Taylor Hicks recently played a concert at House of Blues in Chicago. Bluesmaster Keb Mo was doing a concert there the following night, and joined Taylor on stage for the encore, Sweet Home Chicago. If you enjoy smokin' blues music, check it out.
Forget all that glorified karaoke American Idol crap. This is the type of stuff Taylor Hicks is meant to do, and is the kind of stuff he's been doing on his tour, and is the type of stuff he'll keep doing for years and years. The guy's the real deal.
LH
Showing posts with label Taylor Hicks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Taylor Hicks. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Taylor Hicks Pictures--Sioux City, 3/24/07
Some time ago, I promised to post my pictures from the Taylor Hicks concert I went to in Sioux City on March 24th...well, better late than never, I suppose!
(Click on each picture for a larger image)
And finally...up close for the encore...
(Click on each picture for a larger image)
And finally...up close for the encore...
LH
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Taylor Hicks Sioux City #2
Clip number 2 from the 3/24/07 Taylor Hicks concert in Sioux City (still more to come):
LH
LH
Friday, February 09, 2007
Had enough Taylor Hicks yet?
I ran across these clips just a little bit ago. As you may or may not know, Taylor Hicks is getting ready to start his first solo tour. He's got an 8 piece band he's rehearsing with, and they have some of the rehearsals up on rehearsals.com.
There's others to be found up there, but here's 2 that I thought were particularly good. The first I wanted to include because it's not a cover. It's a song Taylor wrote that's on his Under The Radar album called Hell of a Day. As a matter of fact, the album version of this song was the first non-American Idol performance of his that I ever heard. An Alabama public radio station had done an interview with him a year or 2 before Idol, and still had clips of the interview as well as 2 songs from his independently released album on their site. It was after hearing Hell of a Day that I realized this gray-haired guy I had started to root for on the show was the real deal, and when I changed from a casual fan to a much bigger fan. Click on the link to watch and listen:
(Note: I just checked to make sure the links work...when the video page comes up for some reason you'll need to click the little link in the top right corner that says "big" to get the video to play. Not sure why, but hey, if it works why ask, right?)
Hell of a Day
The other one I wanted to include was Taylor's (rehearsal) version of Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful. When done poorly, this can be one of the most boring songs on the planet, but when done well, it'll raise the hairs on your arms and bring a tear to your eye. He screws up the harmonica solo at the end, realizing at the very end of the clip that his harmonica is in completely the wrong key for the song...and I love how cool he thinks it is that he's singing a Billy Preston song while wearing a Billy Preston t-shirt. Good stuff. Here's the link:
You Are So Beautiful
I so can't wait for the concert!
LH
There's others to be found up there, but here's 2 that I thought were particularly good. The first I wanted to include because it's not a cover. It's a song Taylor wrote that's on his Under The Radar album called Hell of a Day. As a matter of fact, the album version of this song was the first non-American Idol performance of his that I ever heard. An Alabama public radio station had done an interview with him a year or 2 before Idol, and still had clips of the interview as well as 2 songs from his independently released album on their site. It was after hearing Hell of a Day that I realized this gray-haired guy I had started to root for on the show was the real deal, and when I changed from a casual fan to a much bigger fan. Click on the link to watch and listen:
(Note: I just checked to make sure the links work...when the video page comes up for some reason you'll need to click the little link in the top right corner that says "big" to get the video to play. Not sure why, but hey, if it works why ask, right?)
Hell of a Day
The other one I wanted to include was Taylor's (rehearsal) version of Billy Preston's You Are So Beautiful. When done poorly, this can be one of the most boring songs on the planet, but when done well, it'll raise the hairs on your arms and bring a tear to your eye. He screws up the harmonica solo at the end, realizing at the very end of the clip that his harmonica is in completely the wrong key for the song...and I love how cool he thinks it is that he's singing a Billy Preston song while wearing a Billy Preston t-shirt. Good stuff. Here's the link:
You Are So Beautiful
I so can't wait for the concert!
