Jon Hicks
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Jon Hicks, born in North East England in 1971, is a folk musician. He plays jigs and reels on acoustic guitar, utilizing various alternate tunings — particularly DADGAD. He is a notable flatpicker and fingerstyle guitarist, as well as being an interesting songwriter.
Jon had an unusually nomadic early childhood, living as he did in Cumbria, Africa and Portsmouth. He left home at age 15 and spent his teenage years busking throughout Europe in the company of musicians, clowns, street performers and travellers.
Jon was a member of the 'The Big Geraniums', a band that formed in Covent Garden, London in 1989, and that then set off on an impromptu tour of the Lake District before settling in Ireland in the early 90's. It was in the west of Ireland that Jon met up and recorded two albums with 'Gan Ainm' a Galway-based traditional Irish group featuring Derek O'Shea on flute, Declan Corey on mandolin and bouzouki and Frank Ryan on bodhran. 'Over the Boundary' (1992) and 'Wilds of the World' (1993) both of which feature his own songs.
Jon's first solo recording began in late 1993 with 'The Tales They Told' a Homegrown records production in Galway.
After being invited to record a solo album in San Francisco by record label TallTree Records he recorded 'Chasing the Bear' in 1995 featuring Paddy Keenan on uillean pipes and Niamh Parsons on harmony vocals.
Jon moved back to Ireland in 1996 and became a member of 'Lia Luachra' the Dublin based quartet featuring Trisha Hutton on fiddle, Shane Bracken on concertina and Declan Corey on mandolin. After recording two albums with them, 'Lia Luachra' and 'Traffic' (which he also produced), Jon started engineering full time. He now lives in New York.
Jon Hicks is very much a part of the English lineage of folk guitarists that sprang from the 60's folk revival. He cites Davy Graham, Nic Jones, Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, Richard Thompson and Martin Carthy as influences, as well as the closely knit folk music community to be found all around the world.
