View source for Hazel Dickens

{{Short description|American bluegrass musician, singer, and activist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name                = Hazel Dickens
| image               = Hazel Dickens.jpg
| image_size          = 
| landscape           = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank -->
| alt                 = 
| caption             = 
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = 
| alias               = 
| birth_date          = June 1, 1925
| birth_place         = [[Mercer County, West Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2011|4|22|1925|6|1}}
| death_place         = Washington, D.C., U.S.
| genre               = [[bluegrass music|Bluegrass]], [[folk music]]
| occupation          = 
| instrument          = Vocals, double bass, guitar, banjo
| years_active        = <!-- YYYY–YYYY (or –present) -->
| label               = [[Rounder Records|Rounder]], [[Folkways Records|Folkways]], [[Arhoolie Records|Arhoolie]]
| associated_acts     = [[Alice Gerrard]], [[Mike Seeger]]
| website             = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| module              = {{Infobox person|child=yes
| resting_place       = Roselawn Memorial Gardens, [[Princeton, West Virginia]]
}}
}}

'''Hazel Jane Dickens''' (June 1, 1925{{Ref label|ida|a|none}} &ndash; April 22, 2011) was an American [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] singer, songwriter, double bassist, guitarist and banjo player. Her music was characterized not only by her high, lonesome singing style, but also by her provocative pro-[[trade union|union]], [[feminism|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. She was posthumously inducted into the [[International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame]] alongside Gerrard in 2017.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/the-2017-ibma-award-winners/|title=The 2017 IBMA Award Winners|date=29 September 2017 |website=The Bluegrass Situation |access-date=February 24, 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Miners at the Virginia-Pocahontas Coal Company Mine.jpg|thumb|Dickens was known for her activism on behalf of non-unionized mineworkers]]

==Career==
Hazel Dickens was born in [[Montcalm, West Virginia]], on June 1, 1925, the eighth of eleven siblings in a [[coal mining|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. Her father worked as a minister at a [[Primitive Baptist]] church and played the banjo.<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBUH3ZXJuK0C&pg=PA2|title=Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens|page=2|first=Hazel |last=Dickens|author2=Malone, Bill C.|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=978-0-252-07549-0|year=2008|chapter=Hazel Dickens: A Brief Biography}}</ref><ref name="nyt">{{cite news|last=Friskics-Warren|first=Bill|title=Hazel Dickens, Folk Singer, Dies at 75|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/23/arts/music/hazel-dickens-bluegrass-singer-dies-at-75.html|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 22, 2011|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yurchenco |first=Henrietta |date=1991 |title=Trouble in the Mines: A History in Song and Story by Women of Appalachia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3051817 |journal=American Music |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=209–224 |doi=10.2307/3051817 |jstor=3051817 |issn=0734-4392|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

After Hazel's oldest sister moved to Baltimore in the 1940s, Hazel and her parents decided to follow suit. They arrived in Baltimore in the 1950s at different times—Hazel earlier—where she got a job working in a factory.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last1=STRAW |first1=RICHARD |last2=Seeger |first2=Mike |last3=Dickens |first3=Hazel |date=1986 |title=Mike Seeger and Hazel Dickens |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40932920 |journal=Appalachian Journal |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=410–424 |jstor=40932920 |issn=0090-3779}}</ref> She met [[Mike Seeger]], younger half-brother of [[Pete Seeger]] and founding member of the [[New Lost City Ramblers]], through her brother Robert, who had met him at a TB ([[Tuberculosis]]) hospital where Seeger was working at the time. Dickens and Seeger became active in the [[Baltimore]]-[[Washington, D.C.|Washington]] area [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]] and [[folk music]] scene during the [[Bluegrass in Baltimore|1960s]], playing in living rooms and later on in bars with Bob Baker's bluegrass band as the area's folk movement began to gain traction. The group played a mixture of traditional tunes Hazel had learned over the course of her childhood in Mercer County as well as contemporary bluegrass music popularized by groups such as [[The Stanley Brothers]], [[Flatt and Scruggs|Flatt & Scruggs]], and [[Bill Monroe]]. Dickens and Seeger left Baker's group around 1958.<ref name=":0" />

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 Records|Folkways]] label:<ref>{{cite journal|title=Remembering Hazel Dickens|url=http://www.folkways.si.edu/magazine-spring-2011-remembering-hazel-dickens/bluegrass/music/article/smithsonian|journal=Smithsonian Folkways Magazine|issue=Spring 2011|access-date=June 2, 2015}}</ref> ''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.<ref name="nyt"/> Hazel and Alice’s band, Strange Creek Singers recorded for the [[Arhoolie Records|Arhoolie]] label.  Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, and Lamar Grier were also in the band.

