Barbecue Bob

Barbecue Bob
Robert Hicks, "Barbecue Bob" (1927)
Background information
Birth name	Robert Hicks
Also known as	Barbecue Bob
Born	(1902-09-11)September 11, 1902 Walnut Grove, Georgia, United States
Died	October 21, 1931(1931-10-21) (aged 29) Lithonia, Georgia
Genres	Piedmont blues, country blues
Instruments	Guitar, vocals
Years active	1920s–1931
Associated acts	Curley Weaver
Notable instruments
Twelve-string guitar

Robert Hicks, better known as Barbecue Bob (September 11, 1902 – October 21, 1931), was an early American Piedmont blues musician. His nickname was derived from his working as a cook in a barbecue restaurant. One of the two extant photographs of him show him playing a guitar and wearing a full-length white apron and cook's hat.

Hicks was born in Walnut Grove, Georgia. His parents, Charlie and Mary Hicks, were farmers. He and his brother, Charlie Hicks, together with Curley Weaver, were taught how to play the guitar by Curley's mother, Savannah "Dip" Weaver. Bob began playing the 6-string guitar but picked up the 12-string guitar after moving to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1923 or 1924. He became one of the prominent performers of the newly developing Atlanta blues style.

In Atlanta, Hicks worked at various jobs, playing music on the side. While working at Tidwells' Barbecue in a north Atlanta suburb, he came to the attention of Columbia Records talent scout Dan Hornsby. Hornsby recorded him and used Hicks's job to publicize his records, having Hicks pose in chef's whites and hat for publicity photos and dubbing him "Barbecue Bob". Before his death in 1931, he married a woman named Claudine and lived off of Hillard Street in Atlanta.

During his short career Hicks recorded 68 78-rpm sides. His first, "Barbecue Blues", was recorded in March 1927. The record quickly sold 15,000 copies and made him a best-selling artist for Columbia's race series. Following this initial success, his next release firmly established him in the race market. 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. This song and his other blues releases were popular, and his records sold better than those of other Atlanta blues musicians.