Russ Hicks R.I.P.

Jerry Lee Newberry · Post by **Jerry Lee Newberry** » 12 Dec 2023 5:27 am

So sorry for the loss of Russ Hicks. He was a great player. He will be missed. Thoughts and prayers for Laney and Family.

Jerry, Donna & Austin

Bill Lowe · Post by **Bill Lowe** » 12 Dec 2023 5:44 am

Very sad, talked with Russ at few shows. He took the the time to talk with a nobody. He seemed like a nice guy cool dude to hang with. Prayers to his family.

Cody Johnson · Post by **Cody Johnson** » 12 Dec 2023 6:01 am

Hate to hear this! RIP Russ.

Dale Rottacker · Post by **Dale Rottacker** » 12 Dec 2023 6:14 am

This is sad to hear ... Had a nice visit with Russ in Dallas a couple years ago. He was flipped out over my Jolly Rancher MSA, and said he was ordering one just like it only in an SD-10.

Ran across Russ and Jimmy's Chicken Pick'n Album a while back ... it's more special today.

Keeping Laney and family in our thoughts and prayers.

Paul Wade · Post by **Paul Wade** » 12 Dec 2023 6:30 am

so sad prayers are sent to family god bless

p.w

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 12 Dec 2023 6:30 am

I'm so sad to hear this. I so looked forward to seeing him, and backing him up at the Mesa show. He was always one of my favorites, and such a cool guy.
The steel world has lost another of the greats.
The first time I played with him was in Mesa with Leona Williams, and he just embodied steel in a way that touched me...it was perfect.
I'll always think of him whenever I hear Shenandoah.
My most sincere condolences to his wife, Laney...his children and grandchildren, and to all who knew and loved him.

Vaya con Dios, RH...

Ron Whitworth · Post by **Ron Whitworth** » 12 Dec 2023 6:50 am

So sad to read this.
I really enjoyed talking with Russ at the steel shows.
I remember getting on an elevator at one of the steel shows and Russ was in there and some other folks also.
Russ and I started talking & one of the folks asked who he was.
I spoke up & said this is Russ Hicks.
The person had no clue who that was so Russ winked at me and said " I am Mr. Laney Hicks"
& we all laughed about that.
He was fun to be around.
My sincerest condolences to Laney & all of his
family and friends.
R.I.P. my friend.
Ron

Terry Wood · Post by **Terry Wood** » 12 Dec 2023 6:55 am

Sorry to hear this, Russ Hicks was a good friend and Steel Guitar hero of mine. He was my Special Steel Guitar guest in 2008, performing on my Steel Guitar Show. He was a Great Steel Guitarist and Prince of a Guy! Prayers for his Family and many friends!

Tony Edwards · Post by **Tony Edwards** » 12 Dec 2023 7:02 am

I first saw Russ in the mid '60's when he was with The Slim Mimms Show. If I'm not badly mistaken, he left Slim and played for Kitty Wells for a while and later on Hee Haw. I saw Russ a few years back at the Southern Steel Guitar Show in Saluda, SC. He was as nice a guy as you would ever want to meet. Another one of the all-time greats has crossed on over to the other side. RIP. Prayers for Laney.

Bruce Bouton · Post by **Bruce Bouton** » 12 Dec 2023 7:06 am

Russ was a good man. The first time I met him was with Lionel Wedling. We went out to the log house he had built himself expecting a steel guitar lesson. Instead we jumped in his truck and went out on his property and cleared rocks for four hours:)

I went to more than a few potlucks at his house. Those were the good old days in Nashville.

Rest in peace Russ!

Bruce Bouton · Post by **Bruce Bouton** » 12 Dec 2023 7:07 am

Russ was a good man. The first time I met him was with Lionel Wedling. We went out to the log house he had built himself expecting a steel guitar lesson. Instead we jumped in his truck and went out on his property and cleared rocks for four hours:)

I went to more than a few potlucks at his house. Those were the good old days in Nashville.

Rest in peace Russ!

Dennis Wireman · Post by **Dennis Wireman** » 12 Dec 2023 7:18 am

I always tried to stop by at the booth of you 2 and talk with Russ. Enjoyed it much. And we send our condolences to Laney and all family and friends. We have lost another great person and steel player.

