Bill & Libby Hicks

Bill & Libby in concert Festival for the Eno \| CD Release House Concert Festival for the Eno, July 4, 2001, Durham, NC

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*South of Nowhere* CD Release Party and House Concert March 15, 2001 Durham, North Carolina March 15, 2001 - Triangle CitySearch Top Pick of the Week: "Combining their passion for traditional music with their love for each other, Bill and Libby Hicks might be the best husband/wife duo in the entire genre. Bill's nimble fiddling perfectly complements his wife's guitar strums, and their voices meld to create haunting harmonies. This show celebrates the release of their new CD, "South of Nowhere," on Copper Creek records." Amen! Those lucky enough to quickly get an email through to Dave Tilley filled the Durham house for Bill & Libby. Bill's fiddle and Libby's guitar sparked things from the start on "Ship in the Clouds" and "Yellow Rose of Texas" before moving into a Bill original from his Red Clay Ramblers days, "The Hobo's Last Letter." Between a contra dance medley and favorite tunes "Rag Time Annie" and "Leather Britches," Bill & Libby played a set of songs and tunes from their hot-off-the-press CD. You'll want your own copy to hear "Big Road Blues," "Sugar Hill/ Sally Ann" (nicknamed the Violence Medley), and Bill's "Island Rockers," "Uncle Charlie's Revenge" and "Turn Out the Lights." Libby described "Lights" as a "light hearted suicide song" and teased Bill for singing it only behind her back with its theme of trysts and regrets, but they sang it together to show off those "haunting harmonies" the duo generates. Bill isn't the only hit songwriter in the family. Libby closed the first set with her hilarious audience participation ode to shopping "They Called It a Shift (But It Looks Like a MuuMuu to Me)" Doo-be-do-be-do-be-do-be-do. Bill: "Libby's been singing 'MuuMuu' a long time." Libby: "You'd think I'd know it by now--you only forget the words to the ones you wrote." The second set went from highlight to highlight. Plenty of old-time and blues favorites, but Bill and Libby wrote a third of their show (and of the new CD). From Bill we heard his originals "Anasazi Premonition," "Stonewall," and "Last Call." We all know about Bill's legendary fiddling but his intricate guitar picking on "Last Call" is as delightful as the mystical verses about the new "millenimum." The audience caught all the punch lines, and Bill later commented how much that means to the performers. "When you hear reactions to small things, it really helps and sort of raises the level for us again." A big moment for Red Clay Ramblers nostalgia wowed the crowd when Libby turned over her piano to Mike Craver, who joined them on "Rabbit in the Pea Patch" (Libby: "I think I deserve a round of applause for playing piano in front of Mike Craver.") Winding down to a serious finish, Libby gave us her original feminist love song "Take Your Heart with You When You Go." Libby, you and Bill earned that applause for the music, the showmanship, and the fun. The first Bill & Libby CD has just been born, but the second one can't come soon enough. ...Bren, 3/16/01