LH
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Soul Patrol! Redux
Well, a couple of days ago I posted about getting to see Taylor Hicks in concert coming up in March.
Since then, my fellow Soul Patrollers have been coming out of the woodwork...apparently, my blog's now linked on a couple of message boards. A big LutheranHusker welcome to all of you!
Steer clear of conversations concerning onions and thudding and all will be well in this little corner of the blogosphere. =)
To clear up a couple of misconceptions that I've seen pop up:
Since then, my fellow Soul Patrollers have been coming out of the woodwork...apparently, my blog's now linked on a couple of message boards. A big LutheranHusker welcome to all of you!
Steer clear of conversations concerning onions and thudding and all will be well in this little corner of the blogosphere. =)
To clear up a couple of misconceptions that I've seen pop up:
- I'm not a pastor. I do work in a church as a Director of Christian Education and Music, I do play the organ, I do lead Bible studies and Sunday School and all that kind of thing, but I've not been to seminary. I am in what the ELCA calls the candidacy process for an Associate in Ministry designation. If you think of it as sort of the church's equivilent of an associate's degree for laypeople, you're on the right track. I wrote some more about it, as well as my personal sense of call, here. In the past, I served in sort of a pastoral role for a campus ministry, but I did it as a layperson.
- I do live in Nebraska...though I'm going to the Iowa concert, I'm a Nebraskan through-and-through.
Glad to meet you all, and please feel free to keep reading. I like to write about a bunch of different subjects, just to keep myself interested more than anything else, I suppose. I've found that I tend to gravitate to the subject matters of faith, my family ("Sweetie" my wife and "Kiddo" my 3 year-old son), and great quotes from Scrubs (of which there are MANY to choose from). That being said, just about anything is fair game if it's something I'm interested in. =)
So today, knowing there's an audience out there who's interested in good music by under-appreciated artists, I'm gonna pimp two of my favorite newly discovered musical acts: Storyhill and Joshua Radin. Neither of them sound much like Taylor Hicks at all, but they each have a distinctive sound that touches me.
Joshua Radin is someone I stumbled across just last week. If you like Simon and Garfunkel at all, you've gotta check this guy out. Great lyrics, great singing, great guitar, and definitely with that Paul Simon vibe. One of his songs was on the soundtrack for The Last Kiss, and I'm pretty sure he's been featured in some Scrubs episodes as well. Here's a clip of him singing Star Mile live...if I didn't know any better, I'd assume this was some obscure Simon and Garfunkel song that I just hadn't had the privilege of hearing yet:
Now, for Storyhill. Storyhill is...in a word, awesome. Many, many thanks to my good friend RevScott for introducing them to me. They sort of have two home bases--Minnesota and Montana, and you'll find a number of references to both places in their music. They are a duo...Chris and Johnny both play guitar and sing and...very important for me...they also write all their own music. This is a clip of them playing Steady On. One note--the sound in this clip is way off from the video, so don't let that throw you off.
LH
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Soul Patrol!!!!
For those wondering, this is what I had been planning on writing about yesterday. It's now official. I'm gonna go see the One And Only Taylor Hicks in concert on March 24th in Sioux City, IA. Sweetie and I had been looking at possibly going to one of the Kansas City concerts, but the tickets (BEFORE taxes and Ticketmaster's portion of your arm and leg) were $55...which we just couldn't financially justify. The Sioux City tix are only $36.50, though...as it is, my parents (I love you, Mom and Dad!) sponsored the cost of one ticket as an early birthday present and Sweetie (I love you, Sweetie!) sponsored the cost of the other again as an early birthday present to me.
So look for us at the Orpheum in Sioux City, Main Floor Left Center, Row E. I'll be the one with the goofy, dopey grin on my face, and Sweetie will be the slightly embarrassed one trying to act as though she's kind of there with the idiot next to her (which would be me), but not really all that much.
