Song:Pretty Bird
Album:Old Time Music On The Air Vol. 1
Hazel Dickens is a bluegrass innovator and a pioneer of feminism and political activism in her native West Virginia. She's not that well known to the general public but is revered in the folk community. She was born June 1, 1935 in Mercer County, WV the eighth of eleven children in a mining town. Her father drove trucks for the mining company and was a part time banjo picker. Hazel was influenced by bluegrass legends like the Carter Family and moved to Baltimore at age 19 to work in a factory. It was there that she met Mike Seeger (Pete Seeger's brother) and started performing with what would eventually become the New Lost City Ramblers. She toured with others including Joan Baez. Hazel and Seeger's wife Alice Gerrard started looking into feminist folk songs in the mid-60s and performed the songs together throughout the south. The two recorded a couple of albums for the Folkways label. This acapella version of Pretty Bird is from the 1973 album Hazel & Alice but Hazel sings it solo. This Rounder Records various artists comp is an excellent mix of classic bluegrass and more recent music and is recommended to beginners. You may have heard her music in Barbara Kopple's documentary Harlan County USA and Hazel Dickens appeared in John Sayles 1987 film Matewan. Hazel Dickens still performs but last recorded in 1993. She seems to get a lot of reverence in the bluegrass community these days but she's earned that. Here's part of a Hazel Dickens documentary produced by West Virginia Public Television.
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