Ken Hicks

Posted this morning [1/3/2024] by Ken’s daughter Jennifer Hicks Nowlan: “Dad passed peacefully in ICU last night. Family and friends surrounded him. Folks came and sang somgs he loved and even performed himself through the years -and he could feel the love we are sure of it. 78 wonderful years with my kind and soulful father. Always in our hearts. Love you Dad. Thank you everyone for reaching out it is helping.”

Jeanne McDougall Zentz
The Hicks family generously let Bob and I hang out in the ICU for five hours, and as long as Ken kept tapping his toes, we kept on singing. We were further rewarded by smiles, a “mighty nice,” and when we began singing Lorre Wyatt’s “Somos El Barco,” Ken lifted both hands and began strumming air guitar. An hour after we left, Skye and Gabriel came and sang a funny song with the family, a perfect way to sing him on his way, and we know Ken heard it. He passed minutes later, at peace and in the certainty that he was truly loved. We will treasure these memories forever, and yes, we sang “For All The Good People” twice, including the Gordon Bok/BZ verse from the winter tour of ’79 about “those other people.” We told him we would sing that song forever, and he gave us the biggest smile. Thank you, Ken, for reminding us of the good in all people, and to the Hicks family, for sharing him so generously with a world that needed him so much.

Kathleen Warnalis Fogarty
I am moved to say that Ken was part of the folk music world in a significant way, and always so humorous and clever, so kind of heart and quick in the mind! He is missed already.

Andrew Cohen
I’m very sorry for your loss. Almost fifty years ago he was one of the first performers at Asheville Junction.

Marsha Moody
One of my favorites. So sorry to hear of his passing.
ALL THE GOOD PEOPLE
(Ken Hicks) [published by Folk Legacy Records]
This is a song for all the good people
All the good people who touched up my life.
This is a song for all the good people
People I’m thankin’ my stars for tonight.
This is a verse for all the good women *
Who knew what I needed was something they had
Food on the table, a heart that was able
Able to keep me just this side of sad.
This is a song for all the good fellows
Who shared up my time, some good and some bad
We drank in the kitchen and shared no competition
Each knowing the other was a good friend to have
This is a song for all the good people
All the good people who touched up my life.
Some helped in small ways, and some helped in hallways
And some always told me you’re doin’ all right.
This is a song I sing for my lady
For my lady who puts up with me
My ramblin’ and roamin’, my late night come-homin’
She is the sunshine that flows down on me.
This is a verse for the pickers and singers
Whose songs and whose voices have blended with mine
On the back steps and stages, for hugs and for wages,
It’s some kind of sharing and some kind of fine.

[Editor’s note:  no Facebook page or website seemed to be available for Ken Hicks on 1/3/2024.  Biographical information is welcome for the addition to this listing.