CHARLEY LINCOLN
Charley Lincoln was the recording name of Charley Hicks, the elder brother of Robert Hicks, who is better remembered as ‘Barbecue Bob‘. Born in 1900 in Lithonia GA, Charley was taught guitar by Curley Weaver‘s mother Savannah and as young men, Curley, Bob and Charley were part of a loose collection of musicians who played together on the streets of Atlanta, known as ‘The Georgia Cotton Pickers’. Other occasional members of the group included Blind Willie McTell, Peg-Leg Howell and Buddy Moss. They would play at parties and fish-fries, where their up-tempo, Ragtime influenced music was great for dancing. Many recordings in this Piedmont Blues style have distinctive fingerpicking guitar work, and the Cotton Pickers coupled this with the country harp of Curley or Buddy to release some good-selling local hits.