Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780252075490)

Hazel Dickens was an Appalachian singer and songwriter known for her superb musicianship, feminist country songs, union anthems, and blue-collar laments. Growing up in a West Virginia coal mining community, she drew on the mountain music and repertoire of her family and neighbors when establishing her own vibrant and powerful vocal style that is a trademark in old-time, bluegrass, and traditional country circles. Working Girl Blues presents forty original songs that Hazel Dickens wrote about coal mining, labor issues, personal relationships, and her life and family in Appalachia. Conveying sensitivity, determination, and feistiness, Dickens comments on each song, explaining how she came to write them and what they meant and continue to mean to her. Bill C. Malone's introduction traces Dickens's life, musical career, and development as a songwriter, In addition, Working Girl Blues features forty-one illustrations and a detailed discography of Dickens's commercial recordings.

Author: Hazel Dickens, Bill C. Malone
ISBN-10: 0252075498
ISBN-13: 9780252075490
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Language: English
Published: 05/01/2008
Pages: 144
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.52lbs
Size: 8.96h x 6.05w x 0.37d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 06/01/2008 pg. 37