Robert Hicks: Seersucker, Books, and Bourbon
Steeped in southern culture for decades, Robert Hicks is as far from a hound dog sleeping on the porch as a man can be.
August 25, 2015: From his log cabin (called “Labor in Vain”) near the Bingham Community outside Nashville, TN, Robert Hicks has emerged as one of the top “100 Reasons to Love Nashville,” as reported in Nashville Lifestyles magazine, and his accomplishments extend far beyond the borders of Music City. Writer, speaker, world traveler, preservationist, art collector and more, he lives up to the admonishment of his friend B.B. King in the film The Life of Riley, “We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.” Robert Hicks plays his own tune, building recognition as he goes.
I first connected with Hicks after his award-winning historic novel The Widow of the South (2005) came to my attention. I loved it. It is imaginative in the best sense of the word. Hicks knows his stuff when it comes to civil war history and he created characters that brought the war years to life for readers, sharing what it was like for ordinary people throughout the South trying to survive the death and carnage of the battlefields. His next book, A Separate Country: A Story of Redemption in the Aftermath of the Civil War (2009), was equally compelling and I reviewed them both. They are as vibrant today as they were when first published.
But Hicks is not a two-trick pony—his passion for words and historical accuracy is exceeded only by his dedication to the preservation of places associated with the Battle of Franklin—and he expends countless hours working to spread the story of events and people forever impacted by the American Civil War. You’d think all that would keep him fully occupied, but it’s only a part of what sparks Robert’s enthusiasm.
A lifelong art collector, Hicks was the first Tennessean to be listed among Arts & Antiques’ Top 100 Collectors in America. His collection focuses on outsider art and Southern material culture. In 2003 he co-curated the exhibition Art of Tennessee at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville.
Robert Hicks is also a connoisseur of fine dining—from southern BBQ and Hot Chicken to steak tartare at Le Grand Colbert in Paris—and took his love of distilled beverages to new heights in 2014 when he introduced his very own Battlefield Bourbon, a very small batch, Tennessee-made, aged, and hand-bottled bourbon whisky to the world to honor the important history of the Battle of Franklin. He chose to produce only 1,864 bottles in his first release, each signed and numbered, as a nod to the year—1864—when the Battle of Franklin occurred.
The latest brainstorm from this talented and passionate man revolves around that most southern of summer dress-up gear: seersucker. “Seriously Seersucker” takes place each summer with drinks, dinner and dancing on the lawn of O’More College of Design in Franklin, TN. Proceeds benefit the college's student scholarship program. As Hicks puts it, “It’s an opportunity to wear beloved seersucker one more time [each] season, to swank around and have fun in style.”
And style is what this southern gentleman is all about. He’s living life to the fullest in his own unique way, sticking to being himself. In this people section of the Wild Life blog, I want to share the stories of those I encounter who are doing the same—not all will be known as widely as Robert Hicks—some will be known to only a few. But each will have their own melody going on. I hope you’ve enjoyed this first example. # # #
