DaShawn Hickman Sacred Steel

One of the foremost contemporary practitioners of Sacred Steel, a blues-gospel tradition dating back to the Pentecostal-Holiness churches of the 1930s, DaShawn Hickman grew up hearing the pedal steel in the tiny House of God church his family attended in Mt. Airy, North Carolina, listening to his mother play lap steel in their home. Now, Hickman puts his own spin on the Sacred Steel tradition with Drums, Roots & Steel, his debut album on Little Village, produced by Charlie Hunter (plays Bass on the album) as well as two West African percussionists, Atiba Rorie and Brevan Hampden and featuring the soulful vocals of Hickman’s wife Wendy on several tracks. The album has brought Hickman, honored nominations from The 2023 Blues Music Awards for Best Emerging Artist, 2023 Blues Blast Magazine nominations for New Artist Debut Album and Slide Guitarist of the Year. In August 2023 DaShawn was inducted into the Sacred Steel Hall of Fame.