Organic Records recording artist Anya Hinkle took home 3rd place honors in the 2019 Hazel Dickens Song Contest with her song, “Ballad of Zona Abston.” Hinkle is the lead singer in the Asheville-based “Appalachicana” band, Tellico.
The songwriting competition is hosted by theDC Bluegrass Union which promotes bluegrass music through performance and education in the greater Washington, DC area.
Hinkle was humbled by the award saying, “I’ve always loved [Hazel Dickens’] music. When I was getting into singing—the Hazel & Alice recordings, you know—are just so critical for any woman in bluegrass music.” It is especially poignant, too, because Hinkleconnects with her Japanese audiences through Dickens’ songs. “When I’ve toured in Japan, my music buddies there remember when Hazel came to Japan in 1985. They know the words to all her songs.”
“Ballad of Zona Abston” recounts the hardships of growing up in a coal mining family, and touches on familiar themes that continue to cast a long shadow across the greater Appalachian region. Growth and progress is slow-moving, and families survive by depending on each other and doing whatever it takes to put food on the table.
Hinkle’s longtime friend, Jack Stoddart — otherwise known as “Hippie Jack”— invited her to his farm, located on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, to lend a hand in lifting up the community through song.
“It’s kind of turned into a songwriting project to help get their voices heard,” says Hinkle. “Hippie wanted me to meet Zonawho is 76. She lives on Social Security and she’s got this incredible story — which she told me over her kitchen table. So, I simply put it to music. That’s it.”Stoddart has a nationwide reputation for his Americana music series Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s, which broadcasts regularly on public television. His concert series and yearly music festivals not only support the Americana music community, but also, literally help fund, feed, and clothe his community in middle Tennessee.
Hinkle proves herself a masterful lyricist as she chronicles Zona’s plight of loss and perseverance:
“The mining’s all done but we’re still on this mountain
Guess our roots were stronger than our wings
And flyin’ ain’t as easy when it’s pennies that you’re counting
While the company men are off living like kings”“Ballad of Zona Abston” is one of nine tracks on Tellico’s recent 2018 release, Woven Waters, produced by Irish guitar legend, John Doyle.
To listen to “Ballad of Zona Abston” and the other Hazel Dickens’ songwriting contest finalists, visit DC Bluegrass Union’s website.
About Tellico
Tellico is another fine product of Asheville NC’s renowned roots music scene. Its members are well-schooled in roots music, bringing an unbridled, organic “Appalachia-cana” voice to the region’s music. They masterfully explore the beauty of song craft through the lens of the Appalachian string band tradition. The band’s distinctive sound combines some of the most authentic voices and instrumentalists with a compelling catalog of songs.
Tellico features the singing and songwriting of Anya Hinkle (guitar, fiddle) and Stig Stiglets (bass, harmonica), with Aaron Ballance on dobro and Jed Willis on mandolin and clawhammer banjo.“Woven Waters is a far-ranging album that intertwines the political and the personal… Tellico reminds us to slow down and truly absorb our experiences. We cannot abandon our own humanity, even when others try to grind it out of us.” –Rachel Cholst, No Depression
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