Chuck S. Lettes · Post by **Chuck S. Lettes** » 12 Dec 2023 7:37 am

Sad news. I always enjoyed listening to Russ at the various steel shows. He was one of the greats, and I will miss him. My condolences to the Hicks family.
Chuck

Tiny Olson · Post by **Tiny Olson** » 12 Dec 2023 7:39 am

I'm really saddened to hear of Russ' passing. He was such a great player and guy. I remember many fun times with Russ and Jimmie at Jimmie's basement back in the 70s and 80s. There were a lot of laughs for sure but when the two of them sat down to play it would make your head spin..!! Incredible..!! I loved the early Mickey Gilley hits with Russ' steel all over them too. That was great stuff..!! Russ told me he used a Mosrite amp on those recordings.

My prayers and deepest sympathies go out to Laney and all Russ' family friends. God Bless all of them and keep Russ in His embrace now.

Chris "Tiny" Olson

Leon Champion · Post by **Leon Champion** » 12 Dec 2023 8:35 am

A good friend and a great musician MAY YOU R I P . Prayers sent for Laney and the girls.

Steve Cattermole · Post by **Steve Cattermole** » 12 Dec 2023 9:27 am

So sad to hear about Russ. He was always nice to me. I'll miss his sets , he had his own style, and it was great. RIP Russ

Roger Hand · Post by **Roger Hand** » 12 Dec 2023 9:45 am

I only knew him from playing with his W/VA neighbor ,roger lilly, who always had good things too say about him. roger passed five years ago

Edward Efira · Post by **Edward Efira** » 12 Dec 2023 10:01 am

G*dspeed Russ, You were my friend and my mentor, I'll never forget you

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 12 Dec 2023 10:19 am

very saddened to learn of this news, RIP Russ, Peace and payers to Laney and the entire Hicks family and friends.

Dave Van Allen · Post by **Dave Van Allen** » 12 Dec 2023 11:06 am

So sorry to read this. I was a big BFJ fan.

Decades ago When Last Train Home first went to Nashville for some showcases Russ came backstage at the Exit Inn after our set and was extremely gracious and complimentary. I was *star struck* and in awe that he actually went out of his way to do so.

His explorations with BFJ never seem to get the attention I believe he deserved for expanding steel guitar horizons.
Rest In Peace

Larry Baker · Post by **Larry Baker** » 12 Dec 2023 12:33 pm

So sorry to read this. I'm glad I was able to meet him and be a friend. Prayers to Laney and the family. God Bless.
Jean and Larry.

Mark McConville · Post by **Mark McConville** » 12 Dec 2023 1:38 pm

I'm sad to hear this.

I met Russ at a SWSGA show a few years back and was so thrilled to tell him that his playing on an odd record called 12 Golden Country Greats by Ween was one of the big reasons I picked up the instrument. He was so gracious and funny and told me about getting that call.

He also gave me some advice that I think about all the time: Pedal steel guitar takes a lot of practice and work, but if you love it, it'll never feel like work. When it feels like work, take a break and come back to it. Simple advice, but they way he said it and the solemn way he looked dead in my eyes to drive it home, it has stuck with me to this day.

My thoughts are with his friends and family.

Jerome Vogel · Post by **Jerome Vogel** » 12 Dec 2023 2:03 pm

Very sad news. Russ was a friend, and a great steel player. I kind of thought of him as part of the Weldon Myrick branch of the family tree, perhaps the last. But Russ always cited Buddy Emmons as his #1; he took up pedal steel after seeing Buddy play. He was stylistically versatile, but also had a style that was uniquely his own.

Russ was a witty guy, and fun to hang out with, as others have mentioned. He was a great story teller. I'll miss all of that, and more.

Re: Jim Harrison's photos... The Zum is Troy Porter's, borrowed at the SWSGA show. The next two are of "El Dorado", a Sho-bud that was rebuilt a couple times. I think it was named after a Cadillac Russ owned.

Here's a bio Russ wrote in 2004 for a now-defunct website:

Music has been a huge part of my life for as far back as I can remember. At age thirteen I started playing trumpet in the school band. At about the same time I got a lap steel (Gibson BR9) & amp. Someone showed me how to invert the second and third string on the E tuning and use a reverse slant to get the E to A change. A few years later I get a Gibson Electraharp but didn't spend much time on it because of playing lead guitar in our high school rock & roll band. When I was 17 that band was signed to Decca Records and moved to Las Vegas. We recorded in L.A. and played gigs in Vegas, mostly at the Showboat Hotel. That's where I met Speedy West; he was playing with Billy Strange.

