Who’s That Knocking

Who's That Knocking, recorded in 1965, was one of the earliest documents of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard's partnership and helped establish them as a distinct and important voice at the intersection of old-time music, bluegrass, and the folk revival. Dickens, from a West Virginia coal mining family, and Gerrard, a classically trained musician drawn to Appalachian music, approached their material with an authenticity that set them apart from most female performers in the genre at the time. "Coal Miner's Blues" is characteristic — plainly sung, emotionally direct, rooted in the experience of working-class mountain life rather than its romanticization. The album was released on Folkways and reached an audience deeply engaged with vernacular American music. Dickens would later become known as a pioneering voice for labor and women's causes in country and bluegrass; this early record already carries the conviction that made her later work so forceful.