(Woman singing) ♪ Fly away Little pretty bird ♪ ♪ For he'd... only clip your wings ♪ (Violin music sting) [Avery Hellman] I was at an Alice Gerrard concert.

She sang the song, "The One I Love is Gone," but she sang like an extra verse that I had never heard before.

♪♪ Since she and Hazel didn't write the song, I don't know if she wrote... this or she and Hazel wrote it together, but my understanding is that they wrote it together.

♪♪ (Avery starts singing) ♪ I don't know, ♪ ♪ I don't know ♪ ♪ How I'll live without your love ♪ ♪ How my heart could ever be with all this pain ♪ ♪ So, I'll wander all my life Like a lonely homeless dove ♪ ♪ Alone with no one to love ♪ ♪ Well I found a bluebird high on a mountainside ♪ ♪ And, that little bird, it sings a little song ♪ ♪ So, I'll sigh, I'll cry I'll even want to die ♪ ♪ For the one I love is gone ♪ [Avery] There's one really good one.

I like the one that's their album cover.

See, she started out as an instrumentalist.

(Hazel singing with Alice) ♪ In the dead of the night ♪ ♪ In the still, and the quiet ♪ ♪ I'd slip away like a bird in flight ♪ ♪ Back to the hills The place that I called home ♪ ♪ It's been... ♪ [Mike Seeger] We're gonna talk to Hazel about the interaction of your life experiences and your music.

[Hazel Dickens] Where I was born was uh, Mercer County, West Virginia.

I was born up on the mountain from Montcalm, and from what I can understand, a log cabin.

My father realized after I was still very young, that I could sing, and he began to make comments about it.

(Hazel starts singing a cappella) ♪ Oh, beautiful hills of Galilee ♪ ♪ Amid whose scene the Savior dwelt ♪ ♪ Your flowers have bloomed so beautifully ♪ ♪ And Heaven's lasting beauty still ♪ (Reflective music) [Ginny Hawker] We both had that primitive Baptist background.

You know that, that uh, unaccompanied singing background.

Well, I found out she was gonna be teaching here at the Augusta Heritage Center.

So, I registered for the songwriting class knowing that I would not never write a song, but that was what she was teaching.

So, I just wanted to be in her presence.

At the end of the week, they had a gospel sing, and she said, "I'll come if Ginny can come with me."

She sat beside me, and she said, "just shut your eyes, and put them in your grandfather's church."

(Ginny singing) ♪ I once was lost but now I'm found ♪ ♪ Was blind but now I see ♪ (Slow, pensive violin music) [Jeff Place] Well, bluegrass music, it brings in a lot of other genres.

Old time country, folk, old pop hits from the 1890's, and uh, you know, it is actually one of the few genres you can think of that's can be traced, really, back to one person.

Bill Monroe.

Bluegrass music really started in Bluegrass Country, in Kentucky.

(Guitar music) [Chris Joslin] So, it really wasn't until the mid-late fifties, and on into the sixties, that more and more people began emulating Bill Monroe's sound.

So, all these great groups uh, emerged because there's an industry that's emerging around that, but when you look around, it certainly is dominated more by, by men.

As we all know, those who really built a career in that music, they weren't just entertainers, they were basically bringing their culture to the table.

Part of the endearing aspect of Hazel Dickens is she wrote about what she knew about, which was the area she came from in West Virginia.

(Guitar music continues) [Ketch Secor] We had all these journeys where we would go way out in the hinterlands and play on street corners and such, and we're passing this just belching coal-powered plant, outside of Mannington, West Virginia.

And, Robert starts to sing... ♪ Where 78 young miners so uselessly died ♪ ♪ 'Cause of unsafe conditions at the Mannington Mine ♪ [Ketch] To me, it was like the most wonderful thing to be in a place where a soundtrack and landscape were coming together, that every place had a song, and I was, you know, 17 years old, and in the back of a borrowed Volvo station wagon, and that it was a Hazel Dickens tune.

That was one of those early moments of the realization that that the land was alive, and haunted really, with music.

(Hazel sings & plays guitar) ♪ Now, don't you believe them, my boy ♪ ♪ That story's a lie ♪ ♪ Remember, the disaster at the Mannington Mine ♪ ♪ Where 78 miners were buried alive ♪ ♪ Because of unsafe conditions, your daddy died ♪ ♪♪ [Ketch] In the 1950's when everything is automated in the coal industry, a lot of people lost their jobs.

