Taylor Hicks ~~ Tales of the Harmonica

Taylor Hicks and his harmonica are not soon parted.

It was a simple beginning, but it was life changing.

And it was a significant leap from being a “major music fan to becoming an actual player…”

In his autobiography, "Heart Full of Soul," Taylor Hicks recalls his first encounter with a lowly harmonica in a flea market when he was just sixteen.

“I was hanging out with some friends at the flea market in Bessemer, Alabama, on a lazy Sunday afternoon when a beat-up old Marine Band harmonica suddenly caught my eye. That crusty old harp didn’t just look used; it looked downright abused. Still, the price was definitely right, so after considerable debate, I dug into my pockets and made the single best $2 investment of my life.”
It was love at first sight.

“I fell totally and passionately in love with that harmonica. …that instrument and I became inseparable. The thing went to school with me. It went to bed with me. I even went to the bathroom with me. It kept me company and gave me a new identity. I was ‘the kid with the harmonica.’

“As I’d done with so much else in my life, I taught myself to play the instrument without any formal instruction. I …began trying to play along with all my favorites. …not just to soul and blues tunes but also to the rock tracks I loved by performers such as Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, and Supertramp. …for me, the ultimate test was playing along to ‘Take the Long Way Home’ by Supertramp.”

No wonder that “Take the Long Way Home” is a super concert favorite today.

Although instruments were not part of the American Idol competition, the harmonica went along. The most memorable audition image is Taylor entering the judges’ room blowing on his harmonica and plopping himself down on the chair in front of them to hear their decision.

After making history on the American Idol stage, Taylor was able to take his harmonica on the American Idol Tour and was often on his knees playing his harp.

Now, there’s a passel of harmonicas in different keys, neatly arranged and labeled in cases on stage.

One still goes everywhere!

The golf course...
The high seas for Jam Cruise, 2011. Media appearances... Stunning images show the intensity with which Taylor is one with the harmonica, here at the Rocky Mountain Power Jam in 2010.

He took it to Broadway and gave Teen Angel a new kind of heavenly harp.

There is only one that we can find who wasn’t impressed with Taylor and his harmonica. It was a bad day in Dallas when Taylor shared the stage with Burt, the basset hound, who wanted no part of a harmonica playing American Idol. Taylor throws them into the audience sometimes as he did during “Seven Mile Breakdown” on American Idol in 2009. During the 2007 tour, fans could buy the ones he used after the concerts. He gives them away, often to young fans at concerts.

Taylor Hicks is more now than “the kid with the harmonica.” He has added much to his identity, his musical catalog, and his self-taught talent.

Yet, the harmonica still symbolizes the intensity with which he performs, the talent he has developed, and his love and passion for his music.

It is his smooth stone—a touch stone that seems to ground him.

It was, indeed, a good $2 investment.
~~~

How many harmonicas has Taylor Hicks held since that first one in Bessemer, Alabama?

It bends the mind to ponder!

But we and the music world are richer from that beat up, abused harmonica that couldn’t have known its significance on that Sunday afternoon in Bessemer.

~~~
Sources: Quote: Heart Full of Soul, Taylor Hicks, Random House, July, 2007.

Photos: BamaRising -taylorhicks.com; American Idol -screencaps; golf course-Birmingham News; Jam Cruise-Tom Zinn; media-Jacksonville Morning Mess screencap; Rocky Mountain Power Jam-screencap; Grease-promo photo; Burt-Good Day Dallas screencap; Taylor at Magic Bag-Peece (pc325).

The story of Burt, the basset hound, "Taylor Hicks Meets the Toughest Crowd in Texas" is here:

http://thetaylorhickscommunity.blogspot.com/2009/09/taylor-hicks-meets-toughest-crowd-in.html

"Take the Long Way Home" from Millersville, 2007, by Skeeter: