Taylor Hicks ~~ Meet the Tour Music!

Taylor Hicks introduced a ton of new music in his National Tour, 2010.

It included a cornucopia of covers whose original artists hail from classic rock and roll to British pop. There was a heavy infusion of sounds from the Fifties, Seventies, and beyond.

Here’s our look at Taylor’s covers that rocked the stage from coast to coast.

“Not Fade Away”
Performed by Taylor on American Idol and first debuted on tour in New York City at the Highline Ballroom.

The rock and roll classic has been covered by artists from the Rolling Stones whose 1964 version was their first US single to the Grateful Dead, James Taylor, The Supremes who recorded it in 1964 but released it in 2008 on an album collection, the Everly Brothers, to The Beatles, who being avid fans of Buddy Holly recorded an unreleased version of “Not Fade Away.”

“Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly (originally under his first and middle names, Charles Hardin) and Norman Petty (although Petty's co-writing credit is most likely a formality) and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 29, 1957.

It was one of the first pop songs to feature the "Bo Diddley" sound, a series of beats (da, da, da, da-da da) popularized by Diddley, The song's rhythm pattern is one of the classic examples of the Bo Diddley beat, which itself was an update of the so-called "hambone" rhythm, or "patted juba" from Western Africa. It is also known as the "shave and a haircut, 2 bits" and "hambone beat". Willie and the Hand Jive, Louie, Louie, Help Me Rhonda are but just a few other songs with clave, the basis of Cuban music, "salsa" and Latin jazz as well as other Caribbean music.

“Love the One You’re With”
First made the Taylor setlist in Denver at the Rocky Mountain Power Jam and on tour in New York city at the Highline Ballroom.

This is a 1970 single by folk rocker Stephen Stills. The first release off his first solo album Stephen Stills, it rose to the top twenty of the pop singles chart, peaking at #14.

Stills wrote the song after being inspired by the tag line -- "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with" which was a frequent remark by musician Billy Preston. Stills asked him for permission to use the line in a song which Preston immediately agreed to.

The most notable cover came in 1971 from The Isley Brothers, whose unique gospel-driven cover of the song sent it to the charts again. It was also covered by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young on their live album Four Way Street, Aretha Franklin on her album Aretha Live at Fillmore West, The Supremes along with The Four Tops on their album Dynamite, Engelbert Humperdinck on Live At The Riviera, Bobby Goldsboro and Les Humphries Singers.

In a recent review by Alan Segal at the San Diego Reader, he said Taylor’s performance “put Stephen Stills to shame.”

“Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody”
A funky Brick (The Band) tune first hit Taylor’s setlist at The Highline Ballroom in New York City.

Brick was formed in Atlanta, Georgia in 1972 from members of two bands - one disco and the other jazz. They coined their own term for disco-jazz, "dazz". They released their first single "Music Matic" on Main Street Records in 1976, before signing to the independently distributed Bang Records. “Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody” was released in 1978 and rode the charts at #92 Pop, and #7 R&B.

“Bulletproof”
Taylor’s “electroBama” sound of “Bulletproof” first blasted onto the stage at The Highline Ballroom in New York.

Taylor gave a preview to this setlist favorite when he tweeted a link to LaRoux and said this was the best on radio, when he first heard it in Denver.

“Bulletproof" is a song by the English electropop* duo La Roux from their self-titled debut album, La Roux (2009). Written and produced by both members of La Roux ( Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid ), the song was released in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2009 as the album's third single in digital and physical formats from two labels, Polydor and Kitsuné Music.

"Bulletproof" was well-received by music critics, and also debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart. It was also a sleeper hit in the United States, peaking at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and has as of June 2010 shifted more than 862,000 downloads in the U.S.

* Electropop (also called technopop) is a form of electronic music that is made with synthesizers, and which first flourished from 1978 to 1981. The genre has seen a revival of popularity and influence since the late 2000s. "Electropop" is the short form of "electronic pop".

The term was used primarily during the 1980s to describe a form of synthpop characterized by an emphasized electronic sound — often described as cold and robotic — and by minimal arrangements. Electropop songs are pop songs at heart, often with simple, catchy hooks and dance beats.

Taylor Hicks took the electronic sound, cold and robotic, and put it on keyboard, guitar, drums and sax and created a new “electroBama” sound.

Stay With Me
The “simple rock and roll formula” song was introduced by Taylor at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA.

“Stay with Me," written by Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood, was first recorded by their band Faces for the 1971 album A Nod Is as Good as a Wink...To a Blind Horse. The song has also appeared on various Faces compilations and on albums by both songwriters. The lyrics describe a woman with "red lips, hair and fingernails" he "found... down on the floor"; the singer proposes a one-night stand on the condition that she must be gone when he wakes up. The song starts with a breakneck intro that settles into a steady groove - a simple rock & roll formula at a time when music was becoming more complicated. Faces was formed in 1969 by members of the Small Faces after Steve Marriott left that group to form Humble Pie. The remaining Small Faces - Ronnie Lane (bass guitar), Ian McLagan (keyboards) and Kenney Jones (drums & percussion) - were joined by Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Rod Stewart (lead vocals), both from The Jeff Beck Group, and the new line-up was renamed Faces.

Although they enjoyed only modest success compared to contemporaries such as The Who and The Rolling Stones, the Faces have had considerable influence on latter-day rock revivalists. Their good-natured, back-to-basics (and frequently liquor-laden) concerts and studio albums connect them with such bands as The Damned and Steve Jones of The Sex Pistols. Bands representing an assortment of genres, ranging from The Replacements and The Quireboys to You Am I, Guns N' Roses, The Black Crowes, Oasis and Pearl Jam have all acknowledged the Faces' musical influence.

Taylor continued to add more covers and musical guests to the tour as he crisscrossed the country in 2010 and connected with old fans and some new ones.

Part 2 ~ More Tour Music Covers!

Sources:
“The Real Buddy Holly Story,” White Star Studios, http://www.songfest.com/; http://www.songmeanings.com/; http://www.allmusic.com/; http://www.wikipedia.com/

For more information and media on the covers and artists with embeds of original artists and Taylor’s cover versions, visit our forum and media board: http://s1.zetaboards.com/connections/topic/3730129/1/#new

Thanks to the Mouser for the research and compilation of the Tour 2010 forum and to RagsQueen for the photo from Tarrytown NY 9.16.10.

ONLY THREE concert appearances remain!

September 18~Paramount Theatre, Rutland, VT, 8:00 p.m.
http://www.paramountvt.org/shows_details.php?show_id=80

September 25~7 Cedars Casino, Sequim, WA, 8:00 p.m.
http://www.7cedarsresort.com/store/tickets/taylor-hicks.html


October 9 – 10 ~Epcot Center “Eat to the Beat Concert Series, Orlando, FL, 5:15, 6:30, 7:45 p.m.
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/04/eat-to-the-beat-concert-series-lineup-at-epcot-international-food-wine-festival/

See Taylor Hicks live in concert while you can!!!

Happy Weekend!