Taylor Hicks Interview on Walmart Radio, May 1, 2008!

TOM- All right, good morning. Tom Leadabrand here joined by Taylor Hicks. Taylor, how are you doing today?

TAYLOR- I'm doing great. How are you doing?

TOM- I'm doing really good. I appreciate you joining us this morning.

TAYLOR- Oh, no problem.

TOM- And you know what? We want to start off by saying thank you for basically supporting Children's Miracle Network with us and thank you for the work that your doing with them and all that.

TAYLOR- Well, I appreciate that. I had a great time down at the Orlando show, it's a great charity.

TOM- That's right. You got to perform at the Children's Miracle Network Celebration Finale, correct?

TAYLOR- Yeah, that was awesome. I met Steve Young. Just a great time.

TOM- All right. Well, we appreciate the work that you've been doing with them and I want to say thank you again for that. How did you get involved with the Children's Miracle Network?

TAYLOR- Well, I was called to come down to the Orlando show and I've heard about Children's Miracle Network for a long time and this was my first time I could really get in and be a part of it so I'm very thankful to the folks that called me so I could come down and perform.

TOM- Absolutely. We appreciate you doing that. And you know I'm with Walmart Radio so we're going to be playing this on our radio for our associates as well so I kind of want to ask you a little bit about your music as well, if that's okay?

TAYLOR- Cool!

TOM- All right. Everybody pretty much knows you from the 2006 American Idol Season, that was the Fifth Season of that which you won. Congratulations on that as well.

TAYLOR- Thank you.

TOM- I'm sure you've heard that several times over.

TAYLOR- Yeah.

TOM- Also, you had a self titled album come out, I believe a couple years ago was it now?

TAYLOR- Uh, it was about a year ago.

TOM- Was it a year ago?

TAYLOR- Yeah.

TOM- Okay. And that was certified platinum which is also incredible, great job on that.

TAYLOR- Thank you.

TOM- We play all of your songs here on Walmart Radio, got several associates that are big fans and they like to request that all the time so we throw that stuff in there. Are you working on a new project now?

TAYLOR- I am. I'm working on a brand new album. I've been writing a lot in Nashville and Los Angeles and I'm just thrilled to death about the new album, it's gonna be awesome!

TOM- All right. This last one you did was, I would consider to be a lot of soul music, a lot of, kind of jazzy style, you know, kind of along the lines of what you would expect from like, Ray Charles or something like that.

TAYLOR- Yeah, that's just the kind of music I play.

TOM- Right.

TAYLOR- It was real easy to get in that vein and produce an album that was really true to who I was as an artist and that's the key, you know, writing those songs that, your true to your artistry.

TOM- Absolutely. Is this new album that your gonna be putting out soon, is it gonna be kind of along the same lines? Have you changed it up a little bit to try something new?

TAYLOR- Well, I just want to be able to really create great songs. I have the time to write music now which is really cool. I've always been into songwriting and those attributes need to shine on this next record.

TOM- Absolutely. So, are you writing everything yourself then or do you have some other people who are kind of helping you co-write some of the songs?

TAYLOR- Yeah, I've been doing some co-writing. I've also been writing myself and you know, the process is wherever the song takes me. It's the best lead.

TOM- Go with the flow!

TAYLOR- That's right!

TOM- That's good. What about your Soul Patrol? Gotta ask about that as well.

TAYLOR- I love the Soul Patrol! Great fan base, they'll come out to every show, they travel. It's one big soul circus!

TOM- That's good. You've made several appearances for different things for different people, of course including Children's Miracle Network, but you've also had different organizations like Saturday Night Live and artists such as Weird Al Yankovic kind of make some parodies about some of your stuff and what do you think about that? I gotta ask you about that.

TAYLOR- Well, I laughed it all the way!

TOM- That's good!

TAYLOR- Weird Al and the people on Saturday Night Live, I mean, it was an honor. Your getting parodied on Saturday Night Live, you gotta love it!

TOM- There you go! That means your big now, right?

TAYLOR- Well, I watched it and I couldn't believe it. It was amazing.

TOM- All right. Also, last year you got to come back to American Idol and you got to sing at their finale last year.

TAYLOR- Yeah. That was a wonderful finale. I love the show. It's done wonders for my career and it's a great all American show. It's a family oriented show and it's musical.

TOM- Absolutely. What was it like to be on, well, I guess you would be on the other side because you've gone through the contest. You know what it's like to be on the contestant side of that, but now your somebody that has actually gone out, you've made the records, you've done the tours and their kind of looking at you as, you know, hey, that's an artist I can strive to be now. What's it like to be on that side of the table?

TAYLOR- Well, I was relieved. It was high pressure packed all the way through when I was on the show and now it's really streamlining my career that fits who I am as an artist, that's the key.

TOM- Well, you can do it on your terms now, right?

TAYLOR- Totally.

TOM- And like you said when your doing the music it's what you want to do. It's your artistic interpretation of everything now.

TAYLOR- Yeah, the career is Taylor-made!

TOM- I like that! I like that, thank you! What would you be doing if you were not a musician?

TAYLOR- Um, that's a good question, you know, I have no idea. Probably a fisherman.