Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, known for their gritty jazz and folk-pop textures, will take centerstage at Alamo’s Wesley Center next weekend.
Hicks’ songs are a blend of country, old-time jazz, western swing and blues. He throws in a touch of bizarre humor and irony for extra flavor.
At the concert, the group will be premiering its album released in November by Surfdog called “Selected Shorts.” Hicks noted that the title is “a nod to film programming and a bow to brief clothing everywhere.” The album includes guests Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Van Dyke Parks and Gibby Haynes.
Hicks has been tagged an “influential and off-beat, bohemian presence who draws from diverse fields of music.” He wrote 10 of the 13 songs on the album. He approaches a love song with “C’mon-a-My House,” in which he promises to give his love a list of objects in a mockery of consumer society. In “Texas Kinda Attitude,” he conjures up a Janis Joplin-like figure in a 1930s vaudeville atmosphere.
Hicks has been called “one of the central, defining figures of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury scene of the 1960s.” He formed the Licks in 1968, while he was a drummer for the Charlatans, which is often cited as one of the originators of the psychedelic sound.
The Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks show takes place at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 22, at the Wesley Center, 902 Danville Blvd. in Alamo. Tickets are $25 and $35, and $22.50 for seniors. Call 229-2710.
-Dolores Fox Ciardelli
