RIP Hazel Dickens

At Metafilter I discover that Hazel Dickens has died, and I am sorry to hear it. Her version of Hills of Galilee has long been basically my favorite piece of music in the whole very wide world. I've long said that, if I ever go Christian, it'll be the music that does it. Bach, sure... Who doesn't love Bach. But mostly old-time gospel and bluegrass and suchlike. I've got fairly broad-ranging musical taste, clustering toward punk and alt-rock/geek rock...but the other major clustering point is bluegrass/old-time. Bluegrass sounds like home, and no other music speaks to me on that level. It's far from Dickens's only great song, but Hills of Galilee is, IMHO, an astonishing piece of artistry. It affects me so deeply that I don't let myself listen to it unless I'm exactly in the mood, and then I only listen if I can give it my full attention. If you're not familiar with it, do yourself a favor and give it a listen.