Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Taylor Hicks

Transcript

Taylor Hicks · Tigs Bits Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome to Tigs Bits. This week we are visiting with
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  one of my all time favorite entertainers.
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  Can't believe this is happening. This man has done it all from
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  winning American Idol, being a Broadway star in Greece, the
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  first Idol winner to have a Vegas residency, a restaurant
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  tour and the leader of the Soul Patrol baby.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome platinum selling, Grammy
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  winning actor, singer-songwriter and awesome dude.
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  Mr. Taylor Hicks play us in. Taylor.
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  Oh man, Yes, Sir. Soul Patrol, baby.
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  Soul Patrol. Now that is an intro if I have
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  ever had one on this show. Taylor, thank you so much for
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  coming on, man. It is an absolute honor to have
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  you on here, man. Thanks so much.
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  Absolutely. You know when you.
• 1:02
  When you have, when you when you're on social media and
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  you're travel and stuff and obviously I've known Jr. for for
• 1:08
  a long time and then you know to hear that you know y'all came to
• 1:12
  the you know you came to the show.
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  You know that that means something to me and and however
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  I can you know keep the word spread and and and keep the love
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  flowing, then that's you know what I'm going to do.
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  So that's kind of. That's kind of the way that that
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  that's kind of the way that I operate.
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  That's my that's my MO and and shit, I I like the show too.
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  So, I mean it's we're killing three birds with one stone here,
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  for sure. It really is, man.
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  It really is. Well, how?
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  How did you and Jr. cross paths? How did that all?
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  I mean that. I'm sure that goes back several
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  years. But how did that all?
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  How did y'all's relationship begin?
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  I haven't ever asked. Well, well, all you know in
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  Alabama as far as musicians go, it's funny.
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  It's just the all roads, you know, all roads lead to Wayne
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  Mills, you know. And you know, Wayne is Wayne's
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  kind of like. The, you know, he was kind of
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  like the Alabama's version of Kevin Bacon, you know, I mean,
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  you knew him. You either knew a family member
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  of him, or you knew of him, or you knew somebody that knew of
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  him or somebody that was playing with him or somebody was getting
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  drunk with him. So that's kind of and Alabama's
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  small anyway, you know. So it's funny we, you know,
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  that's how we met obviously through Wayne and and a lot of
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  the travels and music and stuff. So I mean that's you know I
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  hadn't seen Jr. in a while when I, you know when I ran into him
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  at the Bama and you know it's just like we, yeah, we
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  reconnected and it was it was like the same time that we all
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  got drawn together when we were kids.
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  You know, so those kinds of relationships you know when you
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  when you go through. You know the entertainment
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  business and you see people that you haven't seen in a long time
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  that you know that you were friends with back when.
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  And it's just it's it's fun, you know, it's we we had a lot of
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  fun when when that happened back then.
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  But then when you reconnect then it then it gets a whole lot
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  funner, yeah. Yeah, it's almost like the it's
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  almost now the because because we're we're not in our 20s
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  anymore, the stories sound more fun than actually going through
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  what we're talking about doing. Nowadays, yeah, we're like, it's
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  good to rim this, but I don't want to do that again, yeah.
• 3:27
  We can go to bed and talk about it.
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  That's right. We'll talk about it tomorrow
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  over brunch and feel good. It's amazing, right?
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  Yeah. I don't miss some of that.
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  I definitely don't miss some of those days.
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  But those stories, those stories live forever, man.
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  And you know. And that's that's the truth
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  though because it's still now of anywhere I go and I'm sure
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  you're the same way, Taylor. Anywhere I go and I saved from
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  Alabama or I asked somebody where they're from.
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  Wayne comes up in 80% of the conversations I have with people
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  all over the country like not even in our region anymore.
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  It's it's it's incredible and and you know it's just it's a
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  testament like you said he always kept everybody together.
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  It was he. He and he was never one to.
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  You know he always wanted to introduce you to everybody.
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  Hey, come play a show with me. Borrow this, you know, tell come
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  with me, I'll open whatever. He was just down for whatever.
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  Hey, I've got this thing. Here's I got a new club so and
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  so I'll Carmel text everybody. I know the number are y'all
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  y'all. Book you a gig there instead of
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  trying to. Hide it or squirrel it away for
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  himself like some people would. You know, he was just great.
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  Like that he he taught me, you know, look, I'll go into some of
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  these places all over the country and and perform and and
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  you know, they'll be opening acts that open up for me.
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  And I always ask the opening act to sit in with me, every one of
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  them that I can. And you know, Wayne Mills was
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  Wayne Mills taught me how to do that.
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  You know, when I was 18 years old and and and you know, learn,
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  you know, playing harmonica a little bit and just kind of
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  getting going. You know, we we ended up being
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  in the same musical circles and traveling and playing all these
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  same places. And you know he always used to
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  let me up and and and play now. I mean I might not have been in
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  the right state of mind to sit in with Wayne Mills sometimes
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  but but you know, that's the great thing about harmonicas.
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  You got, you know, a little bit more room for error, but.
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  The you know he he taught me he taught me how to you know to
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  embrace people that you play with you know and and I've been
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  fortunate enough to allow you know people on my stage that
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  that are are just getting going and and that reciprocal idea was
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  it was taught to me by Wayne Mills.
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  You know, and I say from and and to go along with that too.
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  And I noticed even at your show when I saw you at the floor, bam
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  or the one thing that's kept you always in the right place the
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  right time is because you, Wayne, did the same thing.
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  You put the music first. It's not about the ego or not
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  about the money necessarily or things like that.
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  It's always about what can we do to have the best show and have
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  the best music, whether it's. At the, you know, early, at
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  daytime, at the show, after party, wherever invite
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  whatever's going to make it the best, let's do that.
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  And that's why it's always gotten better and better.
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  I say that about all of my friends that I've been watching
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  their albums come out and watching them perform live for
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  the last 20 something years now is that everybody's gotten
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  better. It's just gotten better.
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  It's like everybody's just gotten, everything is just
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  gotten a little better every time.
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  You know, everybody's voices change because you get older
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  and. You know, your your, your music
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  tastes and your influences have changed, but it always gets
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  better and better. And that's because most of the
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  people that we've always ran with, like I was talking with
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  the guys before you got on air. I ran in Adam Hood this weekend
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  at the Muscadine, Bloodline Turnpike, Troubadour show.
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  But everybody and him included, everybody just gets better and
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  better, you know what I mean? And it's because everybody put
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  the music first, you know? And that's like you said.
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  Wayne always wanted that because he's like, man, these fans would
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  love to hear harmonica on top of my.
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  Country song or Charlie Daniels song I'm going to play anyway,
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  you know what I mean? He was, he was, he was a
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  blessing, you know that that guy was a that guy was a blessing.
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  And you know, I I was just fortunate enough to be able to
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  to, you know have him back, you know, kind of when when I hit,
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  you know, he came and did some dates with me and I was able to
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  spend some really good quality time before his unfortunate
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  passing. So.
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  Yeah, yeah. Hey.
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  Talking about, you know, meeting Wayne early on and you were in
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  the burnt, you came up in the Birmingham scene.
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  We met obviously at the floor Bama around 2004, five somewhere
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  in probably 4:00-ish, three late 3, early 4:00, somewhere in
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  there. But and I knew some of the bands
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  I grew up on in Elmore County, like outside of Montgomery Lake
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  Martin area. So there was a scene there, not
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  so much, but there was some local talent.
