Sara Hickman
Necessary Angel
by Frank Raby

Talking to Sara Hickman is like drinking too much good champagne. Her wit and warmth bubble up from some limitless well, making you smile and laugh and confess too much of yourself. In no time at all, you're hopelessly drunk on her. Hickman is, in a word, fun. But to be fair, no one word could ever contain her So when we chat by phone from her Austin home, I suggest a game: I'll throw out some words that I think describe you, you respond. Instead of balking at this childish idea, Hickman makes a gleeful little noise, as if to say: Gimme your best shot.

Eclectic
"Every morning I get up, I feel so refreshed," she said. "I just want to celebrate. [My daughter] Lily and I generally start the day by walking across the street to this huge trampoline that my neighbors have, and we call it 'up and down' – we start the day by going up and down. I'm thrilled to be eclectic. I wouldn't want to be anything else." It may not be a matter of choice. On her last Shanachie album – the beautiful, Adrian Belew-produced Two Kinds of Laughter (1998) – Hickman again stretches the singer/songwriter envelope, with ambient sounds, jubilant pop melodies, and Latin and other world-music elements. In 1991, she co-produced an independent documentary, Take It Like a Man, which aired on PBS and the Playboy Channel. Her directorial debut, Joy – a short film about a homeless woman in Dallas – took first place in the USA Film Festival. She's done jingle work for Wal-Mart, and is now the voice of Daisy Sour Cream.

Playful
"When people come to my shows, I want them to like themselves better when they leave; I want them to be more honest with themselves. And the best way I can do that is by exposing myself. That's always been the playful side of me, that I'm gonna show you that I'm not afraid to talk about tampons or about getting my heart broken. I'm not afraid to open myself up to you because I shouldn't be afraid. I should be able to give you this gift, and you should be able to give it among yourselves. That's what we're losing as a society, that playful side of trust."

Raucous
"I play my guitar very hard," she noted. "I break my guitars all the time. I'm trying to learn to be a more feminine player. And actually, now that I've started trying to be a little bit more nurturing with my guitars, it's improved my playing – I'm now finding a lot more nuances because I'm not just attacking my guitars, I'm sharing more with [them]. When Hickman was performing while pregnant with Lily, she notes, "I was thinking how amazing it was that she was inside me, feeling me jump around on stage, hearing my voice, but also feeling the presence of the rhythm through the guitar into my body into hers, so the guitar actually became this kind of medium."

Neat
"Thank you. I am pretty tidy." That wasn't what I meant. But her answer proves what I meant.