Dickens used her music to try and make a difference in the lives of non-unionized mine workers and feminists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/04/25/135704947/remembering-hazel-dickens-a-feminist-bluegrass-voice|title=Remembering Hazel Dickens: A Feminist Bluegrass Voice|website=NPR.org|date=April 25, 2011 |language=en|access-date=2019-06-09}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Lee">{{cite web |last=Lee |first=Hiram |title=Folksinger Hazel Dickens dies at 75 |url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/05/haze-m09.html|date=May 9, 2011 |website=World Socialist Web Site |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref> She wrote a song titled "Coal Mining Women" about the hardships women faced in the coal mining world.<ref name="Lee"/> 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]].<ref name="RRR">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hvWYhlGTgMUC&q=%22Carl+Rutherford%22.+%22blues%22&pg=PA167|title=Mountains of Music: West Virginia Traditional Music from Goldenseal|first=John|last=Lilly|pages=165–170|date=March 5, 1999|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|isbn=9780252068157|access-date=March 5, 2019|via=Google Books}}</ref> Dickens began to be seen as an activist and a voice for the working people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hazel Dickens Inspires New Generation of Musicians |url=https://womensenews.org/2002/11/hazel-dickens-inspires-new-generation-musicians/|first=Michael|date=November 26, 2002|last=Hudson|website=Women's e-News |access-date=25 April 2019}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/archives/archived_films-2015/harlan_county_usa1|title=Harlan County, USA {{!}} Big Sky Documentary Film Festival|website=www.bigskyfilmfest.org|access-date=2019-06-09}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/777-harlan-county-usa|title=Harlan County USA|website=The Criterion Collection|language=en|access-date=2019-06-09}}</ref> She also appeared in the films ''[[Matewan (film)|Matewan]]'' and ''[[Songcatcher]]''.

==Death==
[[File:Hazeldickensgrave.jpg|thumb|Grave in [[Princeton, West Virginia]]]]

In 2011, Dickens died in a Washington, D.C. hospice from complications of pneumonia.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thursby |first1=Keith |title=Hazel Dickens dies at 75; bluegrass pioneer and social activist |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-xpm-2011-apr-30-la-me-hazel-dickens-20110427-story.html |website=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=May 10, 2020 |date=April 30, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Staff |title=Bluegrass Singer Hazel Dickens Dies |url=http://www.cmt.com/news/1662585/bluegrass-singer-hazel-dickens-dies/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801201622/http://www.cmt.com/news/1662585/bluegrass-singer-hazel-dickens-dies/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |website=[[CMT (American TV channel)|CMT]] |access-date=May 10, 2020 |date=April 25, 2011}}</ref> She was buried in [[Princeton, West Virginia]] at Roselawn Memorial Gardens.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Archer |first1=Bill |title=Bluegrass music world laments the passing of Hazel Dickens |url=https://www.bdtonline.com/news/local_news/bluegrass-music-world-laments-the-passing-of-hazel-dickens/article_5671d3b9-8d6c-51e1-82c4-47187dfba0da.html |publisher=[[Bluefield Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=April 30, 2024 |date=April 24, 2011}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|title=Final Notes, Hazel Dickens|url=http://www.oldtimeherald.org/here+there/final-notes/hazel-dickens.html|website=Oldtimeherald.org|access-date=November 8, 2016|archive-date=November 8, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108195337/http://www.oldtimeherald.org/here+there/final-notes/hazel-dickens.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n82013472.html |title=Dickens, Hazel, 1925-2011 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=May 10, 2016 |website=Id.loc.gov |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=24 April 2018}}</ref>

Stating that "music saves mountains", fans and supporters of Dickens's activism announced a special memorial, ''Tribute to West Virginia Music Legend Hazel Dickens'' at the [[Charleston, West Virginia]], Cultural Center on June 5, 2011.<ref>{{cite web|title=In Memoriam - Hazel Jane Dickens|url=http://www.joomag.com/magazine/pickin-in-parsons-2011/0014278001319206553?page=22|website=Joomag.com|access-date=May 19, 2015|page=22|date=August 2011}}</ref>

