One thing that fiddle player Betsy Heron, banjo player Gretchen Bowder, guitar player Whitney Roy, and bass player Kindsay Lassonde have in common, is their love of Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerard’s music, as well as a mutual respect for the women themselves. In March of 2020 when they began to enjoy casually getting together for an evening of jamming, they discovered their common admiration for the duo and that each one of them had their own favorites tunes. Their conversations about the groundbreaking duo led them to learn more about Dickens’ and Gerrard’s tunes and in 2023 they decided to start The Hazel Project.
When we interviewed them this past summer at the final Thomas Point Bluegrass Festival, all four of them made crystal clear that The Hazel Project is more than a tribute band, and it is not a cover band. Guitarist and singer Roy explained, “our goal is not to replicate Hazel and Alice’s specific musical styles or idiosyncratic phrasing. We do not try to sing with southern accents or mimic them.” Instead, the band plays the duo’s songs with their own authentic understanding, and love of the music.
Fiddle player/vocalist Heron, banjo player/vocalist Bowder, guitar player/vocalist Roy and bass player/vocalist Lassonde each discovered Dickens and Gerrard’s music at different times in their lives, and they all remember the first song they heard.
Bowder’s first memory of the duo was hearing West Virginia, My Home. She says, “I learned it immediately and I’ve been singing it ever since.” Heron particularly loved True Life Blues. She remembers, “My sisters and I would imitate their voices, and I always loved the raw sound they had compared to more polished country music that we heard on the radio.” Roy’s early personal favorite is Won’t You Come and Sing For Me. The beautiful melody, lyrics and tenderness really hit her hard. She says, “They delivered so delicately and yet with such strength.” Lassonde’s first favorite was also Won’t You Come and Sing For Me. She explains that she quickly learned it on guitar and sang it along with Whitney. “”I was captivated and still am by their powerful lyrics, raw harmonies and subject matter.”
Each member of the band finds Dickens’ and Gerrard’s crooked songs, lonesome harmonies, and idiosyncratic phrasing challenging to sing together. Bowder says, “We strive to find the right balance between Hazel’s raw emotion, tone, and delivery, which are beautifully balanced by Alice’s lower register and rounded tonal quality.”
The Hazel Project does not want to simply imitate Dickens and Gerrard. Instead, they want to create a version of the song that is emotionally authentic. Their goal is to stay true to Dickens and Gerrard but also true to themselves and their own musical interpretation of the songs.
In 2024, Candi Sawyer, promoter for Jenny Brook Bluegrass Festival in Turnbridge, Vermont, heard the band at Thomas Point, and she immediately wanted to hire them to play for Jenny Brook’s 2025 festival. Sawyer says that the first song she heard them sing was all it took. “As I walked into the stage area at Thomas Point Beach and heard Just A Few Old Memories by the Hazel Project, I was moved by their tribute to the late Hazel Dickens. Their dedication to preserving her legacy and passion for traditional bluegrass music continued throughout their set, making them an easy choice for Jenny Brook in 2025.”
You can see the Hazel Project at Ossipee Music Festival, Jennybrook Bluegrass Festival, and Lonesome Fest this summer as well as at local gigs in New England. Whether you are new to Dickens and Gerrard, or long-time fans of the pioneering duo, the Hazel Project’s musicianship and harmonies are reason enough to check out this newly emerging bluegrass band.
