Barbecue Bob

Robert Hicks (September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931), known as Barbecue Bob, was an American Piedmont blues musician who played 12 string guitar which was popular in the Atlanta, Georgia, area at the time. A record talent scout gave him his nickname because he worked as a cook in a barbecue restaurant. Hicks began playing the six string guitar but picked up the twelve string guitar after moving to Atlanta, in 1924. The record quickly sold 15,000 copies. At his second recording session, in New York City in June 1927, he recorded "Mississippi Heavy Water Blues", a song inspired by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and a recording that firmly established him in the race market. This song and his other blues releases were popular and his records sold better than those of other Atlanta blues musicians.

Musical style Hicks developed a "frailing" style of guitar playing more often associated with the traditional claw hammer banjo (as did his brother, and Curley Weaver). He regularly used a bottleneck on his twelve string guitar, playing in an open Spanish tuning (open G or open A tuning) reminiscent of Charley Patton. He had a strong voice which he embellished with growling and falsetto.

Influence Hicks had some influence on Atlanta blues musicians such as the young Buddy Moss, but his way of playing was quickly overshadowed by the finger-picked Piedmont blues style which rose in popularity by the late 1920s and early 1930s; this development can be heard in the recordings of Curley Weaver and the Reverend Gary Davis.

Eric Clapton played Hicks's "Motherless Child Blues" on stage and recorded it. John Fahey attributed his arrangement of "Poor Boy a Long Ways from Home" to Hicks in his 1979 Best Of book of tablature. Fahey attributed the song to the fictitious Blind Joe Death, writing that "Death learned this from an old Columbia record by Barbecue Bob [14246-D], which the Death household at one time possessed."

Recording sessions Atlanta, March 25, 1927 New York City, June 15, 1927 New York City, June 16, 1927 Atlanta, November 5, 1927 Atlanta, November 9, 1927 Atlanta, November 10, 1927 Atlanta, April 13, 1928 Atlanta, April 21, 1928 Atlanta, October 26, 1928 Atlanta, October 27, 1928 Atlanta, November 2, 1928 Atlanta, April 11, 1929 Atlanta, April 17, 1929 Atlanta, April 18, 1929 Atlanta, October 30, 1929 Atlanta, November 3, 1929 Atlanta, November 6, 1929 Atlanta, April 17, 1930 Atlanta, April 18, 1930 Atlanta, April 23, 1930 Atlanta, December 5, 1930 Atlanta, December 7, 1930 Atlanta, December 8, 1930