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Bill Hicks...
continues to be active in
music as well as the physical life of stone masonry. He and his wife Libby
play contra dances around the southeast and various concerts and gigs featuring
their wide ranging vocal interests: original songs, blues, swing, and harmony
duets. Bill performs his original songs at solo venues and frequently steps
out with former Red Clay Ramblers Jim Watson and Mike Craver along with
Joe Newberry to crank up the old model T yet again. Bill and Libby have
a Copper Creek CD, South of Nowhere. Bill recorded a live show at
the Cave in Chapel Hill and self-produced a CD,
The Perfect Gig,
featuring his original songs and guitar playing in a solo context. He does
occasional studio work with various musicians, including all of Jim Watson's
solo recordings and Chapel Hill's Joe Woodson. Bill and Libby teach occasionally
at the Augusta Heritage Workshops, and--in the summer of '04--at Allegheny
Echoes in Marlinton, WV. Bill is a contributing editor of the Old Time
Herald. He has taken advantage of the existence of this website to
start his little blog of opinions: Admit One Journal as well as a corner
of blogspot.com called "Ramblings of a Fiddler." Links to all of
the above are found on William
Hicks Masonry |
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Founding
Red Clay Ramblers Mike Craver,
Bill
Hicks and Jim Watson reunited
in 2001 at the Festival for the Eno and play increasing numbers of concerts
each year. If they don't come where you are, then we recommend that
you travel. (photo by Tom Cox)
Craver,
Hicks, Watson, Newberry
Check
their schedule
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| Between Bill & Libby
gigs, Bill Hicks solos his original songs, accompanied not by his legendary
fiddle, but by both electric and acoustic guitars. (Old-timers, hold
your snow cones.) One night Bill entertained the crowd at The Cave
in Chapel Hill while over on the side, Rick Ramirez of Temple Ball Productions
had set up his equipment to record. The result - Bill's solo CD The
Perfect Gig - can be yours. Write
Bill for info. |
Bill Hicks
The Cave
November 14, 2001
(recording The Perfect Gig)
More
pics and review of the show
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When Bill's not fiddlin'
or writing, he creates in masonry. He built these steps a few years
ago for a Duke Professor of Economics. View his work at William
Hicks Masonry. |
Bill as seen by a fan at the Beaufort
Music Festival
larger
version!
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"Sixty
isn't nearly as old as it used to be"
Bill at his birthday party,
January 2003 |
Blurred
Time is Bill's witty history of the Red Clay Ramblers during his
years from 1972-1981. The journey includes some of his short stories
as well. He changed the names to protect the anything-but-innocent,
but we bet you can figure out who's who.
Explore
the roots of the Red Clay Ramblers. Bill was a member of the Fuzzy
Mountain String Band before becoming a Blur. We've added some new
pics of the Fuzzies, Bill with Tommy Jarrell, and a pre-Fuzzy band
of Bill's, the Smokey Grass Band.
Susan
Ketchin interviewed Bill back in 1978 about
his music. More interviews from those days are linked from the Red
Clay Ramblers Souvenirs
Fiddlin'
Bill's article "A Remembrance: In Honor of a Reunion of Middle-Aged
Old-Time Musicians at Camp New Hope, Orange County, NC, April, 1989"
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