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  But coming up in Birmingham. Who were the other acts that
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  when you were black teenager that were hot around town, that
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  you were looking out, that you know you were jamming their
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  stuff coming up? Well you know I think yeah I
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  think what Willie was always kind of an adopted band from
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  Birmingham even though they they grew up in Mobile they were
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  playing a lot you know Tell You Ride Rick Carter and and all of
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  those guys rolling in the hay. They were.
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  They were. They were a real big group I.
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  I don't think Rick would like me saying this but I booked rolling
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  the hay for my prom and they and and also brother Kane brother
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  Kane you know with with with Damon Johnson and and you know
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  you know the the all the harmonica playing by Topper
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  price. Those were kind of some of the
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  bands that were breaking that were in the in the regional, you
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  know, the regional circuit and then obviously Brother Kane with
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  got no shame, you know went into national stuff.
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  But I mean, yeah, that those are kind of the bands that were kind
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  of, you know, that were about 10 or 15 years older than me that
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  we would always, you know, we would always go through.
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  And then when you kick when you kicked it off what was the what
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  was the kickoff when you first started doing music to out in
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  public and stuff. I know you always sang and
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  played and stuff and everybody you had a musical family but on
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  in like after high school what what was the first gig trying to
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  get really trying to go gig. You're like I'm going to put a
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  band together. I'm going to go play this gig
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  and try to make 100 bucks or. You know, it's funny.
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  You know, I played, I played basketball at Hoover High School
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  and then I, when I was about 16, I I I bought my first harmonica,
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  the Bessemer flea market. And I don't.
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  I don't really recommend anybody buying anything that you blow
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  and suck on at flea markets. To be honest too.
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  But. You know, I got a.
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  Good idea at the time. Yeah, hey, it looked all shiny
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  until yeah, but luckily I didn't catch anything.
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  I'm still here but. You know, I started playing, I
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  started playing and and right around 16 I had this family that
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  would that would have basement parties and they would let you
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  know, they would let the kids come over and all the seniors
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  drink. But then they would have an they
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  had an RV and they had a band you know that they were on the
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  weekends they would go haul last and go set up shop in some of
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  the RV posts and play music well.
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  And I, you know, I started playing harmonica a little bit
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  and this family. You know, would kind of just,
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  you know, was listening to me and and I started singing some,
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  you know, the Blues and I was already kind of through an
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  apprenticeship, you know, vocally from Ray Charles and all
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  of that. So I was, I was, I was singing
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  and then I did some harmonic and stuff and then I sat in with
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  their band One night. When I was about 17 and I mean
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  we had some wild ass high school parties because because the kids
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  you know would come over and and you know that was back then, you
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  know, and the parents would have the big house and we had, you
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  know, we'd come over and and then all the parents would drink
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  and then you had some great we had some great musician at those
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  party that would play almonds and stuff and then I kind of
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  learned how to do that well. You know, it kind of graduated
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  into, you know, let's take Taylor after the high school
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  basketball game and put a hat on him and put him at Corey's
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  sports bar, biker bar and let him play with the Blues Band.
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  So I would go from high school basketball games and sneak a
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  sneak out and they would put a brim hat on me and then I would
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  sit in the corner at this biker bar on 31 in Birmingham Corey's.
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  And I would play Blues until 1:00 in the morning and then I'd
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  sneak back into my parents house at night.
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  So that's kind of that's kind of how I started, you know.
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  And then it then, you know I decided not to do the basketball
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  thing. I was recruited by by some
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  schools to play two guard but I just wasn't dribbling to
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  basketball anymore. I figured I'd, you know, I'd
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  turn some heads, some ladies heads with this harmonica.
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  I would be riding the pine. So.
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  You know that went from Auburn and in Auburn I went into and it
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  started a little band in Auburn and then you know it kind of
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  grew and then it ended up getting an agent, you know.
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  So it just kind of was a a gradual, you know, But I look, I
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  I knew that that this is what I wanted to do, you know this.
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  I wanted to be an entertainer and luckily I was able to, You
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  know, I tell I tell people in interviews and I'll say this
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  until I'm blue in the face. But people in Alabama will let
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  you know if you can throw a football, if you can cook or if
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  you can sing, you know, and if you can do those three, one of
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  those 3, then they'll support you.
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  And luckily, you know, I couldn't throw a football and
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  and I and I damn sure can't cook, but I can sing and I had a
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  lot of support, you know, going through all of those different
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  places that I played. You know, getting older, When
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  did you first start to sing Taylor?
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  When did that? When did did you growing up in
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  church or anything? I know that I heard this story
• 13:07
  years ago who won American Idol, but I forgot and I've slipped.
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  It's the. Older now?
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  No. I you know, I found.
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  You know, I had a little guitar when I was a kid.
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  My, my, my 2 great aunts were the first bluegrass female duet
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  on NPR Radio out of Oak Ridge, TN.
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  So out there and, you know, up there in Oak Ridge and stuff,
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  there's a lineage of some music, but it's kind of, it kind of
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  skipped a couple of generations with.
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  And then I landed on it. And then, you know, I just
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  started singing on key, you know, and then that's that's
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  kind of like. You know when you're when you're
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  when your dad and your mom and your family's around and you can
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  hit notes and your own key, you know, and that's kind of how I
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  kind of started. You know, I learned through ear.
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  You know, I didn't really have any music.
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  You know, that kind of just it happened.
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  I used to you know start playing super tramp and then I went
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  through the whole, you know, I mean then I then it was off to
• 14:00
  the races. I was, you know I went through a
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  lot of music, especially Ray Charles.
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  Ray Charles is. The root of of my musical tree,
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  so to speak. Oh yeah, I.
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  Believe that Jr. mentioned earlier about 04:00 and 05:00
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  and I was like that's exactly when I start hearing Taylor cuz
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  I used to live in Blue Mountain Beach and I used to have purple
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  golf cart that I'd slide down the road to.
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  Snapperheads. I don't.
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  Know if you remember playing at Snapperheads back in those.
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  Days, but oh hell yeah dude, I'd like to play snapperheads right
• 14:29
  now. Oh, it was so fun.
• 14:32
  You in there now? I was always at the back
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  somewhere, the shooting pool. Thinking, you know, yeah, but
• 14:38
  diving back in, we had several of us there.
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  But I remember that fateful night when I got already.
• 14:42
  It was a Thursday night, I think, and we're heading to
• 14:43
  snapper heads. I know Taylor's going to be
• 14:45
  there and I get there and the parking lot looks a little empty
• 14:48
  and I was like, what is going on?
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  And they're like, oh, he's not playing tonight.
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  He apparently made it through some show, American Idol, you
• 14:55
  know, and he's going on to Hollywood.
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  And so I was very bummed for that night, but very excited for
• 15:00
  you so. Well you know, it's funny is
• 15:03
  like, you know, I thought that you were going to say yeah, he
• 15:06
  he's he he, he he almost burnt down Cafe 331 with his cigarette
• 15:12
  because the grass lit on fire. On three, the grass lit on fire
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  on 3/31. So I I'm glad you didn't say
• 15:19
  that. I'm glad that you said that I
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  went to. But you know what?