==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) &ndash; Compilation, includes a new recording of the song "Pretty Bird"

===With Alice Gerrard===
* ''Who's That Knocking'' ([[Folkways Records|Folkways]], 1965)
* ''Strange Creek Singers'' ([[Arhoolie Records|Arhoolie]], 1970) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/strange-creek-singers-get-aquatinted-waltz-mw0000028618|title=Strange Creek Singers: Get Aquatinted Waltz - Strange Creek Singers - Songs, Reviews, Credits|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=20 April 2019}}</ref>
* ''Won't You Come & Sing for Me'' (Folkways, 1973)
* ''Hazel & Alice'' ([[Rounder Records|Rounder]], 1973)
* ''Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard'' (Rounder, 1976)
* ''Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard &ndash; Pioneering Women of Bluegrass'' ([[Smithsonian Folkways]], 1996) &ndash; 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&mdash;Organize!: Songs of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill'' (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990) - included the [[Joe Hill (activist)|Joe Hill]] song about [[Elizabeth Gurley Flynn]], "Rebel Girl"
* ''Live Recordings 1956&ndash;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''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.appalshop.org/store/?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=311|title=Appalshop|access-date=20 April 2019|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615214221/https://www.appalshop.org/store/?main_page=product_info&cPath=44&products_id=311|url-status=dead}}</ref> (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)|Dopesick]]'' miniseries, episode 1 (2021).  Directed by [[Barry Levinson]].

==Other==
Her name appears in the lyrics of the [[Le Tigre]] song "[[Hot Topic (song)|Hot Topic]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/hot-topic-lyrics-le-tigre-who-is.html|title=57 Champions of Queer Feminism, All Name-Dropped in One Impossibly Catchy Song|first=Tammy|last=Oler|date=October 31, 2019|website=Slate Magazine}}</ref>

==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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/2001 |title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2001 |author=<!--Not stated-->  |website=Arts.gov |publisher=National Endowment for the Arts |access-date=December 31, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801160943/https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/year/2001 |archive-date=August 1, 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="nyt"/>

==Notes==
a. {{note label|ida|a|none}}Sources vary on birth date; see [[Talk:Hazel Dickens#Date of birth|talk page discussion]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Dickens|first1=Hazel|last2=Malone |first2=Bill C. |title=Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens|year=2008|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Urbana|isbn=978-0-252-07549-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBUH3ZXJuK0C}}
*Hansell, Tom; Beaver, Patricia & Wiley, Angela, (2015). ''[http://southernspaces.org/2015/keep-your-eye-upon-scale "Keep Your Eye upon the Scale],"''  Southern Space. (February 15, 2015). Confirmed March 9, 2019. 
*{{cite book |last= Henry |first=Murphy Hicks |year=2013 |title=Pretty Good for a Girl: Women in Bluegrass |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=plJvCQfDzyQC&q=%22Pretty+Good+for+a+Girl%3A+Women+in+Bluegrass%22 |location=Urbana |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-07917-7}}
*Moore, Rick (2018) ''[https://americansongwriter.com/2018/11/hazel-dickens-hills-home/ "Hazel Dickens, 'Hills of home'].'' American Songwriter: The Craft of Music. (November 25, 2018). Retrieved March 9, 2019. 
*Tucker, Ken. (2018). [https://www.npr.org/2018/10/11/656515317/sing-me-back-home-showcases-the-partnership-between-hazel-dickens-and-alice-gerr '''Sing Me Back Home' Showcases The Partnership Between Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard.'']  ''NPR'' (October 2018). Retrieved March 9, 2019.

==External links==
*{{allMusic|artist/hazel-dickens-mn0000671156}}
*{{Discogs artist}}
*[http://www.folkways.si.edu/search/?query=hazel+dickens Dickens Discography at Smithsonian Folkways]
*{{YouTube|CiGPbHnpQks|Dickens performs "Fire in the Hole"}}
*{{YouTube|Wkt4dznOkoQ|Dickens performs "Hills of Galilee"}}
*[https://www.criterion.com/films/777-harlan-county-usa Criterion Films Collection]
{{West Virginia Music Hall of Fame}}
{{Authority control}}
{{International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame}}

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