Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks

On Thursday, March 11, Grand Rapids will be lucky enough to host the legendary Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks at Wealthy Street Theatre. Hicks has been a pioneer in rock, jazz, and folk for almost five decades and has collaborated with a long list of musical greats. Tom Waits once famously declared: "Dan Hicks is fly, sly, wily and dry" – a description that surfaces constantly, partly because of the renown of the speaker, but mostly owing to the fact that it captures something in the essence of Hicks and his work that can be hard to define.

After playing with the rock ensemble The Charlatans for three years beginning in 1965, Hicks formed Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks in 1968, shifting his creativity toward the quirky folk/jazz/blues fusion for which he is now famous. Despite much commercial success, Hicks disbanded the Hot Licks in 1973 due to internal tensions. It wasn't until 1998 that Hicks revived the group with an entirely new cast to record Beatin' the Heat, which was released in 2000 through Surfdog Records.

Comprised of bassist Paul Smith, violinist Benito Cortez, Dave Bell on lead guitar, female backup singers and percussionists Roberta Donnay and Daria, and, of course, Hicks on lead vocals and guitar, the group will visit Grand Rapids in support of their new album, Tangled Tales, a compilation of 12 upbeat and bluesy folk-inspired tracks. Hicks considers himself a "social observer," and at the heart of each song is a character sketch and a story. Shying away from political commentary, Hicks prefers to weave witty and often unintentionally comical vignettes. As the creator of all of the visual art for all of the albums and press releases, the self-proclaimed "doodler" designs his music around images that capture the listener's imagination and pulls them along for the "Tangled Tales" that are supported by twangy, bumping instrumentals. Most of the "characters" depicted in the album's tracks reflect Hicks' real-life eccentric humor and attitude, and the quirky and often escapist vibe that he is known to exude. Catch this musical legend on March 11, and be ready for one wild ride.