Former Hackensaw Boy at home

Beyond his piercing blue eyes and unique scruffy voice, the next most noticeable feature of David Sickmen is his hands. These firm, leathered hands have played guitar on stages around the world, changed his son’s cloth diapers, and fixed cars, houses and apartment buildings throughout Lynchburg.

A modern Renaissance man, David Sickmen has firmly rooted himself in the physical work of supporting the growth his new home city.

As a founding member of the Charlottesville-based Americana band Hackensaw Boys, Sickmen is one of several career musicians who have chosen to relocate to Lynchburg. For Sickmen, the impetus is lifestyle-driven. “Lynchburg has basically allowed me a space to feel like I am getting ahead, like I am making progress,” he says.

The Hackensaw Boys were formed 10 years ago in Charlottesville by rock musicians with strong ties to the mountain music of Virginia. The eccentric Hackensaw Boys have been considered the bluegrass version of the Ramones. The band has toured extensively, sharing stages with acts such as Cake, Modest Mouse and Michelle Shocked. During a European tour in early 2006, exhaustion set in and Sickmen decided he needed to leave the group.

Lynchburg seemed like just the place for Sickmen and his wife, Montana, to live sustainably and comfortably.

“I had just quit the band and was in Charlottesville paying $700 a month (for rent), working and realizing I was going to emotionally sink,” he says.

They moved to Lynchburg in the summer of 2006. A self-taught handyman, Sickmen splits time working various jobs for developer Oliver Kuttner, managing a downtown apartment building and working on his own properties, two houses in need of complete renovation. One of them Sickmen is turning into a downtown micro-farm with a sustainable garden, chicken coop and farmhouse.

“I basically have about three full-time jobs,” he jokingly laments. “I’ve got a good five years of work ahead of me.”

The 40-year-old seems nearly overloaded in his balance of work, supporting a family and re-establishing his musical career. Nevertheless, he finds time to lend a hand to friends and neighbors — from plumbing maintainence, driving truckloads to the dump or installing hardwood floors — and he still manages to attend Fifth Street renovation meetings.

One of Sickmen’s most impressive recent feats is the turnaround of The Virginian, an apartment building just west of the Rivermont Bridge. In a matter of two years, the run-down, former Piedmont Business College dorm has become a sought-after downtown living space for creative types. Several artists and musicians from Charlottesville have moved into The Virginian based largely on Sickmen’s persuasion, while young locals have moved in looking for inexpensive apartments in a community-oriented space.

Despite his many responsibilities in town, Sickmen embraces his own role as an artist in Lynchburg. He is confident that some of his best songs remain circulating in his head, waiting for the proper time to emerge. He has recently formed a local band, Bell Weather States, which has played at Starlight Café and will soon play in Charlottesville.

“Trust me,” he says. “I am gonna bust out some music on this world. I’m not done, that’s for sure.”

I recently sat down with David Sickmen to talk about music, recovering stolen bicycles and his role in Lynchburg, which he calls “livin’ large on the bottom.”

You decided to leave Hackensaw Boys just as they were breaking out to a larger audience. What was your motive to leave at that time, and do you ever look back on your decision to move on?
The reason I quit was exhaustion and just the general uneasiness in my life. It probably was not the most fair thing to the other guys in the band, but I don’t really have any regrets because I learned a long time ago that everything is on schedule. You are right where you are supposed to be. I wanted to hone in on something I was feeling, and I couldn’t really do that because it wasn’t my band; it was a democracy with so many blurred voices.

The Hackensaw Boys still use and perform songs that you wrote. Do you end up getting paid from your work with them?
Well, I am getting phased out gradually, I would say they still play one or two of my songs per night, but I don’t see any money from that. Well, one of my songs was on that TV show, “My Name is Earl.” We were out on tour and went to some crazy restaurant in the Midwest to watch that episode and my song came on and it was quiet as a mouse in the background. It was my big moment on TV. Every now and then, I get an ASCAP check from that for — maybe $92 — and I’ll use it to buy groceries.

The Hackensaws were very much a live show band. What was your best memory while on tour?
One time we visited a family from Charlottesville that was living down South somewhere. The father in the family was a big Hackensaw fan and was dying of cancer. We drove in our van about two hours out of the way and played in this guy’s living room for about an hour. His was sitting on the couch with his family, just beaming. He passed away soon afterwards, and his wife later said to us, “If you knew how happy you made him … .”

You have lived all over this state. What were the reasons for settling in Lynchburg?
Most of us have to work to pay a mortgage that takes a third of our life to pay. One of the reasons I came here was I could own something, even if it was “shacky,” but I could take the time to fix it and fix it with all found materials. Other people’s dumpsters are my woodpiles. But Lynchburg has basically allowed me a space to feel like I am getting ahead, I am making progress, which makes me feel relaxed about playing music.

We talked one time at Starlight about the idea of being a “thousandaire.”(laughs) Yeah, it’s from a friend of mine. Everyone wants to be a millionaire, what about just being a thousandaire? At this point, I’d be cool with being a hundredaire. All my bills paid, $900 dollars in the bank.

You are quite removed from the bureaucratic end of Lynchburg’s development yet, to me, you are this incredibly visible, dedicated force working to make downtown Lynchburg better. How do you see yourself in relation to this city?
What I am most interested in is fitting in among the neighborhoods, you know, the people that have lived here forever that all know each other. …My (two) bikes got stolen the other day, and I found one of them. I was driving my truck down Harrison and saw a kid riding it. I ended up getting it back from him and met a lot of people in the neighborhood in the process because that kid took me to another house. I just want to be cool in the neighborhoods; I am much more interested in the people of this city.

You strike me as the last person I would expect to have an iPhone. How is it working out for you?
Well, I like it. It helps to decide a lot of debates between me and my wife — that instant Google check. But I’m a modern dude, man. I might have mountain roots, but I’m a contemporary guy.