Appalachian people were leaving to go up north.

[Hazel] When you leave one environment like that, like I did, I was not as exposed to some elements of society as some people were.

Bell kept urging me to come to Baltimore, so I did.

And so, she said "I'll get you a job where I work, at the factory."

I remember the first rebellion that I had when I was there.

They were trying to form a union.

Of course, the plant was really against it.

It was awfully bold uh, of me to say, "Well, you can have a meeting at my apartment."

And I said, "you know, he's gonna try to talk us into workin' Sunday.

I don't think we should."

And I said, "if you don't come in, I won't come in."

I just slept on the couch in the living room, began looking for work.

So, I said, "well, maybe I can freelance more, and get more into the music."

And I did.

And, that's how I began playing, really.

[Mike] When you got married, you told me a story of what your dad's reaction was.

[Hazel] He said, "well, I guess you'll quit playing music now."

And I said, "I guess I won't."

(Laughs) (Banjo strumming, Hazel singing) [Tom Gray] There weren't many women playing bluegrass.

Hazel and Alice really were pioneers.

[Jeff] There had been women in bluegrass bands before.

Being the chief of the band, that was that was new.

[Arnold "Buddy" Dickens] There were no women playing the bluegrass scene in Baltimore until Hazel come around, other than her partner, Alice Gerrard.

Some people credit Hazel for standing up for women, as far as music went, and opening the door for a lot of other women musicians to be recognized and heard of.

I knew her as my aunt, somebody that was picking and grinning in the living room with my Dad.

♪ It's years now since I lived there ♪ ♪ Since you left And these city lights ♪ ♪ About got the best of me ♪ ♪ I can't remember why I left so free ♪ ♪ What I wanted to do, what I wanted to see ♪ ♪ But, I can sure remember where I come from ♪ (Voices outside on sidewalk) (Woman singing) [Man] You're almost on it... there you go.

[Arnold "Buddy"] Talking, somehow Hazel's name come up, and I said, that was my aunt.

He started playing "West Virginia," and looking at me like, "is he going to recognize that?

If he recognized that, he's telling the truth," you know?

That's the way I took it.

And I, he's like, "Hazel's nephew, huh?"

I said, "yeah, and that's her song."

♪ In the dead of the night In the still and the quiet ♪ ♪ I slip away like a bird in flight ♪ ♪ Back to those hills ♪ ♪ The place that I call home Home... ♪ (Applause) (Slow guitar music) [Dudley Connell] I first became aware of Hazel Dickens through a radio station in Baltimore, and every week they would play the very first Hazel and Alice record from Rounder Records.

Women in Bluegrass were kind of regulated to being the girl singer, who would come out, maybe and sing a song or two.

But, these songs were, these songs were social-minded songs.

And, Hazel wrote nearly all of 'em from the record.

[Ginny] I did, I do remember Dudley Connell who sang with her so much, saying, "I know that with every song she sings, she's gonna, somewhere in there, she's gonna hit one note that's gonna send me straight to Heaven."

(Laughs) Sometimes we'd sing harmony with her, you know, it would just make the bones in your ears vibrate.

Not from the volume, but from the feeling, and the...intensity of it.

[Avery Hellman] My grandfather was a banjo player from when he was about 20 years old.

He started a free music festival called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, in San Francisco.

And, one of the main reasons he was actually into doing the music festival, my understanding was that, he wanted to bring Hazel Dickens out to San Francisco, and see her play.

Hazel Dickens was one of my grandfather's very favorite artists.

He brought her out every single year, from when it started until she passed away.

(Avery singing) ♪ Black lung, oh black lung ♪ ♪ You're just biding your time ♪ [Avery] I, kind of didn't feel, necessarily, that I wanted to play bluegrass music, partly because I didn't fit in with what I saw as a representation of who plays bluegrass music.

♪ What God had in mind ♪ [Avery] When I said, oh, I can play bluegrass music, and I can play Hazel Dickens music, then I thought, "I could definitely do this."

