Showing posts with label blue-eyed soul. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blue-eyed soul. Show all posts

Monday, March 2, 2009

Taylor Hicks sings "What's Right is Right" in Tucson...


It was a stunning metamorphosis...


"When there’s joy inside your heart I’ll share it
When you got a dream I say reach for the sky
And if you ever fall I’ll catch you.
What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
And what’s right is right. "

Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel descended in an ice cream cone with chocolate on top and sent Frenchie into swoons as he crooned Beauty School Dropout in full Elvis-inspired rhinestoned regalia. It was over the top, hamming it up fun, and it brought down the house at Music Hall in Tucson last week. Frenchie delivered the show-stopping line when she alluded to Taylor’s American Idol win, stoking his chest and cooing, “I voted for you!” It could have been Saturday Night Live at the theatre!

The curtain call was a glimpse of the change. Taylor appeared in the Grease rhinestoned jacket but with jeans and black t-shirt underneath, and the signature gray hair showed no sign of hairspray.

When the Grease DJ Vince Fontaine announced to the audience “Singing his single release What’s Right is Right from his new album, here is Taylor Hicks,” the real blue-eyed soul singer, Taylor Hicks, showed up. He was live on stage where he excels!

The rhinestone jacket was replaced by what could have been a Dolce & Gabbana jacket with the jeans and black t-shirt. The snakeskin boots would make a good impression in Tucson. The best impression was the soulful sounds of Taylor Hicks singing “What’s Right is Right” with the intensity and ‘taylorization’ that always brands his performances. Some of the audience was surprised, not expecting a “concert” after Grease. It was a well-received surprise!

A few thousand people in Tucson last week had the chance to see a campy Taylor Hicks as Teen Angel and Taylor Hicks live on stage singing his music. It showed the amazing range of talent of this Season 5 American Idol winner.

When you remember the Season Five American Idol competition, you have to think, “How little they knew of Taylor Hicks!”

There were no Hillerman storms—the weather was perfect. The beauty of the desert was the perfect backdrop for the beauty of good theatre and good music.

There was a magical moment on Sunday morning when the sun and shadows were just right, and I captured the picture above of Teen Angel in Tucson.

I had a great time going along on this one!

Friday, February 13, 2009

Taylor Hicks Whomp Meets Jake Davis Films


The Taylor Hicks Community had a chance to interview Jake Davis and get some insights about the video for Taylor's new single, "What's Right is Right." Jake dicusses what it is like to work with Taylor Hicks in a creative endeavor and about how the concept for the video came to be. See what Jake Davis has to say about Taylor Hicks and his blue eyed soul style of music! You will enjoy this one!

Link to our interview on Connections:
http://taylorconnections.com/topic/1223379/1/

Please also stop by Jake's sites as thanks for taking the time to give us all this great interview!


http://jakedavis.typepad.com/jakedavis
http://www.kleinerinc.com/
www.jakedavisfilms.com

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Taylor Hicks~a new journey...





Taking along a new sound of blue-eyed soul, Taylor Hicks starts a new journey.

It took off as he performed his new single, What’s Right is Right on stage Saturday night in Chicago. Yesterday the audio was set streaming on his official website, taylorhicks.com. Today the track list for his new album, The Distance, is out, and it showcases a spectrum of songs that will touch our hearts and souls.

The Distance drops March 10 on Taylor’s own record label, Modern Whomp Records in collaboration with the marketing and distribution team of Rocket Science and Artist To Market. Its tracks weave a colorful blend of songs of enduring love, soul searching messages, and fun sounds with the rockin’ beat of Northern soul.

Tracking the new sound of soul from Taylor Hicks~~

The Distance
By Taylor Hicks on Modern Whomp Records

Wedding Day Blues
Seven Mile Breakdown
What Right is Right
Hide Nor Hair
Woman gotta Have It
New Found Freedom
The Distance
Nineteen
I Live on a Battlefield
Yes We Can
Maybe You Should
Once Upon a Lover of Mine
Keepin’ It Real
Indiscriminate Act of Kindness

The Distance will touch our hearts and rock our souls!
It’s available now for pre-order on Amazon.

LISTEN to the single release What’s Right is Right at:
http://www.taylorhicks.com/



What’s Right is Right

When there’s sadness in your eyes I see it
You can’t hide what’s weighing on your mind
When there’s trouble in your life I feel it

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right

When there’s joy inside your heart I’ll share it
When you got a dream I say reach for the sky
And if you ever fall I’ll catch you

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right

I don’t want to go a single night without you
I don’t want to know what an empty bed is like
When you laugh I’m laughing and when you cry I’m crying

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right

This I promise you forever
I’m with you all the way to the finish line
And we’re gonna’ cross that bridge together
Marching step by step walking side by side

I don’t want to go a single night without you
I don’t want to know what an empty bed is like
When you laugh I’m laughing and when you cry I’m crying

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right

I don’t want to go a single night without you
I don’t want to know what an empty bed is like
When you laugh I’m laughing when you cry I’m crying

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right

I don’t want to go a single night without you
I don’t want to know what an empty bed is like
When you laugh I’m laughing when you cry I’m crying

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right.

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right.

