s she moved to Baltimore. 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 Alice Gerrard, who married Mike Seeger in 1970, 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. Together, they recorded two additional albums on Rounder Records, but Hazel & Alice broke up in 1976 and Dickens pursued a solo career where her music and songwriting became more political.

Dickens used her music to try and make a difference in the lives of non-unionized mine workers and feminists. Dickens started to write more about the lives of miners and wrote a song titled "Black Lung" about her brother, Thurman, who died from the disease. She wrote a song titled "Coal Mining Women" about the hardships women faced in the coal mining world. In 1978, Dickens performed at the Vandalia Gathering in Charleston, West Virginia, both solo and then with the former coal-miner turned musician, Carl Rutherford. Dickens began to be seen as an activist and a voice for the working people.

She appeared in the Oscar-winning documentary '' Harlan County, USA,'' which centers on the struggle of the county's miners union against scab workers, wage rights, and health conditions; she contributed four songs to the film's soundtrack. She also appeared in the films ''Matewan'' and '' Songcatcher''.

Death

In 2011 Dickens died in a Washington DC hospice from complications of pneumonia. After her death, it was incorrectly reported in major media that she had been born on June 1, 1935, but her relatives and public records confirmed the earlier date of June 1, 1925.

Stating that "music saves mountains," fans and supporters of Dickens' activism announced a special memorial, ''Tribute to West Virginia Music Legend Hazel Dickens'' at the Charleston, West Virginia Cultural Center on June 5, 2011.

Discography

Singles and EPs

* "They'll Never Keep Us Down" (Rounder Records, 1976) – for the film '' Harlan County, U.S.A.''
* "Busted" / "Old Calloused Hands" (Rounder Records, 1980) – from the album ''Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People''

Solo albums

*''Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People'' (Rounder Records, 1980)
*''By the Sweat of My Brow'' (Rounder Records, 1983)
*''It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song'' (Rounder Records, 1987)
*''A Few Old Memories'' (Rounder Records, 1987) – Compilation, includes a new recording of the song "Pretty Bird"

With Alice Gerrard

* ''Who's That Knocking'' ( Folkways, 1965)
* ''Strange Creek Singers'' ( Arhoolie Records, 1970) – as "Strange Creek Singers", with Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, Lamar Grier
* ''Won't You Come & Sing for Me'' (Folkways, 1973)
* ''Hazel & Alice'' (Rounder, 1973)
* ''Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard'' (Rounder, 1976)
* ''Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard – Pioneering Women of Bluegrass'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1996) – Re-mastered and re-sequenced compilation of ''Who's That Knocking'' and ''Won't You Come & Sing For Me''
* ''Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969'' (Free Dirt, 2018)

With Carol Elizabeth Jones, Ginny Hawker

* ''Heart of a Singer'' (Rounder Records, 1998)

Other recordings

* ''Come All You Coal Miners'' (Rounder Records, 1973) - Recorded At the Appalachian Music Workshop At Highlander Center, October 1972, included Dickens singing "Black Lung", "Cold Blooded Murder", "Clay County Miner", "Mannington Mine Disaster"
* ''They'll Never Keep Us Down: Women's Coal Mining Songs'' (Rounder Records, 1984) - included new studio recordings "Coal Mining Woman", "Coal Miner's Grave", "Coal Tattoo", and "They'll Never Keep Us Down", recorded for the 1982 film ''Coalmining Women''.
* ''Matewan: Original Soundtrack'' (Daring Records, 1987) - included recordings of Dickens singing a-Capella in the film, "Gathering Storm", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus", "Hills Of Galilee", and a studio recording, "Fire In The Hole"
* ''Don't Mourn—Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990) - included the Joe Hill song about Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, "Rebel Girl"
* ''Live Recordings 1956–1969: Off the Record Volume 1'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1993) - a live Bill Monroe compilation
* ''Coal Mining Women'' (Rounder Records, 1997) - included an a cappella performance of "Clara Sullivan's Letter", and compiled songs from 1973 ''Come All You Coal Miners'' and 1984 ''They'll Never Keep Us Down'' releases
* '' Songcatcher: Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture'' (Vanguard Records, 2001) - included Dickens performing "A Conversation With Death"

Films

Films in which Dickens appears

*'' Harlan County, U.S.A.'' (1976). Directed by Barbara Kopple.
*''Matewan'' (1987). Directed by John Sayles.
*'' Songcatcher'' (2000). Directed by Maggie Greenwald.
*
Hazel Dickens: It's Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song
' (2001). Documentary on Dickens directed by Mimi Pickering (Appalshop).
*''Radical Harmonies'' (2002). Documentary film directed by Dee Mosbacher in which Dickens was interviewed.

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.
*'' Songcatcher'' (2000). Directed by Maggie Greenwald.
*''Black Lung'' (2006). Directed by Shane Roberts.
*'' Dopesick'' miniseries, episode 1 (2021). Directed by Barry Levinson.

Other

Her name appears in the lyrics of the Le Tigre song "Hot Topic."

Awards and honors

Dickens received the Merit Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 1994 and was the first woman to do so. In 2001 she was presented with a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

Notes

a. Sources vary on birth date; see talk page discussion

References

Further reading

*
*Hansell, Tom; Beaver, Patricia & Wiley, Angela, (2015).
"Keep Your Eye upon the Scale
"'' Southern Space. (February 15, 2015). Confirmed March 9, 2019.
*
*Moore, Rick (2018)
"Hazel Dickens, 'Hills of home'
'' American Songwriter: The Craft of Music. (November 25, 2018). Retrieved March 9, 2019.
*Tucker, Ken. (2018)
Sing Me Back Home' Showcases The Partnership Between Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.''
''NPR'' (October 2018). Retrieved March 9, 2019.

External links

*
*
Dickens Discography at Smithsonian Folkways
*
*
Criterion Films Collection Harlan County, USA
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dickens, Hazel
1925 births
2011 deaths
People from Montcalm, West Virginia
American women singers
American folk singers
Coal miner activists
Place of death missing
National Heritage Fellowship winners
Old-time musicians
Singers from West Virginia
Rounder Records artists
American bluegrass guitarists
Activists from West Virginia
20th-century American guitarists
People from Baltimore
20th-century American women guitarists
21st-century American women