• 15:23
  You know what's interesting though is I mean is, you know, a
• 15:26
  lot of folks down there in in in that part of the world and and
• 15:30
  down there in Louisiana, you know, I was in Katrina, I was
• 15:32
  one of the last cab rides out of Hurricane Katrina.
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  And I I was just trying to get to IT to higher ground.
• 15:41
  And that's you know that's kind of how I got to American Idol is
• 15:44
  that I just caught up. I I I fled the storm and then I
• 15:48
  then Southwest gave me a a free ticket.
• 15:50
  I was down there for a wedding in New Orleans in my the the
• 15:55
  people that were getting married, they were from, they
• 15:57
  were from New Orleans proper and one of them's from Baton Rouge.
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  And they that come hell or high water they they were going to
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  have that damn wedding. And so they everybody you know
• 16:10
  they kept it going and the and we got there at 3.
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  Clay, that's what I love about Louisiana folks.
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  We we got there. We got back to our hotel rooms
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  and half of us, you know half of us had to be evacuated to
• 16:21
  hotels. But I ended up catching a cab.
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  But I ended up on a whim. Southwest gave me a free ticket
• 16:27
  and I went right to the airport and and flew to Las Vegas on a
• 16:31
  whim and I got. I got to the, the, the, the.
• 16:35
  At the airport in Vegas, and my brother called and said American
• 16:38
  Idol tryouts are in 45 minutes. So I went from the airport and I
• 16:41
  went with with the backpack and I I stood in line and everybody
• 16:47
  was asking me where my kids were that were auditioning for that,
• 16:52
  this big old Gray shaggy hair. But you know, I guess you could
• 16:57
  Google the rest of it. But you know, that's.
• 17:00
  That's not amazing. I never knew that.
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  That's great. I know.
• 17:04
  Yeah. I never knew that story.
• 17:05
  Yeah, that's no man. They don't sweat a hurricane
• 17:08
  till it's in their backyard. I mean, they're gonna have
• 17:10
  whatever it is. It's reason to party, man.
• 17:13
  They go party. They go party until it happens.
• 17:16
  Absolutely all day and all night and even daring.
• 17:20
  It just depends on how bad it is.
• 17:24
  That's freaking awesome, man. I knew that.
• 17:27
  I mean, I knew you auditioned in Las Vegas, but I didn't know how
• 17:30
  you got there. So, like, you literally just got
• 17:32
  off the plane and got in line. How long did you have to wait
• 17:36
  before you got to? About two, about 2 1/2 hours,
• 17:40
  but I literally. You know, the storm passed and I
• 17:44
  rented a car and I rented it and right.
• 17:46
  And they gave me that ticket and I said to hell with it and I'm
• 17:48
  going to go to Vegas on a whim. So I got to Vegas.
• 17:51
  My brother calls me and says, you know idle trouts for 2 1/2
• 17:55
  minutes, 2 1/2 in in about we got in line at 3:00 AM.
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  So it was like I got, I got there at like 11:30 and I just
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  went, I got you know went to the hotel and and then I got.
• 18:07
  In line. And then, you know, they checked
• 18:09
  my ID about four or five times. I feel I'm still the oldest idol
• 18:15
  winner, believe it or not. Yeah.
• 18:17
  Yeah, yeah, That's. I think they're not.
• 18:19
  I think what happened is is like they they were like we're not
• 18:22
  going. We're gonna go low from now on.
• 18:27
  Hey man, you're still my favorite American Idol winner
• 18:30
  for the record. And you always will be.
• 18:33
  I do. Hey, that that Snapperheads
• 18:36
  crew. We had that Dang software buddy
• 18:40
  of ours named Martin. He he told us about this
• 18:42
  software we had on a computer till that dial idle, I think.
• 18:45
  And we're just where, I mean after every time we're just
• 18:47
  wearing it out and then we're betting who would get in the
• 18:49
  most votes that night. But it was a legal thing.
• 18:52
  It was legal. It was just like a fast redial,
• 18:54
  you know? So that was some wild times,
• 18:58
  man. It's not like that anymore with
• 19:00
  anything. If you think about it, that's on
• 19:02
  television, even idle now, You know, it's like, but back then
• 19:06
  it was still, we were coming into the dawn of the Internet
• 19:09
  age. It was there and all of that,
• 19:11
  but it was. Where it is now and everything
• 19:14
  like like Taylor was saying he had, he came through touring the
• 19:17
  same way I did and I meet these kids and guys and gals on the
• 19:21
  road now that went to school and went straight from a school to a
• 19:25
  bus on a tour and stuff and it just blows my mind.
• 19:28
  But it's just a different world, and even artists now can be
• 19:32
  discovered on TikTok and go from not being a not having a band to
• 19:37
  headlining Red Rocks in six months.
• 19:40
  Which is did not happen before you know so it's just and this
• 19:43
  what we're doing now though being able to do this look at
• 19:46
  each other on a tell on a thing this we didn't even know this
• 19:48
  was ever be an option so it's it's wild times but it's like.
• 19:53
  It's like we were the last of the old school, you know what I
• 19:56
  mean? But I think that happens with
• 19:57
  every generation. But the gaps keep getting bigger
• 19:59
  because this technology deal, you know what I mean?
• 20:01
  I mean. Yeah, I had like 50 million
• 20:04
  Myspace followers. Right, right, right, right.
• 20:08
  That was the that was the that was when all that kicked off 06.
• 20:11
  That was about the start of all the iPhones and all the stuff
• 20:14
  that it seems like it was here forever, but it hadn't really
• 20:17
  been that long And you know, and Facebook and Instagram and all
• 20:21
  that was, you know, that was just, that was just becoming a
• 20:24
  part of the fabric of all of our lives.
• 20:27
  Yeah. And you know, it's funny is like
• 20:29
  if I, if I had all of that around, man, I'd be selling
• 20:32
  everything online. I mean, I wouldn't be.
• 20:34
  I don't think I'd, you know, I mean I'd probably, I'd look like
• 20:37
  John Daly. I'd have everything.
• 20:38
  I'd have everything. I'd be outfitted 84 lumber like,
• 20:42
  yeah. Yeah, if you could have
• 20:45
  transferred that Myspace over to Facebook, you know what I mean?
• 20:47
  Like somehow let's somebody talk here.
• 20:49
  Let's get those guys over here. Hey, don't think I hadn't tried
• 20:52
  that, but I just. I just remember somebody telling
• 20:57
  me that we actually did try that at that point in time when we
• 21:02
  were all learning how artists deal with social media.
• 21:06
  You know, we, I think we tried to to make that happen.
• 21:09
  But there there was no cross. There's no it's the wild
• 21:12
  frontier at that. Yeah, there weren't.
• 21:14
  There weren't social media managers.
• 21:15
  There weren't experts on the subject.
• 21:17
  You knew somebody who might knew.
• 21:19
  We were all figuring it out. I mean, even artists on main
• 21:22
  levels were getting. I mean they they nobody knew was
• 21:25
  a new brand new thing. How are we, how are we going to
• 21:27
  figure this out for everybody, you know?
• 21:29
  And now it's there's everybody's publicist has a team for it.
• 21:33
  Everybody themselves has a team. Everybody has a team for that
• 21:35
  kind of stuff because it's as important as radio or television
• 21:40
  or anything else. Now social media, I get, you
• 21:42
  know, my agents and stuff like that.