♪ She's heartbreak's child just lives for your smile ♪ ♪ Up in a world made by men ♪ ♪ Well, there's more to her than powder and paint ♪ ♪ And peroxide and bleached-out hair ♪ ♪ Well if she acts that way ♪ ♪ it's 'cause you've had your day ♪ ♪ Don't put her down, you helped put her there ♪ [Avery] It's based on Hazel's experiences when she was first performing in these bluegrass clubs, experiencing all the sexism that was so rampant in that culture, and to some degree, is still a major issue.

♪♪ Instead of choosing to go with the generic, and go with the easy songs that wouldn't make anybody upset, she chose instead to tell the truth.

♪ And you call yourself a man ♪ ♪ Sayin' you just don't understand ♪ ♪ How a woman could end up that way ♪ ♪ Well there's more to her than powder and paint ♪ ♪ And peroxide and bleached out hair ♪ ♪ Well if she acts that way ♪ ♪ Its 'cause you've had your day ♪ ♪ Don't put her down, you helped put her there ♪ ♪ Well if she acts that way ♪ (Voices fade out) (Young woman playing guitar) [Molly Tuttle] When I was a kid, like, playing guitar in a jam, people just assumed I wasn't gonna take solos because I was a girl.

Like, it was obvious that that was the reason.

(Molly continues to play) [Molly] But, I remember hearing Hazel's voice and being like, "who is that?

That sounds different from anyone I've ever heard before."

From that moment on, I became obsessed with her.

I went in my bedroom for hours, and listened to "A Few Old Memories," on repeat, and even, like, wrote out the words to it, and did little markings above them, to, like, indicate where she was putting inflections in her voice.

A lot of bluegrass songs, when you listen to the lyrics, they're putting women down, and Hazel's songs are really lifting women up.

♪ A few old keepsakes, Way back on the shelf ♪ ♪ No, they don't mean nothing ♪ ♪ Why I'm surprised, that they're left ♪ ♪ Just a few old love letters ♪ ♪ With their edges all brown ♪ ♪ And an old faded picture I keep turned upside down ♪ [Hazel] When I put this stuff down on paper, I didn't know anything.

I didn't know that I could even think of the lines to put down.

I would want to, it would be within me, and I would want to, but I didn't have the vocabulary.

When I began telling myself that I could tear it up, and nobody would see it, I began to do that more seriously.

When I wrote, uh, "Don't Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There," I didn't think I was allowed to talk like that, or say those things.

And, I never used that kind of language against anyone, you know?

And, later on, I just kept getting bolder and bolder and I'd say, "oh, I could never, I could never say what George Jones did," or "I could never sing as good as George does."

And, I would just keep on editing myself like that, until I edited myself, right out of the picture.

So, I began saying, "well, no, but you can have it your way.

You have a few things to say."

(Guitar music) (Hazel singing) ♪ The worn-out linoleum has lost its pattern ♪ ♪ on the kitchen floor ♪ ♪ And, the woman that used to scrub it's turned around ♪ ♪ walked right out the door ♪ ♪ The oil cloth on the table she'd wiped so many times, ♪ ♪ it's almost gone ♪ ♪ And, the elbows leaning on it, ♪ ♪ held the head of a man that drank alone ♪ ♪ Every now and then his empty can would shatter ♪ ♪ the silence of the room ♪ ♪ As it landed on her pretty face ♪ ♪ Still smiling from the broken picture frame ♪ ♪ But lately, since she left him, ♪ ♪ he just sits at the kitchen table drinking beer ♪ ♪ Staring at that worn linoleum ♪ ♪ Trying to trace the lost patterns 'round his chair ♪ ♪ Well, it's hard luck, hard times, ♪ ♪ And too many rainy days... ♪ ♪ Hardworking people ♪ who just get by from pay to pay ♪ ♪ Well it takes it's toll upon us ♪ ♪ We sometimes drive away the ones who care ♪ ♪ From all the wearing and the tearing ♪ ♪ The caring just walks right out the door ♪ ♪ Well, it's hard luck, hard times, ♪ ♪ And too many rainy days ♪ ♪ Hardworking people ♪ ♪ who just get by from pay to pay ♪ ♪ Well it takes it's toll upon us ♪ ♪ We sometimes drive away the ones who care ♪ ♪ From all the wearing and the tearing ♪ ♪ The caring just walks right out the door ♪ ♪♪ [Ginny] Hazel would write about one relationship, one place, and put you so strongly there that it was universal.

