Hazel Dickens

Hazel Dickens was an Appalachian singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose piercing voice carried stories of miners, working women, family, and labor organizing. Raised in a West Virginia coal community, she drew on mountain music before becoming a pioneering woman in bluegrass and folk performance. Working Girl Blues, created with country-music historian Bill C. Malone, combines life history with forty original songs and Dickens’s own comments on how they emerged. The University of Illinois Press published the book in its Music in American Life series in 2008. Songs discussed include “Mama’s Hand,” “Black Lung,” and the title piece, which addresses women’s paid work alongside domestic responsibility. Malone’s introduction situates her career, while photographs and a discography document her recordings and collaborations. Hazel Dickens also performed with Alice Gerrard and became known for union anthems and feminist country songs. Working Girl Blues preserves the direct relationship between her lived experience, political commitments, and unmistakable musical style.