• 21:45
  You know, I mean they they want to know those social media
• 21:47
  numbers and you know it's kind of I'm kind of old school.
• 21:51
  You know it's like you know when I won Idol you know I mean you
• 21:55
  know there were sometimes where you know my privacy was
• 21:57
  compromised and and man you know until that happens to you, you
• 22:01
  know you don't really know how that feels.
• 22:03
  You know and you know it's that's a it kind of messed me up
• 22:07
  a little bit you know coming out of the gate and the and that in
• 22:10
  the in the public eye like I did because it was so big from six
• 22:14
  months. So you know me, you know, you
• 22:17
  know, sitting on the commode at 6:45 in the morning talking to
• 22:20
  somebody on Facebook, I just, that's just not really I want to
• 22:25
  do. I don't think it's about that.
• 22:26
  I think it's about what what what I'm doing as far as
• 22:29
  entertaining you from a from a theatrical perspective and a
• 22:33
  musical. Absolutely.
• 22:35
  I'm just happy to know that that you control your own social
• 22:38
  media. Obviously you and I've been
• 22:40
  talking to to make this happen and it's actually talking to
• 22:43
  you. So if you talk to Taylor Hicks
• 22:45
  on Twitter or X, I'm sorry, or anywhere else that you're
• 22:48
  actually talking to Taylor Hicks.
• 22:51
  Yeah. I think that's awesome.
• 22:52
  I keep up with. I keep up with it you know and
• 22:54
  then sometimes I there you know there's some there's some
• 22:57
  crazies out there though Yeah. You know that that I that I'm
• 23:00
  actually entertained by to a certain degree.
• 23:02
  I don't want to, you know, sound too bad, but yeah, I mean, I I
• 23:05
  I'm perusing it, you know, and making sure that you know, I'm.
• 23:09
  I'm posting as much as I can, but with the right information,
• 23:13
  you know? Yeah.
• 23:14
  And and you've and you've dealt with the adversity on it.
• 23:17
  You've done it long. We've been doing it long enough.
• 23:18
  Now we kind of had to go through the growing pains.
• 23:20
  But now you know not to look at the crap, you know, not to
• 23:22
  interact with the weirdos. You know you've you've gotten
• 23:25
  yourself to a headspace where you can deal with it to where it
• 23:28
  helps you with work, but you ain't got a little
• 23:30
  entertainment. But it ain't going to stress you
• 23:32
  out. I mean, I know artists that
• 23:33
  won't even. I mean, you know, like the
• 23:35
  artist I work for he he doesn't have any of the apps because he.
• 23:38
  You know, a couple years ago he's argued with some 14 year
• 23:40
  old kid about Arkansas, Kentucky basketball and we're like, let's
• 23:43
  just not have it anymore. He's like, I don't even want to
• 23:46
  look at, realize people had so many foot fetishes.
• 23:49
  Man, that's nasty. There's everything.
• 23:51
  Anything you think of. I I think The Tick, Tock's the
• 23:54
  worst. I mean, you know, but I kind of
• 23:57
  do it like we used to do Facebook, I use Instagram and
• 23:59
  stuff like we used to do My space, I mean, it was for work.
• 24:02
  It's for the band. Just to tell people where our
• 24:04
  concerts are is to let you know you need updates on stuff,
• 24:07
  things you know. And then I use Facebook for like
• 24:10
  family friends kids dogs the the the you know family photo
• 24:14
  sharing type thing and I've got and I but when I do stray away
• 24:18
  and look through comments on stuff whether it be in somebody
• 24:21
  I'm couple degrees separation from I'm like why the IT just
• 24:25
  pisses you off because people say the craziest meanest things
• 24:28
  you could think of to a kid to a.
• 24:31
  Somebody, a helper, a veteran. It's just awful, man.
• 24:34
  So you got a everybody there needs to be some.
• 24:37
  There needs to be classes taught in that in school on how to deal
• 24:41
  and not deal with with that certain stuff.
• 24:43
  But but talking about other stuff old school like we said,
• 24:46
  we caught up with. I caught up with it and didn't
• 24:49
  realize before we started talking with Tigs was a huge
• 24:51
  fan, so he met us there with his wife and kids and came to your
• 24:54
  show at the Bama. And you've played all over the
• 24:57
  world, the country for sure. I mean, you've done the coolest
• 24:59
  venues there are the some really cool stuff over the years.
• 25:03
  But is it still something cool about coming back down 65,
• 25:06
  coming Alabama to do shows? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it.
• 25:10
  You know, I mean, I still get booked a lot in Alabama and I
• 25:12
  still get booked. You know I try to go down and do
• 25:15
  the coast once a year and and play that room at the BAMMA, the
• 25:19
  BAMMA Dome that's, you know that's I mean I, you know I
• 25:24
  hadn't really changed that much. You know, when when you, when
• 25:27
  you when you've done it as long as I have.
• 25:30
  You know you just went from you just went from signing 1C D to
• 25:34
  to a bunch of them you know and that's about the extent of how
• 25:38
  it happened with me. So yeah, I love going down
• 25:41
  there. I got family down there and I I
• 25:42
  I love seeing people and you know I love.
• 25:45
  I love the floor Bama. That's where I got my got my
• 25:48
  start. Yeah, I had to tell two guys
• 25:50
  outside the the the Bamma walking in that day, they're
• 25:53
  like, I wonder why he's here. I'm like, dude, this is his
• 25:55
  home, home turf, man. He's from Birmingham, dude.
• 25:58
  They're like, no way. I was like, yeah, he's from
• 26:00
  Birmingham. Anyway, I had to there were some
• 26:02
  kids, you know, I had to remind him, like, yeah, it's not, it's
• 26:04
  not just a random occurrence here, you know, you got as a
• 26:06
  wallet, everybody playing the bam.
• 26:08
  On a regular day. But it's because he's from here,
• 26:10
  blah blah blah. But you know, you keep reminding
• 26:13
  him. Oh yeah, Well, and I was
• 26:15
  thinking about this too for you. You're you're Nashville based
• 26:18
  full time now, right? Yeah, I live in Nashville.
• 26:20
  I found from Birmingham to Nashville a good bit.
• 26:23
  That's. What I was going to say, cuz you
• 26:25
  are and we it's another thing we talked about on here a lot, is
• 26:27
  you are part owners of one of the best barbecue joints in the
• 26:31
  country. Isn't that right?
• 26:32
  Well, Saul's BBQ is. You know, Saul was a buddy of
• 26:36
  mine and unfortunately he passed.
• 26:39
  But but he was a hell of a cook and he and a hell of a partier.
• 26:44
  You know, I mean it. But that's why it makes it made
• 26:47
  his cooking so good. Oh yeah, he he was with it.
• 26:50
  So you know he and I got together.
• 26:52
  We had I had a little location that I used to play at for a
• 26:56
  long time in Crestline over in over in Birmingham.
• 26:59
  And I told myself if I ever made it I would carry my.
• 27:03
  But my buddy, my first buddies, you know I carry his name into
• 27:07
  it and always be around it. So that was or drink and dine it
• 27:11
  was the open door. And then Mike and I, you know
• 27:13
  we're buddies and he had saws he was just starting the brand saws
• 27:18
  and you know we we hopped in it together and and started you
• 27:22
  know Hocking pork and you know I'm I'm, I just I just wave the
• 27:27
  flag now you know look we're just we're just blessed that you
• 27:31
  know that the, you know I'll get back there in the kitchen and
• 27:33
  mess with everybody and have some fun.