After a year in Vegas I left and joined my parents in Aiken, S.C., graduated from high school and went immediately to Chicago, playing the north side bars for almost three years. In 1963 I moved back to W.Va., got married, played local clubs and taught guitar in a music store. In 1965 I moved to Florence, S.C. to do a local T.V.show (Slim Mims Show). It was not until then that I got my first Emmons steel and at least was playing 50/50 lead and steel. When I went to the Emmons Factory in Burlington, N.C. to pick up my steel I played a little (very little) for Ron Lashley. When Weldon Myrick quit Connie Smith to play staff on the Opry he called Ron to see if he could recommend a replacement; he did (me) and that's how I got to Nashville (1967).

After I worked a while with Connie, Buddy Emmons decided to move to L.A. and play bass with Roger Miller so I went to work with Ray Price. It was lots of fun (five fiddles) but I had to move to Dallas and I didn't like not being in Nashville so I took the job with Kitty Wells and moved back to Nashville. While I was with Connie I played on her records at RC-B and while with Kitty on her recordings at Bradleys' Barn. That's where I met and recorded with some real giants like Grady Martin, Pig Robbins, Pete Wade, Buddy Harmon, Bob Moore, Jr. Huskey, Harold Bradley, and very lucky for me Charlie McCoy, who was very instrumental in getting me "in" and on a lot of studio accounts; not as many as the heavyweights of the 70s & 80s, but far more than I expected. I played on master recordings with such artists as Charlie, Jerry Wallace, Marty Robbins, Ronnie Milsap, Mickey Gilley, Larry Gatlin, Warner Mack, Jerry Lee Lewis, Tom T.Hall, Don Gibson, Mickey Newberry, Kenny Price, Wynn Stewart, Wanda Jackson, Johnnie Lee, Barbie Benton, Charlie Daniels Band, Connie, Kitty, and others. Charlie also got me on the staff band at Hee Haw when Curley Chalker moved back to Vegas.

In the early 70s Buddy Emmons, Jimmy Crawford and I formed a production/publishing company (Pixenbar Music) and did a lot of work at BRT Studio (Rusty Thornhill). It was during this time that the three of us, along with Sonny Garrish and John Hughey, recorded the 'Nashville Bar Association' album. Also during that time Jimmy and I did our first steel duet album 'Chicken Pickin' Good', and later 'Chicken Pickin' Plus', and I did my R&R album 'A Journey Into Yesterday'.

At the same time all that was going on, I was a member of the 'alternative country rock group' Barefoot Jerry, a group of studio musicians headed by the legendary Wayne Moss who got together to record our own 'brand' of music, sometimes not so commercial but lots of fun. It was during this time that the French artist Eddie Mitchell came to the states to record a series of albums with Nashville musisians; he also did a series of concert tours in Europe, using the same musicians who played on his Nashville recordings. In all we made five trips to Paris, either touring or doing concerts right in Paris at the Olympia Theatre; also a French T.V. special. Eddie was and is a huge star in France and was a fun way to expose people to pedal steel in Europe during that time period.

BFJ cut six albums during the six years I was with them, the last two being on the Monument label. Also on that label was a pretty blonde from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Laney Smallwood. When we met she decided she couldn't live without me so what could I do but marry her. She was doing a series of concerts with George Hamilton IV in Blackpool, England, what they called 'a summer season', so I joined her and we were married there, George being my best man. Two years later we had our first of two daughters and Laney sort of eased out of the music business and into motherhood; Nashville's loss, Russ' gain. Now our daughters are in college and as of about two years ago Laney and I have had a 'resurging' of both our careers because of all the steel guitar shows that are being done all over the country, spinning off the world famous 'Scotty's International Steel Guitar Convention' in St. Louis. We do about twenty shows a year and it gives us a reason to record an album, each, every year and a great venue to meet new people and players and have a really good time doing it.

I still do some recording and TV work, still mostly with Charlie McCoy; not as much now as then but I guess that's the way it's supposed to be. It's been great becoming family with so many fellow musicians and artists and doing what I was born to do and having such a good time doing it. I've been wonderfully blessed by my Creator God and it be his will, I'm not finished yet.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 12 Dec 2023 3:15 pm

So sad to read this, Russ was a great man,very funny and fun to talk with.

I told him that I named my daughter after his wife Laney, but mine is Lanie, we had a laugh!

My condolences to Laney, the girls and their family and friends.

And I agree Dave Van Allen, the Barefoot Jerry stuff is way under appreciated.

Rest in peace, Russ

dlayne · Post by **dlayne** » 12 Dec 2023 4:14 pm

I really hate to hear this sad news, you will be missed, condolences to Laney and family and friends

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Russ Hicks R.I.P.

Russ Hicks

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