If you go
Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna
When: 8 p.m. Oct. 23
Info: $22; 877-965-3872; wolftrap.org
Dan Hicks doesn’t fret that guests on his albums — who range from Bette Midler to Tom Waits to slide-guitarist Roy Rogers — don’t tour with him. The bottom line is the guests on the songs performed by Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks — including those on the latest album “Tangled Tales” — are delightful seasonings in Hicks’ musical offerings, not the entire entree.
“The songs were originally designed for me to sing anyway, and we added vocalists,” Hicks said. “It’s nice that all those people I know of know from my travels and gigs and stuff … so we reach out and some people get back to me and ask me to include them in my projects.”
The result is Hicks’ signature music that’s tough to classify, but strikes chords with plenty of music lovers. The reason for the popularity — among musicians and music lovers alike — is because Hicks swirls genres into his own brand of sound. Take cowboy folk, add jazz, include a hint of country, sprinkle with pop and you’re close to the music Hicks has created since the late 1960s.
Hicks doesn’t classify his music, and he certainly doesn’t compare it with other sounds hitting the airwaves and played on the road.
“I don’t listen to a lot to the new stuff. Not a lot has caught my ear,” he said. “I’ve always been a jazz fan. My era was the golden age of rock and that was, to me, pretty good music.”
Many would say Hicks’ follows suit, calling out his jazz laden tunes that feature sharp and sassy lyrics [“How can I miss you if you won’t go away/Keep telling you day after day/But you won’t listen, you always stay and stay”].
So maybe it’s a bit of a surprise Hicks is looking to record a Christmas album. Not soon, mind you. Although he has a novelty jug band that performs on the West Coast during the holiday season, Hicks doesn’t seem anxious to dive into the Christmas album pack without considering it a bit more first.
“Everyone has a Christmas album. Richard Nixon had a Christmas album, Taylor Hicks has a Christmas album,” he said. “Maybe there are some people that just love it. I don’t know. I like my own tunes, my own stuff. How many people say ‘Let me on the stage, I want to sing ‘Jingle Bells.’ ”
Something says when the Hicks Christmas album is released, it’ll have the same saucy elements that have won raves for his nontraditional albums.
