Born in West Virginia, Hazel Dickens recorded twice for Folkways Records and was a frequent participant of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, appearing some fifteen times. In this rare video from 1978, she sings "West Virginia, My Home," one of her most treasured songs. Her friend, the late Phyllis Boyens, adds harmony.

Pioneering Women of Bluegrass by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard is available on CD and digital.

On April 22, 2011, our dear friend Hazel Dickens passed away at the age of 75. Hazel was one of the most important bluegrass singers of the last fifty years and the writer of very poignant songs drawn from her personal experience. Her ties to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Smithsonian Folkways, and the Festival family were long-standing and very close.

Hazel Dickens became an accomplished bluegrass performer at a time when the genre was dominated by men. She was also an admired advocate for women's and worker's rights. Along with fellow musician and friend Alice Gerrard, she empowered countless female singers and musicians to succeed without sacrificing integrity. In this performance, Dickens, herself the eighth of eleven children born to a West Virginia mining family, pays homage to her home state.