Taylor at Hohner Harmonica Web Site

Taylor Hicks

Playing a Special 20 harmonica.

Some are born to greatness, the legend goes, some acquire greatness, and still others have greatness thrust upon them. For Birmingham, Alabama’s favorite son, whose self-titled new album on Arista Records, TAYLOR HICKS, is the penultimate year-end release of 2006, it has been a case of all three. After a lifetime steeped in the blues and soul and R&B of his native Southern heroes – Ray Charles, Otis Redding, James Brown, Sam Cooke, to name a few – Taylor’s artistry was reaffirmed and validated in no uncertain terms this past year, as he won the fifth season of FOX’s American Idol.

Born in Birmingham on October 7, 1976, Taylor was eight years old when his family moved to nearby Hoover and his parents divorced. The difficult childhood of a broken home led him very early on to the warm and tender mercies of soul music. As a youth he realized that he had perfect pitch and soon taught himself to play guitar and a blues-wailin’ harmonica. Upon graduation from high school in 1995, he enrolled at Auburn University where he studied business and journalism. His first independently-released CD came out soon after, In Your Time.

After three years of balancing college with his life as a working musician, it was clear which held the winning hand. “This has been my vision since I was a kid,” he says. “All I wanted to do my whole life was to bring a feeling and talent to music. Music has provided an outlet for me to touch people and make them happy. It’s like a conductor between individuals. I’m just lucky to have a bigger battery to conduct than others. I’m a hands-on kind of dude. You have to connect with people in this job.”

Putting his energy into music full-time, Taylor became a fixture around Birmingham, opening concerts and club dates for visiting performers who included James Brown, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Drive-By Truckers, Robert Randolph and Keb’ Mo’, to name a few. Taylor honed his skills, and learned to please others while pleasing himself. “At some of the beach bars I played over the years, I had to entertain 15-year-old kids sitting with their 75-year-old grandparents. I’ve been performing live for a long time,” he says, “whether it’s performing with the VFW Outpost group or backing up Keb’ Mo’. I’m a working musician. That’s how I’ve made my living.” In early 2005, he released his second indie CD, entitled Under the Radar.


Taylor’s twist of fate came in New Orleans, at the wedding of an Auburn friend, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit on the fateful day of August 29, 2005. With his out-of-town flight cancelled, he was given a free airlines voucher. Earlier in the summer, Taylor had considered auditioning for American Idol in Memphis, but auditions were subsequently cancelled there as the city became one of the centers of the Katrina relief effort. Throughout the summer and fall, however, auditions proceeded in eight cities across the country, and Taylor eventually used his voucher to travel to the auditions in Las Vegas, his first steps up the steep AI ladder.


From the very start, Taylor’s material set him apart from the pack, with such blues and funk based rockers as the Doobies’ “Takin’ It To the Streets,” Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me,” Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” and “In the Ghetto,” Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” and others keeping Taylor out of the bottom three for the entire season, a rare feat on AI.


The six-week recording schedule with Serletic for the new album spanned October and November, and was the greatest challenge of Taylor’s life. “I’m looking for a great vocal sound,” he said at the time. “It all starts with the voice. Although I play guitar and harmonica, I am essentially a singer and I’m excited about capturing that in a way I’ve never been able to do up until now.”


“It’s a very critical time for me. I have a great opportunity to work and write with some really cool people. I’m just now starting to open up creatively … I can let my brain open up, create and trust my instincts. That’s the approach I’m taking… the gut feeling.”


And that’s the spirit, the heart and soul that makes TAYLOR HICKS one of the most satisfying and honest new album releases of the year. It celebrates an artist who is ready to pursue the highest heights he can attain – and get right on down to the core of his roots while he does it.

http://www.taylorhicks.com/