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Despite the moans of "What is Relix doing covering the winner from American Idol" – a show many probably find to be the antithesis of what this publication is all about – it should be known that Taylor Hicks is one of our own. Whether it was picking up the harmonica at 15, seeing Widespread Panis and Phish in the mid ’90s, promotion his own Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Derek Trucks shows or opening for Robert Randolph, Hicks has stepped himself in the live music tradition. In fact, he credits much of it for his win. We caught up with People magazine’s Bachelor of the Year as he was preparing to go onstage last month as the American Idol tour rolled through Colorado.
You’ve said, “Having a number-one single is only the beginning.” How so? What steps are you taking to insure your longevity as an artist in a climate where someone catapulted into pop culture like yourself can come and go so quickly?
That single, “Do I Make You Proud,” I tried to make that single my own single but in reality it’s the show’s single. It’s not mine. The song that was given to me first, I got up from a chair and walked right outof the studio. I was handed this song and I was just like, “No way, you’re not going to make me sing this song. I’m out of here.” The beginning for me on a national level was American Idol, but obviously I’ve been trying to play as much live music as I could since I was about 15.
Prior to last season and this most recent one, I never really watched American Idol. But in all honesty, you and Bo Bice turned my head a little bit with your musical selections.
You know what? I don’t watch it either! [laughs] You can write that.
The audiences you’re performing for now are probably quite a bit different than the ones you were performing for just a year ago.
American Idol, for me, is fizzling out. I want to take that opportunity and exposure: you either come to see me, buy my album or you don’t. I’m not trying to meet expectations. If you can say you’re a working musician, then you’re doing something good. I’m just glad to be a working musician because that’s what I’ve always been.
Relix
I never got the whole Taylor Hicks thing to me looks like he is 50 and he dances like a schmuck and his singing is average. I just hope comments like this that make him the poorest selling Idol ever and he goes off to has-been land. Obviously his album is not that good if they pushed it back a week?
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