The Hazel Dickens Song Contest deadline is Jan. 1, 2015 and is quickly approaching. The first-place winner will be invited to perform his or her song on the main stage at the DC Bluegrass Festival, Feb. 28, 2015 in Vienna, VA.
The Hazel Dickens song contest celebrates the life and muse of one of bluegrass music's most beloved songwriters. From hardscrabble beginnings in West Virginia coal country in 1935, Hazel moved to Baltimore, MD, as a young woman to find factory work and quickly connected with local musicians. She started performing throughout the Baltimore/Washington region and was soon recognized for her singular mountain singing style and her gift with a lyric. Hazel wrote of coal miners, unionization, hard times, feminism and much more. She recorded several albums with duo partner Alice Gerrard in the 1960s and 1970s and went on to release four records as a solo artist. Among her best known songs are Won't You Come and Sing for Me, West Virginia My Home, Few Old Memories and Mama’s Hand. Hazel was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship in 2001 from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her life came to a close in 2011 following complications from pneumonia.
All proceeds from the Hazel Dickens Song Contest go to the DC Bluegrass Union, a 501(c)3 nonprofit membership organization with a mission to promote bluegrass music in the greater Washington region through education and performance.