I know, dear readers, that there are a number of you right now shaking your heads and thinking "Oh, poor sweet misguided LutheranHusker, why oh why did you give in to the American Idol machine?" Well, let me tell you, if you are uninitiated with the musical phenomenon that is Taylor Hicks, you're in for a surprise, because ladies and gents, this guy is the Anti-Idol. The man eats, sleeps, breathes, and probably even poops music (don't ask me how that last one would work). He grew up playing his harmonica and singing in smoky bars from age 16 on, and his influences are along the lines of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Joe Cocker...not your typical teeny-bopper Idol. He's said from the beginning that his dream is to basically live on a tourbus, play a bunch of shows, stopping occasionally to record more stuff, then to hop back on the bus again...he's backing it up so far on his first post-Idol solo tour, with 55 concert dates scheduled so far over the course of the next 90 days.
God created the man with a gift for live concerts.
Suffice it to say that March 24th can't come soon enough.
During the American Idol tour last summer, Taylor had a habit of playing the AI concert, then leaving the arena and heading to a local club to do a "real" concert with "real" music. His old "pre-Idol" band, Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, followed him to a few cities and he'd play with them...I can't even imagine doing the Idol concert from say 7 until 10 then heading to a club and playing from 11 until 1 or 2...then crawling on to a bus and doing it all again. But when you've got it in your blood, instead of sapping your energy, it's what gives you life.
The church has a semi-fancy word for it that we're as the church beginning to rediscover...it's called vocation. From the Latin vocatio, it means your calling. What is your calling? It's not just to describe pastor-type folks in the church, and it's also not just to describe what you do from 9 to 5. You wanna see someone who's living out their vocation, their calling, as a musician? Check out this clip of Taylor and Little Memphis Blues Orchestra covering Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright. Great stuff...
Looking for something genius but more low-key? Try a stripped-down version of Georgia On My Mind...just Taylor, his guitar and harmonica, and Billy Earl McClelland on solo guitar:
Georgia On My Mind
Enjoy!
LH
So look for us at the Orpheum in Sioux City, Main Floor Left Center, Row E. I'll be the one with the goofy, dopey grin on my face, and Sweetie will be the slightly embarrassed one trying to act as though she's kind of there with the idiot next to her (which would be me), but not really all that much.
I know, dear readers, that there are a number of you right now shaking your heads and thinking "Oh, poor sweet misguided LutheranHusker, why oh why did you give in to the American Idol machine?" Well, let me tell you, if you are uninitiated with the musical phenomenon that is Taylor Hicks, you're in for a surprise, because ladies and gents, this guy is the Anti-Idol. The man eats, sleeps, breathes, and probably even poops music (don't ask me how that last one would work). He grew up playing his harmonica and singing in smoky bars from age 16 on, and his influences are along the lines of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Joe Cocker...not your typical teeny-bopper Idol. He's said from the beginning that his dream is to basically live on a tourbus, play a bunch of shows, stopping occasionally to record more stuff, then to hop back on the bus again...he's backing it up so far on his first post-Idol solo tour, with 55 concert dates scheduled so far over the course of the next 90 days.
God created the man with a gift for live concerts.
Suffice it to say that March 24th can't come soon enough.
During the American Idol tour last summer, Taylor had a habit of playing the AI concert, then leaving the arena and heading to a local club to do a "real" concert with "real" music. His old "pre-Idol" band, Little Memphis Blues Orchestra, followed him to a few cities and he'd play with them...I can't even imagine doing the Idol concert from say 7 until 10 then heading to a club and playing from 11 until 1 or 2...then crawling on to a bus and doing it all again. But when you've got it in your blood, instead of sapping your energy, it's what gives you life.
