Working Girl Blues

Hazel Dickens’ “Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens” Appalachian singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens is well-known for her feminist country music, union anthems, and blue-collar laments, in addition to her exceptional musicianship. She found inspiration in her family’s and neighbors’ mountain music and repertoire while growing up in a coal mining town in West Virginia.

Dickens provides forty original songs about her life in Appalachia, coal mining, labor disputes, and personal relationships in Working Girl Blues. Her strong and colorful vocals became well-known in bluegrass, old-time, and traditional country music genres. Every song exudes sensitivity, resolve, and feistiness, and Dickens offers perceptive comments on the inspiration for her writing and the meaning that each song holds for her. Bill C.