Photo courtesy of Shelley Lehner
Taylor Hicks fans in Alabama have a chance to get their Soul Patrol fix this weekend and next and again in January.
Hicks and weatherman James Spann are set to help light a giant Christmas tree as part of Cullman’s Christmas festivities this Friday night at 7:30 p.m. after the Cullman Christmas parade, and Hicks is scheduled to give a free Christmas concert there in downtown Cullman after the tree lighting.
He plans to share some Christmas songs, including his own version of “Jingle Bells” that he released as a single on Oct. 28, as well as some of his own music in a concert that probably will last about an hour or so, he said.
The gray-haired entertainer said he enjoys Christmas lights and municipal tree lightings because they put him in the mood for the season pretty quickly. He decided to release a country version of “Jingle Bells” because he enjoys singing the classics, he said. He’s never done a Christmas album, but next year might be a good time to put one together, he said.
Hicks, a Hoover native perhaps best known as the harmonica-playing winner of the fifth season of “American Idol” in 2006, this year released new music for the first time in 14 years.
His song “Porch Swing,” which he performed in the 2021 romantic comedy “Stars Fell on Alabama,” was released as a single in February, and he followed that up with the release of “Teach Me To Dance” in June. He expects a full album to come out in late spring or summer, he said.
Hicks also will be performing in Birmingham at the Lyric Theatre on Friday, Dec. 8. That show, which is a benefit for Toys for Tots, will be a combination of Christmas songs and classic hits by The Doobie Brothers. Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show is set to start at 8 p.m. Get tickets here.
The entertainer also is scheduled to perform a “stripped-down, unplugged” acoustic concert at the Song Theater in Columbiana on Jan. 12-13, and he’ll be singing at the Montgomery Performing Arts Centre on Jan. 20.
