Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard cover

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard

Album · 1976 · Rounder 0054

Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard was released by Rounder in 1976 (Rounder 0054), the duo’s second LP for the label after Hazel & Alice (1973). They had recorded two earlier albums for Folkways, Who’s That Knocking in 1965 and Won’t You Come & Sing for Me in 1973. Dickens was born into a mining family in Montcalm, West Virginia, and Gerrard in Seattle; both were part of the Washington, D.C., bluegrass scene in the 1960s. The two are described as among the first women to record a bluegrass album, and both were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017.

John Nagy recorded most of the album at Track Recorders in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Blue Seas in Baltimore. “Working Girl Blues,” “Ramblin’ Woman” and “West Virginia My Home” were recorded at the House of Music in West Orange, New Jersey, and Mike Seeger recorded “Beaufort County Jail” in New Freedom, Pennsylvania. Gerrard usually plays guitar and sings lead, with Dickens on bass and tenor harmony. The supporting players change from track to track and include Seeger, Tracy Schwarz and Lamar Grier on several; Kenny Kosek, Stacy Phillips and Roger Mason on the New Jersey sessions; and Carl Nelson and Buddy Charleton on fiddle and steel guitar. Mike Auldridge and Tom Gray play on “Mean Papa Blues.”

Dickens wrote “Working Girl Blues,” “West Virginia My Home” and “Ramblin’ Woman,” and Gerrard wrote “Mama’s Gonna Stay,” “Mary Johnson” and “Beaufort County Jail.” The rest includes the Louvin Brothers’ “When I Loved You,” Bill Monroe’s “True Life Blues,” Jimmie Rodgers’s “Mean Papa Blues” and Jim Jackson’s “Nice Like That,” with “Banjo Picking Girl” credited as traditional.

Tracklist

  1. 1 Let That Liar Alone Source Recording Traditional · key D · 87 bpm 3:33
  2. 2 When I Loved You 3:43
  3. 3 Working Girl Blues Source Recording Hazel Dickens · key A · 72 bpm 3:21
  4. 4 West Virginia My Home alt version 3:38
  5. 5 Mama's Gonna Stay 2:49
  6. 6 Montana Cowboy Source Recording Ray Park, Jack Sutton · key C · 118 bpm 2:19
  7. 7 Mean Papa Blues 3:09
  8. 8 Nice Like That Source Recording Jim Jackson · key D · 102 bpm 2:41
  9. 9 Mary Johnson 3:10
  10. 10 Ramblin' Woman 3:08
  11. 11 Beaufort County Jail 3:02
  12. 12 Banjo Picking Girl Source Recording Lily May Ledford · key Bb · 142 bpm 3:06
  13. 13 James Alley Blues 2:33
  14. 14 True Life Blues alt version 2:36

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