In Memoriam: Hazel Dickens / New Releases

10 p.m. to Midnight Host: Steve Winters

Hazel Dickens, whose atavistic “high lonesome sound” and vocal styling became a strong voice of advocacy for coal miners’ rights, working people and women, died April 22 at age 75 of complications from pneumonia. Hazel was a revered performer in bluegrass and country music and was one of the first performers in bluegrass music to address the plight of women in the workplace.

In 1994 Hazel Dickens became the first woman honored by the International Bluegrass Music Association with its prestigious Merit Award for contributions to the genre and in 2008 was honored with a National Heritage Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her final performance was March 16 (with Dudley Connell) at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

I opened the program with selections from three stellar new releases and closed with three selections featuring famed uilleann piper Paddy Keenan, a founding member of the Bothy Band. Keenan will be appearing next Friday night in a small theater just a few hundred feet from our on-air studio at WSHU. Runa will be appearing on Long Island and David Ferrard in nearby Ridgefield next weekend.

  • Artist, "Title", Album, Label

  • Runa, “Fionnghuala”, Stretched Across Your Grave, Independent

  • Abigail Washburn, “Bright Morning Stars”, City Of Refuge, Rounder

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  • David Ferrard, “I Am An Immigrant (I’m From Here)”, “Wildflowers”, Journeyman, Alter Road Records

  • Abigail Washburn, “City Of Refuge”, “Divine Bell”, City Of Refuge, Rounder

  • David Ferrard, “The War Carries On (Turn Turn Turn)”, Journeyman, Alter Road Records

    In Memoriam: Hazel Dickens

  • Hazel & Alice, “Won’t You Come And Sing For Me”, “The One I Love Is Gone”, Pioneering Women Of Bluegrass, Smithsonian Folkways

  • Johnson Mountain Boys with Hazel Dickens, “The Rebel Girl”, Don’t Mourn – Organize/Songs Of Labor Songwriter Joe Hill, Smithsonian Folkways

  • Hazel & Alice, “Hello Stranger”, Hazel & Alice, Rounder

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  • Strange Creek Singers, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, Stranger Creek Singers, Arhoolie

  • Hazel Dickens, “West Virginia My Home”, Hard Hitting Songs For Hard Hit People, Rounder

  • Hazel Dickens, “Black Lung”, Classic Labor Songs, Smithsonian Folkways

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  • Lynn Morris Band, “Mama’s Hands”, Lynn Morris Band, Rounder

  • James King, “A Few Old Memories”, Lonesome And Then Some, Rounder

  • Laurie Lewis & Her Bluegrass Pals, “Beyond The Bend”, Rounder,

  • Kathy Mattea, “Black Lung/Coal”, Coal, Captain Potato

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  • Bothy Band, “Garret Barry’s/The Bucks Of Oranmore”, Live In Concert, Green Linnet

  • Paddy Keenan & Tommy O’Sullivan, “O’Rourke’s/The Spike Island Lassies/Lord McDonald’s”, The Long Grazing Acre, Compass

  • Bothy Band, “Patsy Geary’s/Coleman Cross”, Live In Concert, Green Linnet