I would like to start off wishing everyone a Happy Easter. While I'm at it, a buddy of mine and I were discussing how it is that Easter is on a different day each year and sometimes nearly a month difference from year to year. Well, if you're wondering and never took the time to look it up; here's the crazy way it is determined. Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Sometimes the equinox falls one day after a full moon making Easter really late in the spring. Other times the vernal equinox will happen the day or so before a full moon making Easter very early in the season. Okay now, just so you won't get confused; it's on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. No, wait!!! That's election day. Oh well..... just forget it! HAPPY EASTER everybody!
I am proud to announce that after many long years the Virginia Folk Music Association will finally have an actual physical Hall of Fame Museum located within the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds. The Grand Opening is from 3:00 to 7:30PM on June 11, 2011. All activities will be free of charge and we will be treated to great Bluegrass music from Danville, Virginia's own Lost & Found and other groups as well.
All Hall of Fame members have been invited as well as the public. Admission is free. So, bring your lawn chairs and a picnic lunch and come to this great and long awaited event. From Sigrid Williams, president of the VFMA, the following note: "This is an historical event as the Virginia Folk Music Association, a non-profit, volunteer (organization), was founded in 1947. Sanctioned by, then, Virginia’s Governor Tuck to hold the annual Music Championship Contests and induct Virginia artists into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame. Since then a Scholarship Fund and a Special Recognition Award and the only $5 per day Quality Festival have been established. Virginia has contributed many artists to the world of music."
I am saddened to have to report the passing of a pioneer in Bluegrass music; Hazel Dickens. She was among, if not the very first, of the few women to act as leaders of a Bluegrass band back in the early 1960s. While not possessing the voice of a bird, Hazel had a quality to her voice that reached deeply into the soul of anyone who truly listened to her. Her mournful laments are unmatched. On a personal note, I must admit I knew nothing of Hazel Dickens until I purchased a inexpensive 2 CD set from Rounder Records entitled "Hand Picked Bluegrass." While listening to the CDs I heard this rough, but soulful voice singing her own song "West Virginia, My Home." As I listened to her sing it I could feel her longing for home and even I, not from West Virginia, felt that same sort of homesickness and I became an instant fan of her music. I sought out everything of hers I could find. She made three very groundbreaking records with Alice Gerrard, and several solo projects. If you are unaware of Hazel and her music, as I was, may I recommend that you seek out the DVD of her life entitled: "You Can't Tell The Singer From The Song." Several years ago, Lynn Morris (Note: Lynn Morris will perform one set of music at the Apple Blossom Festival in Winchester, Virginia on May 1st, 2011. I shall attend this historic event!) had a number one song called "Mama"s Hand" written by Hazel. Hazel was a great Bluegrass performer and Bluegrass song writer, but she was also a staunch supporter of the coal miners and wrote many protest songs in support of them. This part of Hazel's life and career should not be overlooked. Many of the songs she wrote, including "Black Lung" and "Which Side Are You On" were instrumental is forcing mine owner's to provide better medical care, safer working conditions and simply a better life for their hard working employees. To have heard Hazel's strident a cappella voice singing "Black Lung" one could not be anything but moved. Hazel is gone now, but her voice will live on through her songs.
A few years back I ran into Hazel just outside of the FanFest hall at IBMA in Nashville. As we chatted, I saw Pete Goble heading toward us in his wheelchair and took the opportunity to introduce Pete and Hazel. What I really managed to do was introduce oil to water, because Hazel was a very liberal Democrat and Pete was a very conservative Republican. I actually was afraid they would come to blows, but they were very cordial to each other as they gently argued. They hugged before going their separate ways. I have proof of that hug in this photo taken my my dear friend Debbie Adams of Taylor, Michigan.
HAZEL DICKENS & PETE GOBLE
"NUFF SAID!"
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