From a farm boy to a roughneck to a cowboy picker to a convict...

Later on during the war, his father was in the Army/Air Force, and they moved a lot. They finally settled back in Coleman County on a farm outside of town. An uncle gave him his first guitar when he was about 13 years old and he fervently started trying to learn to play it. His first real audiences were the cows in the barn where his dad suggested he go practice.

The family moved to town when Rick was 15 or 16 years old and he continued to play music at every opportunity, the dream of being a cowboy picker always foremost in his mind. He started working in the oilfields at the age of 17 and playing with local bands on weekends. Dean Beard was a close friend that he had known all of his life. He and Dean had separate bands, then later played music together. Rick played off and on for 2 or 3 years, while still working day jobs. In his lifetime, he has worked as an oilfield roughneck, dynamite blaster's assistant, carpenter, pipe-fitter, sign painter, appliance repairman and had his own music store in Coleman during the 1950's. There came a point in time when he decided to quit all of the day jobs and start playing music full time. He formed a band, called Rick Sikes and the Rhythm Rebels.

While playing on Slim Willet's "Big State Jamboree", he met Tommy Overstreet, who became a lifelong friend. Rick also had his own music show at K-PAR TV in Abilene in 1964. He and his band, the Rhythm Rebels, played all over the states of Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and California. He had the privilege and honor of playing with some very successful country music artists, such as, Bob Wills, Red Foley, Willie Nelson, Bobby Bare, Sonny James, Stonewall Jackson, Loretta Lynn and Jimmy C. Newman, just to name a few.

In 1971, Rick Sikes was arrested and charged with bank robbery. He was tried, found guilty and sentenced to 25 years and 50 years to run consecutively and was sent to Leavenworth Penitentiary. Being a true "rebel", he struggled greatly with being locked up. Through many hours of heart-wrenching agony and soul searching, he made the decision to do his best at making something positive out of a very negative situation. His favorite motto became the words of Teddy Roosevelt: "Always do the best you can with what you have where you are".

Rick learned to do oil painting, leathercraft, beadwork, pottery and wrote hundreds of songs, poems and stories - including an outline for a screenplay - while he was incarcerated. He formed a band in prison called, Rick Sikes and the Survivors. Through his efforts and a song he wrote called, "From the Bottle to the Needle", the warden gave him permission to put together a recording studio. As far as is known, it is the only recording studio inside of a federal prison anywhere. Included on his CD Etchings In Stone are some of those recordings created in the prison studio.

Rick was released from prison in 1985 and married Jan one week after being released. He put all of his energy, creative abilities and talents toward building a home, raising two young girls, building a sign painting business and later on, and antique store business. He did not pick up his guitar or actively pursue any music interests after getting out of prison, for many years. In 1999, his close friend, Roxy Gordon, and others, including his good friend, Steam Train Maury "King of the Hobos" (who always told him he had a gift for music and called him "Music Man"), pushed him to start playing and singing again.

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