DASHAWN HICKMAN

One of today’s foremost Sacred Steel players DaShawn Hickman channels the blues-gospel traditions of the Pentecostal-Holiness churches of the 1930s on his debut album, Drums, Roots & Steel, set for release by Little Village Foundation on Thursday, June 2, 2022. Produced by guitar-phenom Charlie Hunter, Hickman draws a through-line to Southern black church music dating back to nearly a century before he put his own sound down in the studio with Drums, Roots & Steel. Hickman shines bright on Sacred Steel with Hunter on bass, as well as two West African percussionists, Atiba Rorie and Brevan Hampden, and singer Wendy Hickman. While Hickman grew up with the pedal steel taking the lead in the House of God church that his family attended in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, most of the American black churches had the organ front-and-center. He harkens back to a time when trap drums were utilized in the read more...