What’s wrong with you is wrong with me
What’s right is right.
~~~

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Believe to your soul...

If Taylor Hicks has one word to live by, I think it is…

Believe.

At the end of his autobiography, “Heart Full of Soul,” Taylor describes 10 songs that mean a lot to him. His last selection is “I Believe to my Soul” by his idol, Ray Charles.

“This is my last selection in my Top 10, but it’s the number one message I want you to take from my story. Believe in yourself. Believe to your soul. Be confident. As Joe Namath once said, ‘When you have confidence, you can have a lot of fun. And when you have fun, you can do amazing things.’

“If you believe in yourself, anything that comes your way—good, bad, or really ugly—can’t knock you too far off track. Believing in yourself is the thing—sometimes the only thing—that will carry you through any situation.”

It’s so easy to get knocked off track. So much is going on around us. Many people face this new year with little more than their beliefs. A formidable future lies in front of them just as it did for Taylor Hicks, the young blue-eyed-soul singer who had already traveled a challenging road when he wrote “Heart Full of Soul” at the young age of 31.

As I was thinking about these words, I picked up the unopened mail on my desk. I opened the first Christmas card. It had only one word on the front…

”Believe.”

It didn’t tell me what to believe or in whom to believe…just to “believe.”

What I believe is that we are stronger than we know. We can find the strength to do what we must. In the words of a popular little toy…”I think I can, I think I can.” There in lies our grit and resolve and our success. We may believe in ideals, a higher power, or other people. Not until we believe in ourselves can we persevere, prosper and achieve our dreams.

In the words of the French poet and novelist, Anatole France, “To accomplish great things, we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe.”

Taylor Hicks dreamed and acted and planned. He also believed. He believed in his music and never gave up. Now, he is living his dream.

If Taylor Hicks has three words to live by, I think they are…

“Don’t stop believing...”

Happy holidays and may you believe in the best for the coming year!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Taylor Hicks announces "The Distance"~~

The new sounds of blue-eyed soul…

“The Distance” is the new soul sound of Taylor Hicks, who says he is taking vibes from classic soul artists like Van Morrison and James Taylor.

Taylor recently announced the album title “The Distance” which is being released on the artist’s own recording label, Modern Whomp Records, in collaboration with independent music distributor, Artist To Market. “The Distance” is a record that Taylor has had complete control over—the music, recording and marketing. The title of the single has not been released yet, but often it is the title track from the record. But with Taylor, we know that nothing is ever “business as usual”, so we will just have to wait to see what he has chosen for the single.

And the backup’s not bad either! Taylor hired an A-list of musicians to record this album. Among them are Nathan East, Eric Clapton’s bass man, Doyle Bramhall a Grammy-nominated blues songwriter and musician from Texas and Abe Laborial, Paul McCartney’s drummer. His musical collaborations include renowned Nashville songwriter Gary Nicholson and friends Wynne Christian and Alan Little.

Taylor knows distance, traveling with his band throughout the South as an unknown blue-eyed soul singer. And he has gone the long distance from Birmingham to Broadway with a few hundred cities in between. From the Hollywood stage where he won American Idol in 2006 to his first Modern Whomp Solo Tour in 2007, distance has been a constant companion for Taylor, much of it traveled comfortably for the last couple of years on his own luxury tour bus. He is traveling again with the National Tour of Grease starring as Teen Angel now through May, 2009.

For someone who loves making music on the road, distance is a way of life. Lots of us have traveled the last year with him. I am looking forward to seeing where those distances have taken Taylor Hicks musically. I think this will be a fascinating contrast and comparison of what “the distance” from there to here has done to the heart and soul—the music—of Taylor Hicks.

This promises to be the best of Taylor Hicks. He recently told Blogcritic Sherry Lippman, “I can honestly tell you that it is a great record. I'm really excited about it.” Taylor is truly proud of this work. He has said, “The best is yet to come.”

“The Distance” will be worth the wait!

Source credit for quote: Blogcritic Sherry Lippman

Thursday, October 30, 2008

We've come so far...

Taylor has come from a young, hopeful musician recording his first album at 19, to the svelte, hand-jivin’ star of Grease! He has gone abroad, gone jamming, and gone to Broadway. He has parked the old van and has ridden beside the driver on his own luxury tour bus. He’s been in a bubble, a golf cart, and an ice cream cone. He’s been on the 5-story billboard on the corner of 47th Street and Broadway.

We have come from routines that sometimes bordered on boring to dealing with “general admission” and standing in one place much longer than God ever intended. We have boarded planes and trains, driven back roads, gotten lost, found our way and, in the end, always made it to wherever Taylor was. We know whomp, swamp rock, and blue-eyed soul. We read Rolling Stone—don’t tell the kids!

We’ve learned to live in cyberspace. We can upload, download, and overload. We blog, post, and embed. We write html, create videos, store pictures in a bucket, and respond to 253 emails while eating dinner.

What’s next? We went to Broadway to see Taylor as he invited us to do. Now, he is bringing Broadway to many of our hometowns! Spring will bring us new Taylor music. We see exciting prospects for the journey ahead. We’ve said it before…we will be there.

We know one thing for sure…our way will be inspired by Taylor Hicks. His quest for something more in his life has made our lives richer. Someone has said that it is not the destination but the journey that matters.

We’ve come so far. We still have far to go. Taylor recently wrote with the release of Early Works, “Thanks for coming on the ride.”

Thanks, Taylor, for taking us!
~~~~

What do you see on the road ahead?