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Bobby Hicks

Musician · b. July 21, 1933, Newton, North Carolina — d. August 16, 2024, Marshall, North Carolina · fiddle · Wikipedia · Also a recording artist
Primary Instrument Fiddle

Bobby Hicks was one of the most revered fiddlers in bluegrass history — a Bill Monroe veteran whose seven-decade career spans classic Blue Grass Boys recordings, Ricky Skaggs’s country hits and Kentucky Thunder, the Bluegrass Album Band, and countless sessions with virtually every major artist in the genre. His combination of pristine tone, classic long-bow technique, and unshowy authority made him a model of what a traditional bluegrass fiddler can be. Inducted into the IBMA Hall of Fame in 2017, he remained active into his nineties.

  • Born Robert Caldwell Hicks in Newton, North Carolina. Started playing fiddle before age nine. Won the North Carolina State Fiddle Championship at age eleven playing “Black Mountain Rag.”
  • Family moved to Greensboro in 1945. In the early 1950s joined Jim Eanes’s band in Danville, Virginia, his first professional work.
  • Hired by Bill Monroe in 1953 as bass player; promoted to fiddle when Gordon Terry was drafted. First recorded with the Blue Grass Boys on December 31, 1954. Monroe called him “the truest fiddler” he had ever heard.
  • Played on classic Monroe Decca recordings including “Roanoke,” “Wheel Hoss,” and “Scotland” (double-tracking himself to create Monroe’s first Scottish-style twin-fiddle arrangement — one of the most influential fiddle performances in bluegrass history).
  • Left the Blue Grass Boys in 1956 for the U.S. Army. Returned briefly in 1958–1959.
  • Spent 1963–1970 in Las Vegas as fiddler and musical arranger for Judy Lynn’s country-western show band — an unusual detour that honed his versatility.
  • Returned to North Carolina in the mid-1970s. Met Ricky Skaggs at Camp Springs festivals. Joined Skaggs’s touring band in 1981 for his breakthrough country career, staying 22 years through 2003.
  • Recorded fiddle on Skaggs’s #1 country hits including “Crying My Heart Out Over You,” “Highway 40 Blues,” “Heartbroke,” “Uncle Pen,” “Country Boy,” “Honey (Open That Door),” and “I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could.”
  • Remained with Skaggs through the transition to bluegrass and into Kentucky Thunder (formed 1997). Key fiddler on the Grammy-winning Bluegrass Rules! (1997) and Ancient Tones (1999).
  • Founding fiddler of the Bluegrass Album Band with J.D. Crowe, Tony Rice, Doyle Lawson, and Todd Phillips. Anchored all six Bluegrass Album Band volumes (1981–1996).
  • Solo album Fiddle Patch (Rounder, 1998) won the IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year. Also released a fiddle duet album Darkness on the Delta (1980) with Kenny Baker.
  • After leaving Kentucky Thunder in 2003, performed with Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, Hazel Creek, and as a guest on countless recordings.
  • Three-time Grammy winner and ten-time nominee. Inducted into the Fiddlers Hall of Fame (2002) and the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2017).
  • Continued to perform into his nineties, living in Marshall, North Carolina with wife Cathy. Celebrated the 70th anniversary of his first Grand Ole Opry appearance in 2024.
  • Died peacefully at home on August 16, 2024, at age 91. Was scheduled for induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame two months later.
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