• 27:35
  But you know, luckily the sauce is in place.
• 27:39
  You know all the the menu items you know, Mike put put into
• 27:42
  place and you know some of them are just brilliant, you know, I
• 27:46
  mean the pork, the pork and greens did.
• 27:48
  Oh my God. Man, that pork.
• 27:49
  I mean, that's just ridiculous. Yeah, it is crazy.
• 27:53
  You know, we we got good fried catfish too.
• 27:55
  So it's not just a a a a straight barbecue joint.
• 27:58
  It's it's a little you know we we've got fried catfish and we
• 28:02
  have specials and you know we've got their six locations now and
• 28:07
  they just do a great job and you know people from Alabama love it
• 28:10
  and they come all over. If you know, we let we let Mike
• 28:13
  Wilson know he could you know, sorry ask Wilson know he could
• 28:17
  he could cook you know. I'm surprised to hear this for
• 28:22
  the Soul Patrol. For the sole patrol.
• 28:24
  That's right. I'm surprised, Taylor, that you
• 28:29
  don't, that you say you don't cook much or you're not, but
• 28:32
  you've had a food show and and you have a restaurant and all
• 28:36
  that. So I ain't buying that.
• 28:37
  Number one, I got a feeling you could you can cook.
• 28:41
  Oh, I can get after it, you know, I just like to.
• 28:43
  Yeah, I like to. I like to have time to get after
• 28:46
  it, you know? But yeah, I.
• 28:47
  Mean like like Cheeks at like 4:00 AM at Cheeks House and
• 28:50
  you're really hungry, so you just go through the fridge and
• 28:52
  you make some magical. Whatever's in there, you know I
• 28:54
  mean I think we I you that's that's pretty easy to do.
• 28:58
  But yeah if I got a couple of days and I'm at the beach with
• 29:00
  some family and we got a Big Island and a big grill and
• 29:04
  stuff, you know they're not then I'll go to town.
• 29:06
  You know, I mean but you know I'm I'm I'm you know and not
• 29:10
  having a family not being married and stuff you know it's
• 29:13
  cooking you know cooking for one person at home and stuff.
• 29:16
  You know that that it just kind of you know and that's kind of
• 29:19
  tough you know sometimes you wish you out of family because
• 29:22
  it it's economical to to do that.
• 29:24
  But yeah, when? When I've got a, when I got a,
• 29:26
  when I got my kitchen. I got a couple of days.
• 29:29
  Oh, you trust me? I get after.
• 29:31
  You get after. Well, look at you do.
• 29:33
  I've got I told a couple of ladies that you were coming on
• 29:36
  the show. They were very excited to know
• 29:38
  this, so if you need their numbers.
• 29:40
  Uh, I'll be happy. They'll be more than happy to
• 29:44
  talk to you, Taylor. I mean, we just, we let the cat
• 29:47
  out of the bag that I'm that. I look at all my social media
• 29:50
  stuff. Yeah, we really have, yeah.
• 29:52
  You know, maybe maybe I need to edit some of that out, so
• 29:56
  that's. True NBC.
• 29:57
  Whoever. He's available too.
• 29:59
  He's got some spots between tour dates.
• 30:01
  If you needed film a show, who wants to marry Taylor Hicks?
• 30:03
  You never. Know there it is there.
• 30:06
  It is. He's famous.
• 30:08
  I mean, what else he's from Badly.
• 30:09
  He's a good old boy singing phone book.
• 30:12
  What else do you want? Regis and Kelly, we did the
• 30:16
  dating game back in back in like 09 or something.
• 30:23
  And right before Regis, you know, passed, actually, they
• 30:27
  they called me and asked me to do the dating Game.
• 30:30
  And uh, that was weird. I went to Jeff going on a dating
• 30:34
  game. That sounds scary as hell, man.
• 30:37
  That's. It really does.
• 30:38
  Because you you can't control it.
• 30:40
  The producers were up. The producers were all like
• 30:43
  waving and like going #3 pick #3 and they were telling me which
• 30:47
  one to pick because I didn't. I didn't know which one of them.
• 30:50
  You know I didn't. I didn't know what I'm look
• 30:51
  like, you know, right. I don't know if I trust that old
• 30:56
  dating game stuff. I think if they did one like
• 30:59
  like the one my wife used to watch the Brett Michaels, when
• 31:02
  that's the kind you need, you need about 25 gals, is to come
• 31:05
  stay with you for a couple of months.
• 31:07
  Let's see how it all works out. Yeah, what a gig he has.
• 31:10
  Yeah, no doubt. Right.
• 31:12
  And then when he got tired of that charade, he got to go on
• 31:14
  the road, do Sturges or something and get paid.
• 31:17
  Go, you know, get a break from all that.
• 31:19
  Whoo. Huh.
• 31:19
  Oh my God. Well, hey, well, talking,
• 31:22
  talking about music, you got new music out this year.
• 31:25
  You've had two new singles come out this year off of new record
• 31:30
  everybody's excited about. I know we got to hear some of it
• 31:33
  at the show, which was fantastic.
• 31:35
  Show I mean if anybody's. In earshot of Taylor playing
• 31:38
  somewhere wants to make a trip, definitely.
• 31:40
  I mean quality just as good as it.
• 31:43
  Could a show as good as you'll ever hear in your entire life?
• 31:45
  That's what I'm saying. It was this things and I've
• 31:47
  heard some of the greats, man, but that was as good as, you
• 31:50
  know, Sharon Jones at the Nick or something.
• 31:51
  I mean that's that, you know what I mean?
• 31:53
  That's just good. Yeah, really was.
• 31:55
  But the new stuff, I mean, what's up?
• 31:57
  I know the new is the new album can it's not out yet.
• 31:59
  You've released songs from the new album.
• 32:01
  When's the new album supposed to drop?
• 32:02
  You have a release on, it's coming out in spring.
• 32:04
  You know this copy that and this, you know, day and age you
• 32:09
  want to kind of, you know, just, you know slowly release singles
• 32:14
  and keep the interest up as opposed to just letting it all
• 32:17
  hang out, which is, which I'm fine with is because the work,
• 32:20
  the work is already there. I've been, I've been working on
• 32:22
  a little Christmas music for a for a Christmas release.
• 32:26
  So I've been in the studio, you know, so those kinds of things.
• 32:30
  To be able to bridge the gap to the next album is, you know, is
• 32:34
  important. But yeah, I got an I got a
• 32:36
  record coming out and a record coming out in the spring.
• 32:39
  I'm pretty excited about. Can't wait to hear that.
• 32:42
  Dude, You're gonna be doing doing something in Birmingham
• 32:46
  too at Christmas, aren't you? A concert?
• 32:49
  Kind of a Christmas type of thing.
• 32:51
  Do it every year. Do it for Toys for Tots.
• 32:54
  You know, I do a Bob Seger. I do a pretty good Bob Seger
• 32:56
  show. Oh, God.
• 32:58
  You know, I do a lot of Bob Seger stuff.
