Photo courtesy of David McClister Photography
Taylor Hicks
Even when Taylor Hicks was a teenager in Hoover in the 1990s, music was a big part of his life.
Former classmates from Hoover High remember him as an outgoing guy who was always singing in the basketball locker room or playing his harmonica.
People who worked in the guidance counselor’s office recall him saying that his main goal was to be in a band one day.
Curt Posey, who now serves on the Hoover City Council, was in the same graduating class as Hicks — the class of 1995 and the first to graduate from Hoover High — and remembers Hicks being voted the most talented of the 432 seniors.
“He was very talented and played the harmonica and sang,” Posey said. “I never really saw him perform like he did [later] on ‘American Idol.’ … When you’re in high school, you don’t really get to see that side of a person at school.”
But Hicks, who became famous after winning the fifth season of the “American Idol” TV show in 2006, confirmed that music was in his blood from an early age. He remembers sneaking into a nearby sports bar after high school basketball games to hear music.
Even then, he had enough premature gray hair to blend into the crowd, despite being underage, he said.
“I knew music was going to be a part of what I’d do,” Hicks said. “I didn’t know to what level.”
Third album
Hicks, who is scheduled to perform in concert at the Wright Center at Samford University on April 19 as a benefit for Alabama Game Changers, now is preparing to release his third album since “American Idol.” It will be his first full album release in 15 years. He has been working on it for about 10 years, he said.
In 2017, Hicks put out a single called “Six Strings and Diamond Rings,” and then in 2021, he performed a song called “Porch Swing” in the romantic comedy “Stars Fell on Alabama,” playing himself in the movie.
He officially released “Porch Swing” in February of last year and followed it up with another song, “Teach Me To Dance,” in June, in conjunction with Father’s Day weekend and his debut appearance at the Grand Ole Opry.
“Porch Swing” was co-written by Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne and Jason Deere (who has written songs for Little Big Town, Lady A and LeAnn Rimes) and was recorded at Zac Brown’s Southern Ground studio in Nashville.
The ballad marries the sounds of country and soul and expounds on the idea of John Anderson’s “Swingin,’” Hicks said.
The porch swing is an iconic part of American life, from lazy evenings to first kisses, he said. “A lot of things go on on a porch swing.”
“Teach Me To Dance,” written by Victoria Shaw and Candy Parton, is described by Hicks as “the perfect wedding song.” It can be either a first dance song or father-daughter dance song because it’s universal and can be looked at from a father-daughter perspective or a romantic couple perspective, he said.
The song had been on hold for a Garth Brooks album, but Hicks found it and was able to snatch it up, he said.
He hopes to have his full album ready for release by late spring or summer and has been trying to get all the ducks in a row from a marketing perspective, he said. In the meantime, he released his own version of “Jingle Bells” in October and said he might want to do a Christmas album sometime soon as well.
Post-‘Idol’ Success
Hicks has been a busy man since winning “American Idol” 18 years ago. Soon after beating out Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry and Kellie Pickler in that season of the show, he was named the “Hottest Bachelor” of 2006 by People magazine.
The debut single on his first album release after the show, “Do I Make You Proud,” debuted in the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and later was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart and later was certified as a platinum album.
Hicks landed a book deal with Random House for a memoir that came out in 2007, and in 2008 he joined the cast of the Broadway musical “Grease” to play the role of Teen Angel, continuing in the role for a national tour.
In 2009, Hicks released his second post-“Idol” album, called “The Distance,” on his own label, Modern Whomp Records, and the first single, “What’s Right is Right,” made it to No. 24 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks.
In 2012, Hicks steered his Soul Patrol ship in a different direction, becoming the first “American Idol” alumnus to land a long-term gig in Las Vegas. He started out at the Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in June 2012 and shifted to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino in January 2013, as part of a deal that allowed him to sing at other Caesar’s properties across the country the same year.
In 2019, Hicks stepped back onto the stage at the Serenbe Playhouse just outside Atlanta, taking on the lead role of Charlie Anderson in “Shenandoah.”
Love for food
The singer and actor also has always had a passion for food, he said. While he was growing up in Alabama, he enjoyed visiting mom-and-pop restaurants all over the state, and that love of cuisine continued as he traveled around the country performing, he said.
In 2011, he joined with several partners to open a restaurant in Birmingham called Ore Drink and Dine, which served upscale versions of Southern classic dishes. The restaurant was rebranded in 2012 as Saw’s Juke Joint in conjunction with Mike Wilson and Doug Smith of Saw’s BBQ. Hicks said he handles the marketing for all six locations of Saw’s, including the one that opened in Hoover in 2022.
“The brand is growing, and people walk out with BBQ sauce all over ‘em,” he said. “That’s one thing we’re happy about.”
Hicks took his passion for food to the television screen from 2016 to 2018 in a series on the INSP channel called “State Plate,” in which he served as host, traveling across the country to feature iconic dishes and ingredients from each state. One of his favorites is Maine lobster, he said. “I think it tastes different.”
My motto is — have guitar, will travel.
Taylor Hicks
Hicks, who has lived off and on in Nashville for about 15 years, said he now spends a lot of time traveling back and forth between Nashville, Birmingham and the Gulf Coast. He probably comes to Birmingham two to three times a month, he said. He still has family in Hoover and the restaurant in Birmingham. On the Gulf Coast, he likes to perform at places such as the Flora-Bama in Orange Beach and Perdido Key, Florida, and The Oasis Resort in Gulfport, Mississippi.
But he travels to perform in other places around the country as often as he can get gigs.
“My goal is to stay on the road as much as possible,” he said. “I love working, and I love performing and entertaining. I probably do eight to nine performances a month all over the country and in Canada.”
One of his favorite places to perform was the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon, which is an old ballroom built on springs, he said. “You can see people spring up and down on the floor,” he said. “It’s a magnificent place to play music and entertain people.”
Peaks and valleys
Show business is thrilling, but it comes with a price, Hicks said. “It’s a lot of hard work,” he said. “I enjoy the challenges of the valleys just as much as I enjoy the peaks of my career.”
While “American Idol” was definitely a highlight that brought him into the national spotlight, the best part of his 25 years in show business is all the people who come to hear him play and perform, he said. He also has had a chance to perform with a lot of great musicians.
“Willie Nelson was my favorite,” Hicks said. He got to sing “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” with Nelson at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and considers it the highlight of his career, he said.
He’s also had a lot of variety, noting he sang with Snoop Dogg at City Stages in Birmingham in 2006. He would love to perform with Van Morrison one day, “but I’ve got to get in line for that.”
The hardest thing he’s had to do in his career is learning how to act on the fly — diving headfirst into Broadway theater without any formal training, he said.
“It’s definitely a work in progress still,” he said. “I have the utmost respect for the theater folks.”
Hicks said he would love to find a more serious acting role in film or TV to create some artistic credibility for himself as an actor — maybe take on something like Billy Flynn, a fictional character from the 1926 play “Chicago.”
“Something that catches people off guard,” he said. “That’s kind of the goal.”
He also would love to be a contestant on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars, he said.
“[American Idol judge] Simon [Cowell] said I dance like a drunk uncle at a wedding,” he said. “That would be an awesome gig.”
But music remains his biggest passion, whether he’s performing with a six-piece band or doing an acoustic gig by himself or with one or two others, he said.
“My motto is — have guitar, will travel,” he said. “Whatever combination they want.”
