Peter Hicks, a beloved bluegrass fiddler and mandolin player who performed with Bean Creek, the Central Valley Boys, the Courthouse Ramblers, and other area bluegrass bands, died on October 9, 2022. He was 70 years old. He was a fixture on stage and in jams at Northern California bluegrass festivals for the past four decades.
Hick’s father was in the Air Force and he spent much of his youth in Europe, mainly in Germany, France, and England, with some time back on the US East Coast. He attended high school in Mannheim, Germany and later in Savannah, GA. He was a graduate of New York University, where he earned tuition funds by driving a New York City taxi cab.
He first heard bluegrass music on the Grand Ole Opry broadcasts on Armed Forces Radio. During college, he heard some Flatt & Scruggs recordings, began to play mandolin, and in 1971 was privileged to lend his instrument to Don Reno during a live Reno & Smiley concert on campus. His first festival was the 1972 Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention in North Carolina. Pete & some friends quickly put together a band for the contest so they could get into the event free.
After graduation with a degree in Germanic Language & Literature in 1972, Pete spent two years teaching at the US Army Education Center in Thailand. After hours, he organized a bluegrass band with fellow teachers and army personnel. He learned to play fiddle to be in that band.
After his Army job ended, Pete spent two years in Hawaii playing in bluegrass bands and learning to play Hawaiian music. He returned for a long vacation in Hawaii in the early 2000s to spend time playing with his old musical friends in Kailua on Oahu.
Pete arrived in Northern California in 1976. He has been an active member of the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society/Northern California Bluegrass Society and married to the former NCBS President Lora Ellen Hicks Landregan. He has performed at almost every Good Old Fashioned Bluegrass Festival and Bluegrass On Broadway Festival as well as at other NCBS events. His bands have won Best Bluegrass Band honors and he has been named the top performer on both of his instruments in the NCBS Northern California Bluegrass Awards.
Pete’s soulful instrumental performance style was matched by his deep, intense bass singing. His good humor and smile contributed to his bands’ stage personalities. Pete was a regular at weeknight shows at Phil’s Fish Market in Moss Landing and at Sam’s BBQ in San Jose.
With the support of others in the community, Pete and his wife Lora staged Hickstival, a small Memorial Day Weekend bluegrass campout and festival at Bolado Park in Tres Pinos for a number of years.
Hicks continued his language studies, earning a master’s degree in English As A Second Language at the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He put this degree to use by teaching recent immigrants from around the world at the Salinas Adult School. There was no start or end date for the weekday classes — students could join at any time and determine that they had learned sufficient English language skills at any time. The native languages of the class often exceeded a dozen or more at the same time. Hick’s students left his class ready to participate in US society and greatly appreciated Pete’s flexible teaching abilities.
Pete’s other Salinas involvement was with the California Rodeo Band at the huge annual rodeo at the local fairgrounds. The band would perform for two weeks straight for all the competitive events and ceremonies, and often late into the night. Pete even brought a small version of the rodeo band, The Trail Ride Band, to play regularly at Phil’s the rest of the year.
After he retired from teaching, Pete spent many hours working as a luthier at his home in Aromas, making and repairing instruments for his fellow acoustic musicians.
His Bean Creek bandmates Billy Pitrone & Sarah Eblen sang for him one last time in his hospital room before he died. A small memorial bluegrass gathering for Peter E. Hicks will be held at Bolado Park on Memorial Day Weekend in 2023.
Beautiful obit. Beautiful soul.