ST. MICHAELS — For Joe Hickey, local musician and seasoned guitarist, rock was not only a genre of music. It was his life.
From the Bee Gees to Led Zeppelin to Otis Redding, Hickey has played with them all and assisted in the movement that we now know as “classic rock.”
After a 35 year hiatus, Hickey has re-devoted himself to music. A love that he has shared since boyhood. Hickey plays solo throughout the Eastern Shore and teaches guitar to new musicians of all ages.
Hickey, originally from Scotland, said when he was 12, his older brother who was serving in the Navy came back with a guitar and started playing. Hickey was hooked after that.
His interest turned to lessons, those lessons turned to passion and that passion took him on tour with countless classic rock bands throughout the ‘70s and ‘80s.
“There was so much great music out there,” Hickey said. “There were so many bands around that everybody was trying to make it. Even in the early days of the Bee Gees or Led Zeppelin, they didn’t think they wouldn’t make it as big as they are today.”
He moved to Chicago with his then wife and band Salvation. In Chicago he played with other bands and groups, but soon the life of a musician took a toll on his family and he got divorced in 1985. He said as a single parent of two children he had to change his career, and for over 30 years he took a hiatus from the music industry.
Over the decades, he remarried, had a successful career in marketing and raised his children. Though he stopped performing publicly, he never stopped playing for his family and friends.
Then in 2019, after he had moved to St. Michaels, a local group hired him to play a gig with them at Foxy’s Harbor Grill, and it snowballed from there. Now he is playing throughout Maryland as a solo act and has recorded and released a CD.
Patti Foy, a friend of Hickey’s, said she met Hickey at one of his shows. She said she enjoys the music he plays since it was music she grew up on. After Foy’s father passed away, she inherited his guitar, and Hickey has been teaching her to play it.
Foy said Hickey is a patient teacher and encourages her to continue her lessons and improve. For Foy, Hickey is a lifelong friend and someone she trusts.
“He was a friend from day one,” Foy said. “So every time, we’d always talk and see how he was doing … Even though he’s going through his own personal stuff, he always takes time for other people. So I think it is amazing. He doesn’t let that stop him. It doesn’t define him.”
Hickey said he enjoys playing, teaching music and pushing himself as a musician to learn more challenging songs. Hickey guarantees attendees of his shows will recognize 95% of the songs he plays.
“I’m enjoying doing it by myself,” Hickey said. “I can pick and choose what I want to do and how often I want to play. ... I want to enjoy it. It’s a job, and I’ve got to perform the best way possible so that people can enjoy what I’m doing and play songs that they like to hear.”
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