Description of Hazel Dickens's Music: Bluegrass, singer-songwriter, protest music
Comparisons: Hazel Dickens's work spans the reach of bluegrass, country and singer-songwriterly protest music, but also calls to mind the Carter Family, Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris.
Purchase/Download Hazel Dickens MP3s: "Times Are Not What They Used to Be"
"Mama's Hand"
"Tiny Broken Heart"
"Mama's Hand"
"Tiny Broken Heart"
Recommended CDs by Hazel Dickens: Hazel & Alice (Rounder, 1978) 
Hard Hitting Songs for Hard Hit People (Rounder, 1981)
It's Hard to Tell the Singer From the Song (Rounder, 1987)
Books About Hazel Dickens: Working Girl Blues (Univ. of Illinois Press)
Hazel Dickens Biography: Born in June, 1935, and raised in West Virginia, Hazel Dickens grew up the eighth of 11 children. Her father played banjo, drove trucks, and preached the gospel in a Baptist church. When she was 19, she moved to Baltimore to make a living working in factories, and to try to help support her very poor family.
Together with her siblings, she began attending music festivals, where she met and formed a group with Mike Seeger. She became an instrumental presence in the local folk and bluegrass scene, playing with several bands in the areas around Washington, D.C.
She also began working with Seeger's wife Alice Gerrard, with whom she recorded several early feminist folk songs and old time tunes. Together, they also toured extensively before splitting in 1973. Since then, she's recorded a number of albums and contributed her work to several films, including Harlan County USA and With Babies and Banners.
