Solomon Hicks‘s new album How Did I Ever Get This Blue? is out now via Artone/Provogue, and in its wake comes his latest single ‘Flyin’ High (Yesterday)’.
Written by the late Texan blues singer and guitarist Johnny Copeland, father of Shemekia Copeland, ‘Flyin’ High (Yesterday)’ first appeared on Copeland’s album of the same name back in 1992. However, Hicks heard it from a distant source.
“That one, I first heard done by a drummer called Barry Harrison. We were playing B.B. King’s in New York, and I remember Barry coming out with this song. And it felt like putting the key in the car ignition and taking off down a dirt road,” Hicks said. “The song didn’t really hit me until I got to experience life and those highs and lows. It felt good to play a song from a blues artist like Johnny Copeland that you don’t hear as much, and put that guitar stamp on it.”
You can check out the video for ‘Flyin’ High (Yesterday)’ below. Both the single and How Did I Ever Get This Blue? can be streamed and ordered now.
The Harlem hotshot is an old soul roots scholar who salutes ancient musical forms: blues, jazz, soul, funk, gospel. Yet he’s also a renegade gunslinger here to bend, stretch and scratch them for the modern world. His songs race from earworm originals, past pop covers torn up with electronica and punky riffs, to reignited blues standards that prove how potent this genre remains in the right hands.
“I want to shock people,” said Hicks, smiling. Whether you were there at his barely legal teenage club shows, caught on for 2020’s breakout debut Harlem, or are hearing him for the first time on How Did I Ever Get This Blue?, his rebel energy moves the needle.
“It’s great to be alive in a time period where I can reach back to the past, but also be inspired by the now and the future,” said Hicks, whose accolades include the 2021 Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist Album. “With this new record, I wanted to showcase where my ear, my head and my guitar playing is at right now.”
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