Sometime this summer or early fall, “American Idol” alum Taylor Hicks plans to release a new album.
It will be his fourth since the “Idol” win in 2006 when he released his eponymous debut on Arista that followed his 2005 indie release “Under the Radar.” And it will be his first since “The Distance,” which he released on his own Modern Whomp label in 2009.
This new album will mark a dramatic departure from everything he has done in the past and one that returns him to the music of his Southern birthright.
Hicks, who brings his “Night Moves” show to Fox Tucson Theatre on Friday, April 12, grew up on what he calls Southern soul, the kind of country and Americana roots music you would find at the roadhouses in his native Alabama.
“All of that music that I grew up with in the South, whether it was country or rock, the Delta blues to soul,” he said. “I grew up in the heart of Dixie. Being in the heart of Dixie, you can grab a lot of influences around the South, and that’s kind of what my music, sonically, you can hear.”
“Night Moves” includes Hicks’ earlier more pop-leaning songs, as well as songs from “Idol,” but the focus is on songs from Bob Seger, one of the musicians who inspired a young Taylor Hicks as he was finding his voice.
“A lot of those singers taught me how to sing with their music,” he said, adding Van Morrison and Rod Stewart to the list.
But Seger’s soulful, mid-range baritone style fits most comfortably in Hicks’ wheelhouse, he said. “Night Moves” was born out of Hicks’s annual Toys for Tots benefit concert featuring Rod Stewart covers and holiday classics. He did a few one-offs of “Night Moves” that went over so well with audiences that he turned it into a full tour a couple of years ago.
“The idea to do a little Bob Seger has just been a hit and I am super excited to come to Tucson,” said Hicks, who was here last in 2009 playing Teen Angel in the Broadway touring production of “Grease.” “I love the area. I have a lot of friends there.”
For his show at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Fox, 17 W. Congress St., Hicks will perform Seger’s ubiquitous “Night Moves” as well as “Mainstreet” and “Against the Wind” and some of his more obscure songs. He also will play two of his latest singles — “Porch Swing” and “Teach Me to Dance,” both recorded at Zach Brown’s Nashville studio.
“I’m a Southern country soul guy. That’s kind of where my wheelhouse is, very Stapleton-esque,” he said describing the direction the new album is taking. “The record is a Southern country soul record and that’s just where I am.”
Tickets for Friday’s show are $20-$62.50 through foxtucson.com; enter “PROUD” at checkout and get two-for-one.
The Fox Tucson Theatre has been a Tucson landmark for decades. Its history has been captured in photos since the 1930s, when it opened as a vaudeville venue and movie house. Video by Pascal Albright / Arizona Daily Star