• 33:02
  But I got a call from the University of Alabama about a
• 33:07
  week and a half ago and asked me if I could if I would take my
• 33:10
  full band and and perform at the walk of Champions before before
• 33:15
  the Texas game. So I've loaded up the I've
• 33:18
  loaded up all the band members I could find and Saturday after
• 33:22
  the Walk of Champions they're doing a big right there at
• 33:26
  Legends corner there that we've got a big state set up in it and
• 33:30
  it's free. So I'm I'm pretty stoked to be
• 33:33
  able to to to go into that atmosphere that's my next gig
• 33:37
  but but I've got I got I had some really good public shows
• 33:41
  sprinkled in in the fall and obviously I'm looking forward to
• 33:44
  watching some football not only college but I you know I got my
• 33:47
  fantasy team going half of them. What's funny over the years is
• 33:53
  my, you know, half of my team gets gets arrested.
• 33:56
  Yeah, I don't know if it's my choice, but you know but I have
• 34:00
  some, I have some folks go down at the wrong Rd. but I but
• 34:04
  they're but they're damn good, you know.
• 34:06
  So I'm I'm hoping that my fantasy team will be good.
• 34:10
  Well, I hope you didn't have Kelsey.
• 34:12
  I hope you didn't draft him on your team this year, cuz uh
• 34:14
  because people are starting to freak out.
• 34:16
  He maybe he's not going to be hurt.
• 34:17
  By the time this airs he may be back fully.
• 34:20
  No, no, no. I I I picked up Alvin Kamara.
• 34:24
  I know he's going to be out for a few games, but when he does
• 34:27
  get back. I did that with Dak Prescott a
• 34:29
  few years ago. I was like, he's coming back to
• 34:30
  Week 6 and I'll. Be somebody later.
• 34:33
  Another sneaky pick that I have was Jameson Williams in Detroit,
• 34:38
  because he's out. And I mean, I don't know if that
• 34:40
  was a sweetest pickup as Kamera, but I think they're gonna, I
• 34:44
  think Detroit is gonna score some points.
• 34:46
  I just have a feeling that I think their defense suspect
• 34:50
  always, but I think they're gonna, I think they're gonna put
• 34:52
  up some fantasy points. It's the Dome.
• 34:54
  Yeah, I got, I got Jameis on mine.
• 34:56
  I pick all the Bama players I can always, you know, So that
• 35:00
  helps. And we've had a few which rugs
• 35:02
  didn't workout obviously. And I tell you one that was a
• 35:05
  weird random one a few years ago.
• 35:07
  I've told this on here before I I got Andrew Luck about three
• 35:10
  days before he retired. So I'm thinking the guy's in his
• 35:14
  20s, He's good. He's not going to be.
• 35:16
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 35:18
  He's not going to get arrested with some weed, smoking weed in
• 35:20
  his car with a gun or anything, or with a stripper before the
• 35:23
  season starts. But now, hell, he's just going
• 35:25
  to retire at 26. But I I get it.
• 35:27
  Whatever. Who's your pro team, Taylor?
• 35:30
  Who's who do you? Who do you pull for?
• 35:32
  You know it's funny. You know Birmingham I mean look
• 35:35
  I tell people you know you just don't I don't really have we've
• 35:39
  never really grown up with one we I mean I think that you know
• 35:42
  we're we're adopted Braves fans. You know that's that's our close
• 35:46
  to, which is great because I've enjoyed you know being a Braves
• 35:49
  fan. But we've never really had it
• 35:51
  You know obviously living in Nashville I I love the Titans.
• 35:55
  You know, being in Nashville, it's nice to, you know, growing
• 35:57
  up in a town where you didn't have, you know, pro sports.
• 36:01
  You know, being living in Nashville has been fun to follow
• 36:04
  the Titans. But, you know, to be honest with
• 36:07
  you, I I was, you know, as we move into this age of who can
• 36:12
  score the most points, You know, I move into the age of who's
• 36:17
  going to score, who's going to put up a defense that's going to
• 36:20
  make somebody score the least. And that team for me has been
• 36:24
  the 49ers for the last five or six years.
• 36:27
  I love that defense. I thought Damico Ryans was a
• 36:30
  great defensive coach. You know.
• 36:33
  And I just I want to I, you know I I it.
• 36:37
  Look touchdowns are great. But you know for me, I mean I'm
• 36:40
  old school as hell, man. I want to see a nine.
• 36:42
  I want to see somebody like somebody up and and you know
• 36:45
  that's just me. I guess that's just the old
• 36:47
  school in me. So I've been a 49ers.
• 36:49
  I love defenses. I love especially pro defenses.
• 36:53
  Yeah. Hey there, there.
• 36:55
  They've. They've had a hell of a run the
• 36:57
  last few years. We'll see.
• 36:58
  You know how how they do this year.
• 37:00
  I agree 100%. You know, I think next year,
• 37:04
  boys, we haven't talked about this.
• 37:05
  I'm going to put Taylor on the spot.
• 37:07
  I think we need to have us at Tigs Bits Fantasy Football
• 37:09
  League. We got four people right here.
• 37:13
  You know, just a little side league and somebody got beat,
• 37:16
  Taylor. I mean, that'll be the whole
• 37:18
  name of the game. They get a signed autograph, CD
• 37:20
  or whatever from your latest one.
• 37:22
  I'm just putting you on the spot.
• 37:23
  Bring it on. I I just want to sign CD that's
• 37:26
  on. That's the I was you think
• 37:28
  you're going to win. Yeah, I got plenty of those.
• 37:32
  I figured you do, man. I figured you do.
• 37:36
  So I wanted to ask you, you had a a Vegas residency for a while
• 37:41
  which? Absolutely incredible.
• 37:44
  Little over a year. How was that?
• 37:46
  How? I mean, I've never talked to
• 37:48
  anybody who had a residency, but how how was that every night?
• 37:52
  Did it drain you were how did you keep yourself fresh over
• 37:56
  that kind of a period of time? You know, the first five months
• 38:01
  were like the first five months in college, you know, I mean it
• 38:05
  was I could only. If you're in Vegas and you know.
• 38:09
  And if you know what you know just luck would have it that my
• 38:13
  my showroom manager was was Mike Tyson's VIP host and Mike
• 38:18
  Tyson's mayday. So he, he, I mean it was like he
• 38:23
  had the plug and and we we just plugged it in whenever you
• 38:27
  plugged it in you know. So we, you know we had a blast
• 38:32
  with it and look then then, you know all of a sudden then the
• 38:35
  family starts coming and wanting to go to Celine and then you
• 38:39
  start calming down and shit like that, you know, And then that
• 38:43
  that was that lasted about 18 months.
• 38:46
  But I lived on the strip for about 18 months.
• 38:49
  I mean I I, you know, my window looked over the strip and you
• 38:53
  know, I'd go down to my boxers and my tshirt into the 24 hour
• 38:59
  deli, you know, that was my refrigerator.
• 39:01
  You know what I mean? Yeah.
• 39:03
  Which was kind of crazy, you know, it was it was a great you
• 39:06
  know it was a great gig and and the Caesars people were so nice
• 39:10
  to me. You know I just at some point
• 39:12
  you know, I just kind of was I I just kind of you know it was
• 39:16
  almost like the the Forrest Gump thing man.
• 39:18
  You know, I just all of a sudden one afternoon, I just was like,
• 39:22
  I I'm, I'm going to stop running, you know?
• 39:25
  I'm. I'm, I'm gonna quit, you know.
• 39:29
  I had to, you know, great gig, great gig, yeah.
