John Hickman born 7 October 1942

John Hickman (October 7, 1942 – May 11, 2021) was an American five-string banjo player. 

Hickman was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He bought his first banjo in 1957 and after listening intently to all the old Flatt and Scruggs’ 78s, began a life of total dedication to the five-string. He became one of the most appreciated and distinctive banjo pickers in California bluegrass circles. 

After graduating from high school around 1960, John began first performing professionally in the Columbus area with guitarist Bill Dunken and mandolin player Don Sours. The group was relatively short-lived and in 1962, Hickman enlisted in the Marine Corps. He was fortunate though to have been stationed in West Virginia and during his free time would travel about the countryside with his banjo and occasionally jam with bluegrass musicians such as Buzz Busby, Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and The Kentuckians, Mike Auldridge and Ben Eldridge. 

Upon his release from the service in 1964, Hickman headed directly back to Columbus and quickly formed a trio with guitarist Landen Rowe and the late Pee Wee Lambert on mandolin. Though the union lasted for only about a year, John, intent upon continuing his musical career, immediately joined up with the Dixie Gentlemen, another Columbus group comprised of Sid Campbell on guitar, Ralph (Robbie) Robinson on mandolin, Chuck Cordell on bass, and of course, Hickman on the five-string. The group remained strictly local, performing in small clubs and bars around the Columbus area.

Hickman soon found himself in still a third Columbus group, this time composed of Earl Taylor (of Stoney Mountain Boys fame) and comedian “Boat Whistle” McIntyre. This group stayed together for about three years and like the previous two groups, performed at festivals and small clubs in the vicinity of Columbus. It was in 1969 that Hickman finally made the move to southern California, and with his wife Sidney, lived there ever since. Soon after his arrival, John formed a trio with his brother George and mandolinist Scott Hambly. The group quickly worked up enough material to perform in a “Bluegrass Showcase” at McCabes—a Santa Monica music store-turned concert hall and a leading force in the promotion of traditional folk and bluegrass music on the West Coast. 

                                   

It was there at McCabes, Hickman was “discovered” by fiddler Byron Berline and banjoist Alan Munde, both of the Country Gazette. Berline and Munde frequented McCabes, especially when the show featured bluegrass, and it was fortunate for John’s career that they did. Berline, it seems, was extremely impressed with Hickman’s command of the five-string, and through him, John was introduced and became close picking friends with such musicians as the late Clarence White and his brother Roland, Doug Dillard, and John Hartford. 

After settling in the Los Angeles area, Hickman stacked up a number of important credits previous to his job on the Smothers’ Show: he has played on a country album featuring Danny Michaels; dubbed banjo over a number of rock tunes; sat in on what he described was a country-gospel album which also included Byron Berline, Roland White, Roger Bush (of the Country Gazette), and Dobro player Leroy Mack (once associated with The Kentucky Colonels). Hickman’s banjo playing can also be heard on the album “Black Mountain Blues” on Briar Records, which features fiddler Leslie Keith, composer of the famous “Black Mountain Rag.” John has done a seventeen-day western promotional tour for Disneyland and with Corn Bred, recorded a radio commercial for Retronox (an anti-smog device). 

His banjo playing was always marked by its simplicity, especially as compared to the more experimental styles in vogue during the 1970s and ’80s, and the clean and crisp tone of everything he played. There was only a single banjo album, Don’t Mean Maybe in 1978, which brought him tremendous attention in the banjo community. A humble and unassuming man, the limelight was never something he craved, and John seemed most comfortable in the accompanist’s role, where he excelled over five albums with Berline, Crary, and Hickman during the ’80s, and a reunion project in 2002. He and Berline also cut a duet project, Double Trouble, in 2006. 

When Berline returned home to Oklahoma in 1995, Hickman followed along and worked as a teacher and luthier in Byron’s music store, Double Stop Fiddle Shop. There he remained until his retirement, while also playing with The Byron Berline Band. Despite a long career as a professional banjo player, In 2015 John fell and broke his hip, which at 72 years of age was a major concern. But he underwent surgery at Mercy Hospital in Oklahoma City. 

John’s most lasting legacy may be as a banjo instructor, something he had started doing not long he started playing in 1957, and remained a primary focus of his career until he was unable to keep playing as cancer and cardiac problems took him from music. Hickman died on May 11, 2021, following a long illness. He passed away quietly in his sleep, at home with his wife, Sue, by his side. He was 78 years of age.

(Edited from Bluegrass Unlimited & Bluegrass Today)