Concert: Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks

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Dan Hicks is a multi-instrumentalist from the San Francisco area, who began his musical calling in various local folk and jazz bands in the mid-1960's. From 1965- 1968 he played in the Charlatans. One of his band mates of that group was violinist David LaFlamme, who later went on to form It's A Beautiful Day.Dan started playing drums at age 11 and switched to guitar at age 20, although he continued to play both, as well as harp and keyboards throughout his music career. In High School, Dan developed an interest in broadcasting, and had a rotating spot on a daily 15-minute local radio program called "Time Out for Teens". He entered San Francisco State College in 1959, eventually earning a degree in Broadcasting.

He took up the guitar around '59, and became part of the San Francisco folk music scene, playing and singing in local coffeehouses. In early 1968 he formed the drummer-less group Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, which was modeled on Django Reinhardt's quintet, as an opener for the Charlatans. Soon the new band became his primary project. With a pair of female backing vocalists - "the Lickettes" - the group released it's debut album Original Recordings on Epic in 1969.

After a series of personnel changes, the group was signed to Blue Thumb in 1971. They released three albums - 1971 Where's the Money (recorded live at the Troubadour in LA), 1972 Strikin' It Rich, and 1973 Last Train To Hicksville (their first with a drummer) and their most successful. Hick's music blended western swing, jazz, ragtime and pseudo-nostalgia song writing.

He became known for compositions like "How Can I Miss You" and "Walkin' One and Only" (which was covered by Maria Muldaur) however, by 1974 Hicks had disbanded the Hot Licks at the height of their popularity. The Hot licks had toured internationally and appeared on several hi profile television shows of the day - Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Flip Wilson. The combined success of these ventures also helped land Hicks on the cover of Rolling Stone two times throughout his career.2004 saw the release of "Selected Shorts", a dynamic and critically acclaimed studio CD, featuring contributions from such stars as Jimmy Buffett, Jim Keltner, Gibby Haynes, Van Dyke Parks and Willie Nelson.

Today, Dan tours worldwide with an updated version of the Hot Licks, and occasionally gigs at various jazz venues in the San Francisco Bay Area as a vocalist, with Bayside Jazz.