Music with a conscience

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Sara Hickman actually wanted to be Keith Richards.

"I loved the Rolling Stones," Hickman said during a telephone interview from Austin, Texas. "I wanted to be them.

"I tried to play my guitar like Keith. But I also was influenced by a myriad of others — Nancy Wilson of Heart, Steve Howe from Yes, jazz guitarist Antonio Carlos Jobim, Ella Fitzgerald and Brave Combo."

The singer/songwriter will headline the Founders Title Folk and Bluegrass Festival on Sunday at Deer Valley Resort, along with Phillips, Grier & Flinner; Anger and Pedersen; Colcannon; Gift Horse; and others.

When Hickman was 7, she knew that singing and songwriting were what she was going to do for a living. She wrote her first song a year later and won a Daughters of the American Revolution award after a gig in Houston.

"When I was 10, I got into my first band, and by 14 I was in my first real band," Hickman said with a laugh. "Music has always made me feel better, and I began sharing my music with others."

After college — she graduated from the University of North Texas, earning a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts — she became involved with music-therapy groups. "In high school, I was performing for troubled teens," she said. "I was a teen performing for my peers who were having major problems.

"I was always at hospitals following both of my grandmothers, who were medical volunteers, and I found a way to play to these troubled teens and other patients. By the time I got out of college, I started to focus on that more and more."

Hickman's social work has given her opportunities to become involved with such community organizations as Dallas Dance for Life, Half-Price Books, the Hill Country Youth Ranch, a haven for abused and neglected children and the Mautner Project, designed to help lesbians with cancer.

"I've always been amazed at the power of music," said Hickman, an honorary member of the National Association of Music Therapy. "And I've been able to get involved with some important issues through my music."

In addition to her social work, Hickman has managed to maintain a recording career. "The music industry, to me, is like a big bank," she said about her one-time dealing with Elektra Records. "They give you some money and expect a 300 percent return. They tell you what to wear and how to act — and they even asked me if I could stop talking a lot while on stage and get on with the music.