• 39:34
  I could only imagine and you being used to traveling and
• 39:36
  moving around to different shows.
• 39:38
  As cool as it was with all the high level production, and I
• 39:40
  mean just a list A-Team all the way around, at some point you
• 39:44
  had to be like, man, I got to go, I got to move around.
• 39:46
  I can't be here every day anymore.
• 39:48
  Yeah, I go back to the South, man.
• 39:51
  Yeah, I remember talking to Brian and Jason, some of your
• 39:53
  band members during that time and the same thing.
• 39:55
  They were like, yeah, it was fun spending the day on Party the
• 39:57
  first, you know, they're like, yeah, I'm just trying to find
• 40:00
  something new to eat and. Displacement time.
• 40:02
  I don't know what to do. You know, we had listen, here's
• 40:06
  this is, you know after that five months.
• 40:08
  Here's here's what here's what was the deal.
• 40:11
  If we had a pot that we would throw $100 in, it was $600.00.
• 40:15
  The pot got up to about $600.00 on who could not go outside the
• 40:19
  longest. God.
• 40:24
  If you leave, you have to stay inside the doors or you have to.
• 40:28
  Our our production got Clay, he didn't go outside for like 4 and
• 40:32
  for like a month and four days. Good.
• 40:35
  I mean that's. I mean that.
• 40:39
  Ain't good for you. What else is there to do?
• 40:42
  You've already done all the He was working for that 600 bucks.
• 40:45
  Man, Oh yeah, man. But that's you know that's kind
• 40:48
  of like what the gig you know that's kind of how the gig went
• 40:51
  you know after after it was just day in and day out, you know,
• 40:56
  but it but look I I ain't complaining you know I was be a
• 41:00
  part of the landscape of that place was fun as hell and and I
• 41:03
  wouldn't trade it for the world. No.
• 41:05
  And getting to go do all the things like you said, coming
• 41:07
  from a small town in Alabama, going to play, going to Madison
• 41:10
  Square Garden, going and playing it.
• 41:11
  You know, the the the all the cool, coolest places in the
• 41:14
  country that you never even really saw on TV you might even
• 41:17
  just heard about. And getting to go actually do
• 41:19
  those and play your music that you wrote that you perform in
• 41:23
  front of all these people. I mean, you can't.
• 41:26
  You can only be proud. Yeah, an absolute blessing and
• 41:28
  amazing feat nonetheless. And inspiring too.
• 41:32
  I mean, you think about everybody who watched your
• 41:33
  journey. Like to get to even to get to
• 41:36
  that point that it that was inspired the same way they're
• 41:38
  like I'm from nowhere Mississippi man let me I might
• 41:42
  give this a shot and then that that show still happens dream
• 41:45
  still come true. And I mean, it's your part, like
• 41:47
  you said, you're part of the fabric of the music.
• 41:49
  You know, that's what I love about, you know, people ask me
• 41:51
  about those shows and stuff. You know about Idol and you
• 41:55
  know, America's Got Talent and The Voice and all of those
• 41:59
  things. You know it's it's yeah it it's
• 42:01
  it's America's gets to decide it's not some you know slick in
• 42:07
  some suit in LA, being an A and R guy liking what he likes and
• 42:11
  shoving it down our throats. You know those shows are truly
• 42:16
  based on what the pop you know, what the population likes, you
• 42:20
  know, and that's what I love and that's what I've been, you know,
• 42:24
  I I very, you know, blessed to have hopped off a show where,
• 42:29
  you know, I can look somebody in the eye.
• 42:31
  And it's happened before. You know, with artists you know
• 42:34
  some some, some some country artists and some other artists
• 42:37
  that I've run into, you know, that have been, you know kind of
• 42:41
  cherry picked off of an A and R, you know, an A and R roster.
• 42:45
  You know, there's a little bit of rub that you can feel
• 42:48
  between, you know, the, you know, when you get around them
• 42:52
  and you pick up on it. But you know a lot of it is that
• 42:55
  you know, America did decide you know and and and and they really
• 43:00
  didn't decide on you know, X person or whatever.
• 43:04
  But that's what I love is that you know, I mean I, I, you know
• 43:08
  I had to go in and and do it live.
• 43:10
  You know and they and and the public pick.
• 43:13
  You know, decide on if I was good enough to to be a household
• 43:17
  name or not, you know? And you and you didn't and you
• 43:19
  didn't go into it. You know, you're Joe the banker
• 43:22
  who just likes to sing at church is going to go try to get famous
• 43:25
  overnight. You're Taylor Hicks, an artist.
• 43:26
  You'd already been doing it, honing your craft for years.
• 43:28
  You know what it means. So it wasn't like a wasn't an
• 43:31
  overnight success. You'd work to get to that point,
• 43:33
  to have the confidence and talent to.
• 43:35
  See it through. You know, I gave everybody on
• 43:37
  that production when I first got there, man.
• 43:40
  I went to everybody and handed them a CDI mean I was hustling.
• 43:43
  I was hustling, you know, I mean I was, you know, I was there was
• 43:48
  not one thing that was going to let me, you know get this slip,
• 43:52
  let this opportunity slip, you know, and I I, I breathed it,
• 43:56
  you know, every day. And I, you know, I still am to a
• 43:58
  certain degree. You know, I mean there's Peets
• 44:01
  and Valley. So I'm fortunate that to to hop
• 44:04
  off a show like IDLE. Yeah, I mean, that's the school
• 44:07
  we came from. You take advantage, you hustle,
• 44:09
  you work hard, good things happen.
• 44:10
  That's all. You put your head down and work.
• 44:12
  That's what school we came from. Yeah.
• 44:14
  You're in the right spot. Like, this is what you have to
• 44:16
  do. You know what I mean?
• 44:17
  Take advantage of this moment, you know, So now that's huge.
• 44:19
  That's right. Hey, Taylor, I do want to switch
• 44:21
  gears and ask you something that kind of going back to what we
• 44:23
  were talking about earlier. So I moved to Birmingham in
• 44:26
  2012. I was there for like 2 1/2
• 44:29
  years. Two things that I gained from
• 44:32
  that place that I'll never forget.
• 44:33
  One is the first time I went to Saul's Barbecue and I got that
• 44:36
  pork and greens and you know, as I describe it, if like South in
• 44:39
  a stack, you know, I mean it was like the best barbecue dish
• 44:42
  still to this day I've ever had. But the second one night family
• 44:46
  was out of town. I was bored.
• 44:48
  I lived over there on the other side of Hoover near Bessemer.
• 44:50
  I've been hearing about this place called Gipp's Place and I
• 44:53
  was like, I got to go. Brother, I went over there that
• 44:55
  night by myself, didn't know anybody and was like, wow, this
• 44:59
  is not what I was expecting. A you know what I mean?
• 45:01
  It's this dude's old house. He walked down a driveway down
• 45:04
  to a stage behind his house. Unbelievable experience.
• 45:08
  I got to talk with that dude for like 30 minutes at night.
• 45:10
  Giff and I we just we we we hit it off.
• 45:12
  We got to talking about Central Florida and South Florida.
• 45:16
  But anyway, dude, your experience there, right?
• 45:18
  I'm sure it's there. I've never read anything on it,
• 45:20
  but I'm sure you've got some roots there somewhere.
