(estimated reading time 1 minute 42 seconds)
When I volunteered to write poems for Matriarch, a tribute album to Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, I knew a little about Hazel’s music (mostly from Matewan and Harlan County USA) but I had no idea how deeply her life and music would affect me when I stopped to really listen.
I grew up watching my mother threatened and sometimes attacked by a man she was dating. Listening to Natasha Trethewey’s heartbreaking Memorial Drive, about her mother’s abuse and murder, brought my own family’s past back to me. While those days and night of terror are in the past for me, it is the present, dangerous reality for too many women and children. That’s why I’m so glad that $2 from each Matriarch album sold, streaming or old-fashioned CDs, will go to New Horizons, a women’s shelter that serves a 46-mile radius in La Crosse.
The most recent statistics available show that in Wisconsin, 1 in 3 women will have suffered physical violence from an intimate partner sometime in their lifetimes. The pandemic has increased that likelihood of abuse but we won’t know the scope of the problem for some time. But we do know though that help is needed now more than ever. I hope you’ll considerbuying Matriarch and discovering (or rediscovering) the music of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard (you can get it for under $10 and if you purchase it between May 12 and May 18, you just might help boost it into Billboard’s top bluegrass albums).
The songs that Hazel wrote are a balm, and I believe provide hope for a path forward that honors working people and brings us back together again. But even if you don’t buy the album, I hope you’ll consider donating to New Horizons or a domestic abuse shelter in your area. If you find yourself in an abusive situation right now, I hope you’ll find safety and peace, because you deserve it.
In the meantime, I give you “Pretty Bird,” one of my favorites of Hazel’s songs.
Thank you for listening,
Rita Mae