You can drive yourself nuts trying to define Dan Hicks’ sound, because it’s not limited to any one genre, drawing on acoustic folk, country, dapper call-and-response vocals, swing jazz phrasing, and a large dose of wry humor. At 66, his chops are intact, his voice is better than ever, he’s dried out and cleaned up, and his songwriting remains eccentric and vital. Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks will perform at the Soiled Dove Underground on July 18.
Congrats on your decades-long career. Are you a happy boy these days?
“I’m liking getting onstage, and I like the people I’m traveling and associating with. I think I’m growing as a jazz singer – I do occassional shows where I sing standards, a Mel Torme thing. I hope to develop that into a record eventually. I always aspired to be able to call myself a jazz singer . . .”
If Mel Torme was “the Velvet Fog,” what does that make you
“I’d be `the Heavy Dew,’ a more precipitous . . . is that the word? A more precipitudinous type of envelopment . . . see, if I don’t know the word, I just make it up. I’d be a little thicker. If he’s `the Velvet Fog,’ I’d be the `Beacon In The Fog.’ Write that down!
Is recording now underway for a new CD with the Hot Licks?
“The working title is Tangled Tales – tangled in sharps and flats, if nothing else. I’ve got thirteen songs, nine originals. Tunes like `13D’ – `There ain’t a guy who’d want to be in my shoes/But I wear a 13D.’ And `The Diplomat’ – `A man steps on my toe and I say pardon me/A very diplomatic act.’ Songs about cell phones and little things out in the world, trying to get along with it all . . .”
Speaking of modern technology, Duets is a collection of duets with your musical pals Rickie Lee Jones, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Bette Midler, Brian Setzer. It’s available from Surfdog Records and iTunes – via download. Was that your idea? Are you an old dog that can learn new tricks?
“No! I don’t even own a computer. It’s like when they show the Super Bowl and they say four billion people in China could care less – and they’re right. So it was somebody else’s idea. They tell me it happened, I go, `Oh,’ and then I go pet my dog. It doesn’t even register. I’m not that concerned or involved. That answers your question! (laughs)”
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