Bobby Hicks Fiddle Death – Bobby Hicks, a Grammy Award-winning American bluegrass fiddler and musician with more than fifty years of experience has passed away. He was announced dead in a social media post that reads:
“One of my bluegrass fiddling heroes Bobby Hicks passed away this morning. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve listened to his work and his fiddling with the great Bluegrass Album. Rest in peace Bobby, you’ll be missed greatly!” He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017.
Who was Bobby Hicks?
Bobby Hicks began learning to play the fiddle before he was nine years old. He was born in Newton, North Carolina, on July 21, 1933. After attending multiple fiddlers’ conventions, he played the tune “Black Mountain Rag” to win the “North Carolina State Championship” at the age of eleven.
He became a member of Jim Eanes’ band in the early 1950s. Through Carlton Haney, the planner for bluegrass festivals, he was engaged in 1953 to play bass with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys.
Before he recorded with the Bluegrass Boys on December 31, 1954, he had made the transition to the fiddle. It was at this time that he studied “Nashville swing” with session fiddler Dale Potter; Hicks frequently performed in this style when traveling with Bill Monroe. Hicks was called “the truest fiddler he had ever heard” by Monroe. In 1956, he went to enlist in the army after recording seven songs with Monroe.
About Bobby Hicks
Following his release from prison in 1958, he re-joined the Bluegrass Boys and recorded eleven more songs. 1959 saw him depart to work for Porter Wagoner.
He relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada, later in 1963, where he spent the following seven years as a regular on the Judy Lynn Show. He became a member of Ricky Skaggs in 1981 and remained with him for 23 years.
He frequently shared the stage and record booth with Bill Monroe in the mid-to-late 1980s. In 2002, he was admitted to the “Fiddlers Hall of Fame”. In 2003, he made an appearance with “Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys”. He performed with “Hazel Creek” the next year. He commemorated his 50 years at the Grand Ole Opry in 2004. Bobby Hicks has won ten Grammy awards. He has released more than ten albums.