[Karen Collins] She always said, she just wrote what she felt, but she felt pretty strongly about things, especially women having rights, and coal miners having rights.

[Tom Gray] Her dad had black lung disease.

He'd worked a whole life in the coal mines, and it took his life.

So, Hazel sang songs that she had written about black lung, and what it does to people, and about the cruelty of the companies that would send the miners into, what would ultimately be their death.

[Karen] United Mine Workers, they asked me to sing Hazel's song.

The coal miners, they were all, kind of, in a half circle, and I sang for them Hazel's song, "Black Lung."

(Karen singing a cappella) ♪ Cold as that water hole down in that dark cave ♪ ♪ where I spend my life blood, digging my own grave ♪ ♪ Down to the graveyard, the boss man came ♪ ♪ With his little bunch of flowers ♪ ♪ Dear God, what a shame Take back your flowers, ♪ ♪ Don't sing no sad songs The die has been cast ♪ ♪ A good man is gone ♪ [Hazel] A lot of my popularity did not come from the Hazel and Alice, it came from the movies.

(Slow reflective guitar music) [Hazel] When I wrote the song for the ending of "Harlan County USA," it was one of the hardest things that I ever did, because they wanted a specific thing, and I didn't know if I could go there.

I thought, "you know, you need to talk about this.

You need to put down what you've experienced, and what you have seen."

And, I did, and I just wrote it right from the gut.

[Miner] Coal miners will always be fighting.

♪♪ (Hazel singing) ♪ United we stand, divided we fall ♪ ♪ Lord, every dime they give us, a battle must be fought ♪ ♪ So, workin' people, use your power, ♪ ♪ the key to liberty ♪ ♪ Don't support that rich man style of luxury ♪ ♪ There ain't no way they can ever keep us down ♪ ♪ Oh no, ain't no way they can ever keep us down ♪ ♪ We won't be bought, we won't be sold ♪ ♪ To be treated right, well, that's our goal ♪ ♪ And there aint' no way they... ♪ [Ketch] The coal miners needed a voice, needed a voice of collectivity to speak to the bosses, to speak to the press, to speak to the outside, and say, "empathize with us."

(chanting) That's what Hazel Dickens did so bravely.

She, um, made a call out to the greater world, and said, "take a look.

Take a look at what they've done to us."

♪ Women and little children, stood right by the men ♪ ♪ But we got that union contract, ♪ ♪ That keeps the worker free ♪ [Dudley Connell] You didn't expect that big a voice, that powerful voice coming out of such a woman who had become kind of frail, you know?

And, she kept that voice.

She kept that voice until the last show I ever played with her.

[Man] See it?

[Woman] It's one with the lily.

(Brushing) (Quiet talking in background) [John Shott] From time to time, the legislature in the state of West Virginia will take action to memorialize the life of a person whose influence has had a major impact, throughout not just West Virginia.

In some cases, like today, throughout the nation and extended beyond the borders of our country.

Requesting the Division of Highways name bridge number 28-11-67, locally known as Montcalm Bridge, the Hazel Dickens Memorial Bridge.

♪♪ (Hazel singing) ♪ I said goodbye to that plain little mining town ♪ ♪ With just a few old clothes, that'd made the rounds ♪ ♪ I knew I was leaving a lot of things that were good ♪ ♪ But, I thought I'd make a break while I still could ♪ ♪ As I looked back, to wave once more ♪ ♪ To mama cryin' in the door ♪ ♪ For me, and for what the world might have in store ♪ ♪ For she knew I'd never be her little girl no more ♪ ♪ She was drifting back to another time ♪ ♪ when she was young, and hoped to find ♪ ♪ A better life than what her mama's had been ♪ ♪ And, it was hard ♪ [Mike Seeger] I don't know whether it's something that you can answer, but, I wonder, what, of what you've done, would you prefer to be remembered for?

[Hazel] My big mouth, maybe.

(Laughs) I actually could sit down and write a song that I could actually call out what was in me, which was not taught to me, and in spite of what I had to deal with to do anything.

♪ Fly away Little pretty bird ♪ ♪ Where the cold Winter winds don't blow ♪ ♪ Fly, fly away, Little pretty bird ♪