Winky Hicks

James "Winky" Hicks (born c. 1953)^[1] is a bluegrass musician and instrument maker from Grove Hill, Alabama.^[1]

Hicks started playing guitar at the age of 7.^[2] He learned to play bluegrass by watching his father play and picked up techniques by listening to Earl Scruggs and others on the Grand Ole Opry.^[2] An uncle gave him the "Winky" nickname.^[1]

Hicks is a regular at fiddlers festivals, where he plays the banjo^[3] with his band, the Frontier Bluegrass.^[4]

He started making bluegrass string instruments in 2000.^[5] By 2019 he had constructed more than 200 mandolins, banjos, fiddles, and guitars.^[6] In 2011, he was named a "Black Belt Treasured Artist" by the Black Belt Treasures Cultural Arts Center, a non-profit from Camden, Alabama.^[7] In 2019, he built a guitar, painted by a local artist, to commemorate Alabama's 2018 national championship; the guitar, signed by Nick Saban, fetched $3,500 in an auction with proceeds going to Saban's charity, Nick's Kids.^[8]

He also makes turkey yelpers.^[9][10]