Song of the Day: Hazel Dickens, "A Few Old Memories"

Since I haven't had time to blog much at all lately, I've missed mentioning the deaths of a couple of my favorite musicians. My next couple of posts, which should come in consecutive days I hope, will address this.

The first is the great bluegrass singer Hazel Dickens. One of the first women to break through the extremely patriarchal bluegrass music scene, her band with Alice Gerard in the 1960s was amazing. She went on to record several excellent solo albums with powerful songs about the people of Appalachia. Some of these songs were deeply political, either pro-feminist or anti-coal. Others, such as "A Few Old Memories" are timeless songs of loss, a topic particularly relevant to the people of Appalachia who have moved to other parts of the country for work since at least the 1920s. Here is her Times obituary. 

Album of the Week: Dry Branch Fire Squad "Hand Hewn"

Even though there have been a lot of good bluegrass artists around over the past few decades, the newgrass movement of the '70s and its continued influence has made it hard to determine what acts are worthwhile. The meandering jam bands with mandolins are the worst, but even the really traditional bluegrass groups are often frustrating to listen to on album when all they play are old Bill Monroe songs. Like another Wynton Marsalis album of Duke songs, why wouldn't I just listen to the real thing? Still, there's some great stuff out there and Dry Branch Fire Squad has been one of the best bands for both bluegrass and traditional music for thirty years. The lineup has changed slowly but steadily over the years, with founder and frontman Ron Thomason on mandolin being the one mainstay. Through all the changes and all the thirty years they've played, they've maintained the soul of traditional and bluegrass music while still managing, through song selection and harmonies, to stay fresh.

2001's Hand Hewn is the first Dry Branch album I heard and is still my favorite. The songs are all great, spanning Civil War ballads to religious songs to fantastical horse stories. But, what really sets this album apart from most is a devastating rendition of Hazel Dickens' own "Black Lung," sung a capella with Thomason and Dickens herself. The power of her voice is unparalleled, the words are bone chilling, and the song is absolutely amazing. There are a few songs with mixed gender harmonies, a great but relatively rare aspect, and they really set the album off, but "Black Lung" is truly one of the great tracks I've heard. Above is a version of the song by Thomason alone. It doesn't do justice to the power of the recording on Hand Hewn but it's still a great song.

Erik's Random 10

I guess this means I am back on the blog full time. It's like meth. I just can't break the habit.

I can't say enough about the awesomeness of Hazel Dickens. This West Virginia bluegrass singer was not only a pioneering female in this most misogynist music form, but she also has sung some of the most heart-wrenching political songs ever. She left West Virginia for Washington DC as a young girl. She joined a band with the folk singer Alice Gerard and they produced some fantastic albums (I'd recommend the collection Pioneering Women of Bluegrass, one of the 5 best bluegrass albums ever produced). In the late 1970s and 1980s, Dickens then put out a series of fantastic solo albums that combined political songs about coal mining ("Little Lenaldo," "Coal Tattoo") and women's rights ("Don't Put Her Down, You Put Her There") with more traditional bluegrass topics about heartbreak and loss. "Don't Bother to Cry" is one of those more traditional numbers. I also recommend the collection from her solo work on Rounder, A Few Old Memories. Those are 20 great songs on that album, let me tell you.

Some of you might remember her from the John Sayles film Matewan, where she sang at the funeral. She was singing in the old-time style which some have trouble listening to, but it's definitely from the heart. Her recorded work has a much more contemporary style though.

Dickens is older now and doesn't perform much. It has been several years since she put out an album. I suppose that I probably won't ever get the chance to see her. But she is absolutely amazing.

1. Hazel Dickens, Don't Bother to Cry
2. John Hartford, Gum Tree Canoe
3. Frank Sinatra, When Your Lover Has Gone
4. Tom Russell, La Frontera
5. Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time, Heartbreak Hurricane
6. The Kevins, Soft Words
7. The Magnetic Fields, Parades Go By
9. IIIrd Tyme Out, Dim Lights, Thick Smoke
10. Waylon Jennings, It's Not Supposed to Be That Way