Taylor Hicks Shows Off Soulful Pipes at Detroit's Magic Bag

Taylor Hicks took to the stage at the Magic Bag in Detroit, MI yesterday and performed a very rare acoustic set before a full house of enthusiastic fans. Most of the set consisted of songs from his recently released album, The Distance, along with cuts from his self named post-Idol album. He was as handsome as ever, conversing lightly with the audience and seemed relaxed, happy and in his natural element playin' his music and singing his songs. He was accompanied by long time friends/musicians John Kulinich http://www.myspace.com/johnkulinich on guitar, Brian Less http://www.myspace.com/brianless on piano/keys, and Jason Parker on bass http://www.waynemillsband.com/jason_parker.html. Taylor of course blew some skillful harmonica along with guitar.

Complete Set List:

The Distance
I Live On A Battlefield
The Runaround
What's Right Is Right
Don't Let Me Down
The Deal
Wedding Day Blues
Once Upon A Lover
Nineteen
Gonna Move
Indiscriminate Act of Kindness
Maybe You Should
My Sweet Lord
Seven Mile Breakdown
Feeling Alright

From all accounts, this was one of his finest gigs in a long time, introducing and singing for the first time three new songs , "Maybe You Should", co-written by Taylor and Mike Reid, who penned Bonnie Raitt's hit single "I Can’t Make You Love Me", "Indescriminate Act of Kindness", a gorgeous ditty penned by Foy Vance, and a great novelty cut, "Wedding Day Blues", written by Allen Little and Taylor Hicks. Quite evident is the emotional heart and soul he gives to each and every song he sings. He is one of the rare performers that actually delivers convincingly on stage and continues to be both a dynamic musical force as well as one of the biggest underrated talents of the last decade.

Currently he is starring in the touring company of "Grease" and if the show happens to roll into your neighborhood and he is playing a side gig like this in your local club, do yourself a favor and buy a ticket because talent like this deserves to be heard. Well done, Taylor.

Picture courtesy of "EJ" at the Boogie.

American Idol 7 A Bore - Bring Taylor Hicks Back!

I'm terribly sorry, but I'm watching this year's crop of wanna-be's on American Idol and so far it's a terrible bore. Yawn!! Let's be honest - it just is. Yea, you've got the first potential teeny-bopper AI winner in your mist with David Archuleta. He's does nothing for me musically, but I KNOW the teen girls will love this young boy. You got the overhyped Michael Johns and the failed recording artist Carly Smithson. Oh boy.

And then there's Amanda Overmyer who is the only slightly interesting person to me just because she's different and I respect people who try to stand apart from the mainstream pop field. I doubt she'll last too long though. Nigel will make sure of that, unfortunately. The rest of the field you can have. They are all totally forgettable.

Perhaps one of you guys can wake me up when somebody this season rips a performance like Season 5 Winner Taylor Hicks did in one of the show's best - the week he grabbed Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness" by the throat and delivered like no-one's business. I do believe he actually impressed Simon with this. I know Simon would refuse to admit to this today, but the film doesn't lie.

Let's look at this performance from one of the most talented, if not THE most talented artists ever to come out of that show - someone who knew how to grab an audience by the balls and not let go: