Charlie Hicks (aka 'Laughing' Charlie Lincoln) (1900-1963)

Charlie Lincoln was born Charlie Hicks in Walnut Grove, GA, in 1900. When he was young, his parents moved the family to Newton County. He and younger brother Robert first showed an interest in music. Their family wasn't too musical, so they were soon taking guitar lessons from Savannah ``Dip'' Weaver. They instantly became friends with her young son James, better known as Curley, and often practiced together. (The Hicks brothers would play either a six-string as their trademark twelve-string in those days, according to their old friend Snap Hill.) 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. Charlie moved to Atlanta in 1923, the first of his circle of Newton County friends to do so. He married, settled down, and got steady work, first in a foundary, then a bakery, and finally at a paint factory. He only played music on the side, and one wonders if his wife had anything to do with that. Unlike his easy-going younger brother, Charlie Hicks did not make friends easily; he kept to himself, got moody at times, and was not like the laguhing character on some of his recordings. When he did play around Atlanta, he often worked with Robert, Curley, and Eddie (or some combination thereof) and rarely played with other musicians.

After his younger brother's first hit, Charlie was brought into the studios with him to record for Columbia in 1927. He recorded with his brother as part of The Georgia Cotton Pickers and as a duet in addition to making his own records. Columbia released his records under the names "Charlie (or Charley) Lincoln" and "Laughing Charley". No one could say why "Lincoln" was used, though it was the maiden name of Eddie Mapp's mother. He recorded steadily over the next three years, though only three of his own records were released. His brother's death from pneumonia in 1931 hit him hard, coming two years after his mother's and one year after his sister-in-law's. His sister recalled that "he was just a different Charlie altogether", and his life fell apart. His marriage broke up (his wife later dying of pneumonia as well), and after his father's death in 1935, he became an alcoholic. By 1955 he had already attacked two or three persons with a knife. Then on Christmas Day, his trouble deepened. He was in a rough section of town and, according to him, tried to stop a man from beating his common-law wife. When the man threw a bottle, Charlie shot him. Eyewitnesses said that Charie shot the man for no apparent reason. He was found guilty and given twenty years. In prison, he continued to play his twelve-string, though he'd only play religious songs. Big Joe Williams recalled meeting a twelve-string player at the prison, but didn't realize that he was "Charlie Lincoln". Hicks' parole was was turned down after seven years; soon after that, he died of a brain hemorrhage.