Barbecue Bob (1902-1931)

Barbecue Bob was born Robert Hicks in 1902 in Walnut Grove, GA. When Robert was young, his parents, sharecroppers, moved to Newton County, where he and his older brother Charlie first showed an interest in music. They were soon taking guitar lessons from Savannah ``Dip'' Weaver, who was also teaching her son James, better known as Curley. The two Hicks brothers befriended the younger Weaver boy and often practiced together. (Snap Hill, a friend of theirs whom Bruce Bastin had found still living in Newton County in the '70s, said that the Hicks brothers were as likely to play a six-string as their trademark twelve-string in their early days.) After a while, these three were often seen playing at local frolics and fish fries with a young harmonica wizard named Eddie Mapp, who had moved to the area about 1922. In 1924, Robert followed his brother to Atlanta, taking on odd jobs to supplement his music income. By all accounts Robert was an easy-going man who enjoyed life and relied on his musicianship for most of his living. He often worked with Charlie, Curley, and Eddie (or some combination thereof) around Atlanta. Eventually he wound up working at Tidwell's Barbecue in the suburb of Buckhead, cooking and playing for the patrons who would occaisionally carry him off to parties after work.

Somehow or another, he came to the attention of Columbia Records scout Dan Hornsby. Hornsby was leading a remote recording team on their way through town to New Orleans and were making recordings along the way. Hornsby decided to use Hicks' job at Tidwell 's as a gimmick, photographing him in a chef's whites and hat and dubbing him ``Barbecue Bob''. Given these hooks, Hicks' local reputation, and the song's catchy rhythm, Barbecue Blues was sure to be something of a hit, ensuring Hicks a chance to record again. This time he went to New York City and recorded Mississippi Heavy Water Blues, which sold quite well for self-accompanied blues. His name and reputation established, Hicks recorded for Columbia every time they came through Atlanta and was frequently brought to New York. His Motherless Chile Blues (recently blanded by Eric Clapton) was also quite popular. In addition to being a big seller, Hicks was responsible for getting the company to record his brother (under the name Laughin g Charley Lincoln). Robert also brought his old friends Curley Weaver and Eddie Mapp and a young, talented harmonica player and guitarist named Buddy Moss to the recording industry's attention. (These four, in various combinations, recorded under the name The Georgia Cotton Pickers.) By 1930, however, the Depression was hitting the recording industry hard, particularly in the blues and country fields. Robert Hicks made his last recordings in December of 1930, all the more of a shame since his guitar playi ng was becoming more inventive and gaining a wider range. He died from pneumonia brought on by influenza on October 21, 1931, a year after his wife and two years after his mother had passed away.

The so-called Newton County style of guitar played by Robert and Charlie Hicks, Curley Weaver (to a lesser extent), and two or three other recorded artists is fairly unique. Snap Hill, who knew the Hicks brothers and also learned guitar from Curley's mother, played in the same style. Bruce Bastin has pointed out that the percussive style is similar to African-American pre-blues banjo playing and that the style lent itself well to a twelve-string guitar. For a few years in the late '20s the style was fairly popular (mainly in Barbecue Bob's records) but seems to have left little lasting influence and no artist left a protege'. Occaisionally a blues artist has mentioned Barbecue Bob as an influence