The church has a semi-fancy word for it that we're as the church beginning to rediscover...it's called vocation. From the Latin vocatio, it means your calling. What is your calling? It's not just to describe pastor-type folks in the church, and it's also not just to describe what you do from 9 to 5. You wanna see someone who's living out their vocation, their calling, as a musician? Check out this clip of Taylor and Little Memphis Blues Orchestra covering Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright. Great stuff...
Looking for something genius but more low-key? Try a stripped-down version of Georgia On My Mind...just Taylor, his guitar and harmonica, and Billy Earl McClelland on solo guitar:
Georgia On My Mind
Enjoy!
LH
Thursday, January 04, 2007
One Child's Honesty
For Christmas, I received (among other things) the new, self-titled Taylor Hicks album. For those of you who may be rolling your eyes, I encourage you to at least give the album (as well as its predecessor, Under the Radar, which was released independently before he ever set foot on American Idol) a listen. There's 12 tracks--generally, on any given album, I can identify 3 or 4 "keepers" with 8 or 9 additional filler songs to round things out. Here, there's a couple of songs I could do without, but in general it's a GREAT album. Especially when one takes into account the fact that The Powers That Be at American Idol most likely foisted some songs on Taylor that they felt would be "radio-friendly" (in other words, crap for the faceless hordes). All in all, a really SOLID debut. Listen for the What'd I Say keyboard sample in Heaven Knows and a song originally written for Ray Charles that he didn't get to record before he passed away (The Right Place). There's also 2 songs on there that Taylor wrote and had originally sung on his independent Under the Radar album (Soul Thing and The Deal)...very interesting to hear different takes on them.
But I digress.
Rewind a few weeks with me, if you will.
It's now the middle of December. The Taylor Hicks album had been on my Amazon wishlist pretty much ever since Amazon pre-orders for it were available. I was home with Kiddo, and had promised him that he could play a computer game on pbskids.org. So he was sitting on my lap at the computer. I wanted to do two things before going to the pbskids site--check my email and doublecheck my Amazon wishlist to make sure there weren't any out-of-date items on there. I scanned my email quickly, then surfed over to Amazon, and began scrolling down my wishlist.
As the picture of the Taylor Hicks album scrolled up, Kiddo stopped me. "Daddy," he said, "that's what you want for Christmas!"
Since I had never informed him of this, I was immediately interested in what he had to say. "Oh, really?" I replied.
"Yes. That's just like what I saw in the store with Mommy, and she said you wanted it for Christmas," he told me, pointing to the picture of the album cover.
I started laughing. "What's funny?" he asked me.
I don't remember exactly what my answer was, but I think I made something up about remembering something funny Kiddo had done earlier in the day.
And like that, the cat was out of the bag. The secret was out. Well, not completely, I suppose, he never did actually say that they had bought it, but I knew.
Ya gotta love a child's honesty.
But I digress.
Rewind a few weeks with me, if you will.
It's now the middle of December. The Taylor Hicks album had been on my Amazon wishlist pretty much ever since Amazon pre-orders for it were available. I was home with Kiddo, and had promised him that he could play a computer game on pbskids.org. So he was sitting on my lap at the computer. I wanted to do two things before going to the pbskids site--check my email and doublecheck my Amazon wishlist to make sure there weren't any out-of-date items on there. I scanned my email quickly, then surfed over to Amazon, and began scrolling down my wishlist.
As the picture of the Taylor Hicks album scrolled up, Kiddo stopped me. "Daddy," he said, "that's what you want for Christmas!"
Since I had never informed him of this, I was immediately interested in what he had to say. "Oh, really?" I replied.
"Yes. That's just like what I saw in the store with Mommy, and she said you wanted it for Christmas," he told me, pointing to the picture of the album cover.
I started laughing. "What's funny?" he asked me.
I don't remember exactly what my answer was, but I think I made something up about remembering something funny Kiddo had done earlier in the day.
And like that, the cat was out of the bag. The secret was out. Well, not completely, I suppose, he never did actually say that they had bought it, but I knew.
Ya gotta love a child's honesty.
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