• 45:22
  You know, Gibbs is. You know, Gibbs was probably
• 45:26
  probably the last true Juke. Now there might be some Juke
• 45:29
  joints in Alabama. I feel like I've kind of sniffed
• 45:32
  around all over this place. But you know Gibbs place was a
• 45:35
  true, was a true Juke joint. And you know, it was he was
• 45:41
  great. He came up and played the Saul's
• 45:43
  Juke joint a few times and he was legendary and and you know
• 45:49
  what's what I haven't experienced and what I'd like to
• 45:52
  experience is Clarksdale, Mississippi.
• 45:54
  You know that That's where I haven't been over there yet.
• 45:57
  I got a buddy that's from over there and he's trying to yank me
• 46:00
  over there with a harmonica. So I got to do that.
• 46:02
  But yeah, Gibbs is. Gibbs is an amazing.
• 46:05
  That was an amazing place and he had amazing run.
• 46:09
  Well, I wanted to jump back into your American Idol experience
• 46:13
  because Simon Cowell gave you a little bit of hell when you
• 46:15
  first auditioned. How was he behind the scenes?
• 46:19
  Was he, was he a nice guy or is what you see on TV kind of how
• 46:23
  he is? You know, as you move into, you
• 46:27
  know, in the beginning stages of that show, it's about the
• 46:31
  judges. You know, when you move into the
• 46:35
  later stages of the show, it's about your fan base.
• 46:38
  So as you move into the later stages of the show, then, you
• 46:41
  know, they kind of, they kind of take up a little bit of a back
• 46:44
  seat and just kind of ride the wave and and you know, provide
• 46:48
  their input. But he was great, man.
• 46:50
  He was you know, I mean I say this it it, you know he smoked
• 46:55
  he smoked cool cigarettes and that, you know sometimes I
• 46:58
  would, sometimes I would you know, I mean when I was making
• 47:01
  that run on that show I mean I needed to come on the cigarette
• 47:04
  every now and then. So.
• 47:06
  So I'd go down there and and you know I'd go down there and smoke
• 47:09
  cools with him, you know, but he was you know no pun intended.
• 47:13
  He's pretty cool dude. You know like he, I mean he was
• 47:16
  you know he was nice and I mean like I said in towards the later
• 47:21
  part of the you know, of the of the show.
• 47:25
  You know, the judges kind of just, you know, they're they're
• 47:27
  kind of it's off to the races with your fans.
• 47:31
  Yeah. It's out of control.
• 47:31
  It's out of their control. Two in the second-half of that
• 47:35
  stuff. Randy and Paula.
• 47:36
  I'm were they they, they what you see is what you get.
• 47:39
  Yeah. Yeah, yeah, figure out.
• 47:41
  So those were the original and you know it's and I think back
• 47:45
  on it. You know, I don't think in my
• 47:48
  opinion these days that that these, you know, talent shows
• 47:53
  and they don't have a villain. You know, like you gotta have a,
• 47:57
  you know, whether it's reality television, whether it's a drama
• 48:00
  or a docu series or something, you know you you to, to be able
• 48:05
  to have the interest, you have a villain.
• 48:07
  Yeah, you gotta love to hate somebody.
• 48:10
  Absolutely. And I think, I think in this, I
• 48:13
  think it's just a big love fest, you know, now in all of these
• 48:16
  shows because they're trying to, you know, keep the, the, the
• 48:20
  morale up for the artist after they jump off of the platform to
• 48:23
  sell records. But I think just from a viewer
• 48:26
  perspective, I mean, you know, there needs to be some, some
• 48:29
  villain, villainous or villainesses, you know what I
• 48:32
  mean? It's.
• 48:33
  All sweet and nice. Now, you know.
• 48:34
  It's so crazy. He's the exact opposite.
• 48:36
  I mean, he wore you out from day one, you know, And like, yeah,
• 48:40
  he did that. To a lot of people.
• 48:41
  But now now he's just all Mr. Soft and Nice.
• 48:44
  Well that's like a lot of things that that that Gray area you
• 48:47
  know it talk we, you know we talk a lot of different things
• 48:50
  from Southern culture and southern traditions.
• 48:51
  On the TIGS Bits podcast one we talk about and I asked for, I
• 48:55
  didn't know, wrestling. We grew up loving wrestling and
• 48:58
  you know that was the good thing about wrestling.
• 49:00
  You had the good guy, the bad guy and they were clearly
• 49:02
  defined just like cartoon characters he man, you know the
• 49:05
  bad guys, good guys. But growing up in Birmingham
• 49:09
  area, did you ever go to wrestling growing up?
• 49:11
  Yeah, I went to, we went down to Louis, Louis.
• 49:16
  They had wrestling down on the down in South side.
• 49:18
  So yeah, they. Yeah, we, yeah, we went to yeah,
• 49:22
  we'd go down to Louis, Louis. And that was a little that was
• 49:25
  like when I was, you know when I wasn't supposed to go to Louis,
• 49:27
  Louis, but they would go down there and set up a ring.
• 49:31
  Yeah. Yeah, I was.
• 49:32
  I loved it. Yeah, I I.
• 49:34
  Was that Bob the bullet Armstrong was back then?
• 49:37
  Yeah. Was he coming through there?
• 49:38
  The bullet. Yeah, Yeah, there was, yeah,
• 49:41
  there was that that. That's old school.
• 49:43
  The Armstrongs? Yeah, for sure.
• 49:45
  Well, who were you? Who was your favorite on TV
• 49:47
  growing up? You know, I like Ric Flair and I
• 49:52
  like, I like Macho Man. But you know, yeah, that was,
• 49:58
  uh, yeah, those were the classic news.
• 50:00
  Well, yeah, we used to go down there.
• 50:01
  Yeah, there was some, there was some pro semi pro wrestling it
• 50:05
  in this big music bar on Friday nights and you know they'd be
• 50:09
  wrestling in the middle of it. Lulu's pretty famous legendary
• 50:12
  place in Southside, so. I love it.
• 50:14
  Yeah, we used to go. I remember Louie Louie's.
• 50:16
  I remember going there and partying some.
• 50:17
  Back in the day. We'd go to Birmingham plays
• 50:19
  Attico and stuff. They had, they had, they set up
• 50:22
  a ring. Yeah, I was definitely in on
• 50:24
  that, on that business. I We used to go down to a
• 50:27
  Prattville, to the Armory, the the National Guard Armory.
• 50:30
  They'd set up a ring in there. We'd go watch it.
• 50:31
  They'd had the IT had the granny lady with the bag and the purse
• 50:34
  trying to hit the bad guy. I'd kiss the good guy, the whole
• 50:37
  thing. It was great.
• 50:39
  Well, you want to make sure? Put everybody on social media?
• 50:42
  Need go to taylorhicks.com? You can catch him on Twitter or
• 50:45
  X, whatever you want to call it these days.
• 50:47
  Got new music out? Catch a show soon, be listed out
• 50:50
  for new Christmas music. It sounds like you might even
• 50:53
  got an exclusive here on the Tigs Bits podcast, but yeah,
• 50:57
  there you go. So there you go, everybody drop
• 51:00
  it exclusives here. But Taylor, thank you for your
• 51:02
  time. Yeah.
• 51:07
  Play us out, baby. That train, baby.
• 51:14
  Love you guys. Thank you, brother too, man.
• 51:16
  Thank you so much. So patrol.