Dan Hicks was a genuine American eccentric. A member of influential West Coast group The Charlatans, he was better known for his role as bandleader of Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks, a vaudeville and ragtime troupe who specialised in what Hicks termed “folk jazz”, albeit with tongue in lugubrious cheek. His best known songs were throwback tunes, but then Dan was always happier gazing at the past, and was delighted to tell people, “I don’t have a computer… yet.”
The Charlatans were an eccentric outfit. They dressed as Wild West gunslingers or Gold Rush prospectors, with a touch of Mississippi river boat gambler thrown in. Hicks was hired to play drums, but his songwriting blossomed so he moved front of stage and strummed a nifty rhythm guitar.
