Dylan Hicks | |
|---|---|
 Hicks in 2012 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Dylan Hicks |
| Born | December 11, 1970 Austin, Texas |
| Origin | Minneapolis |
| Occupation(s) |
|
| Instrument(s) | Piano, guitar |
| Labels | Soft Launch |
| Website | dylanhicks |
Dylan Hicks (also sometimes known as the Governor of Fun) [1] is an American singer-songwriter and novelist from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Hicks was born in Austin, Texas in 1970. He described his parents in an interview as "definitely members of the counterculture." His parents divorced, and his mother remarried. Hicks grew up in Austin, Minot, North Dakota, Idaho, and Illinois, before his family settled in Minneapolis in 1983. As a teenager, Hicks has said he was "almost single-mindedly interested in music", and wanted to become a pop-music critic. [2] [3]
Hicks' first three albums were released on the No Alternative label. [4] After releasing a self-produced cassette and two 45s, his first album, Won, was released in 1996 and recorded with backing band The Golf Ball-Sized Boogie. [5] He released his second CD, Poughkeepsie, in 1998, which was described by Kristy Martin of the magazine CMJ New Music Report as "a sparkling demo of smart wordplay and pop sensibility." [6]
Hicks followed this up with the album Alive With Pleasure in 2001. [6] The album featured drum and instrument programming on the songs "City Lights" and "My Best Friend" by Jason Heinrichs, also known as Anomaly. [7] Star Tribune music critic Chris Riemenschneider named the album No. 8 in his top 10 Minnesota records of 2001, calling it "full of self-deprecating, oddball characters and one telling, ironic tale after another". [8]
Hicks became frustrated when his musical career failed to achieve financial stability, and quit playing music entirely for several years. [9] Hicks returned to music in 2012, when, as a companion to his novel Boarded Windows, he released the album Sings Bolling Greene, featuring songs he wrote in the persona of Bolling Greene, one of the characters in the book. [10] In the book, Greene is a country musician. About half of the songs on Sings Bolling Greene are written from Greene's perspective, while the remaining ones are about Greene. [2] He told one interviewer that “when I no longer had to worry about making a living at it, I went back to making music for the fun of it.” [9]
In 2017, Hicks released the solo album Ad Out. It was produced by Semisonic bassic John Munson. A reviewer for Paste called its lead single, "A-24", "dark yet colorful, wicked but playful." [11] [12]
In 2020, he teamed up again with Munson in the duo Munson-Hicks Party Supplies. Originally intending to write a musical together, their collaboration turned instead for inspiration to the 1970 album Nilsson Sings Newman by Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. The duo's debut, the self-titled Munson-Hicks Party Supplies, was released in 2020. Star Tribune music critic Chris Riemenschneider called it "one of the most charming albums of the year". [11]
Hicks released two more albums, Accidental Birds and Airport Sparrows, in 2021 and 2022 respectively. [13]
In 2012, Hicks' debut novel, Boarded Windows, was published by Coffee House Press. It is narrated by a nameless narrator, [14] and is set in Minneapolis in the 1990s. [10] Courtney Algo and Lit Lyfe wrote in the Twin Cities Daily Planet that "fans of Hicks and rapier-sharp prose will find a great delight in Boarded Windows." [15] A review in MinnPost described the book as "a vivid time capsule of those scruffier days of [1990s] Twin Cities music fandom." [10]
A second novel, Amateurs, was published in May 2016 by Coffee House Press. The story revolves around a group of friends at the wedding of Archer Bondarenko, heir to a sex-toy company who is also a successful novelist (but whose friend Sara actually ghostwrites the books). New York Times reviewer Courtney Maum said that Hick was "winningly deft with language" but felt that the novel's themes were unclear. [16] Los Angeles Times reviewer Michael Schaub called the book "meandering ... in the best possible way" and said that Hicks' attention to the evolution of his characters over time was "near-perfect." [17] Kenyon Review's Michael Magras called the book "witty and perceptive" and "a droll commentary about ambition among the would-be literati." [18]
Hicks is working on a third novel. [11]
He has also written for City Pages. [19]
The music of Minnesota began with the native rhythms and songs of Indigenous peoples, the first inhabitants of the lands which later became the U.S. state of Minnesota. Métis fur-trading voyageurs introduced the chansons of their French ancestors in the late eighteenth century. As the territory was opened up to white settlement in the 19th century, each group of immigrants brought with them the folk music of their European homelands. Celtic, German, Scandinavian, and Central and Eastern European song and dance remain part of the vernacular music of the state today.
Sean Tillmann-Hauser is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has performed and released studio albums as Sean Na Na and as a member of hardcore band Calvin Krime, but is best known for his work under the name Har Mar Superstar.
"Spider" John Koerner was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover, with Dave Ray and Tony Glover. He also made albums as a solo performer and with Willie Murphy, and was an important mentor to the young Bob Dylan.
John Munson is an American musician who is best known as the bass player for Semisonic. He was also a member of Trip Shakespeare during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Haley McCallum, professionally known as Haley and formerly Haley Bonar, is a Canadian-born American singer and songwriter who was raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. She has lived in Duluth and currently St. Paul, Minnesota. In 2009, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she spent a year writing songs for her 2011 album Golder. She plays acoustic guitar, baritone electric guitar, electric guitar, and Rhodes or Wurlitzer electric piano, either solo or with her Twin Cities-based band, including Jeremy Ylvisaker, Robert Skoro, and Jacob Hanson.
Charlie Parr is an American country blues musician. Born in Austin, Minnesota, he spent part of his childhood in Hollandale before starting his music career in Duluth. His influences include Charlie Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Dave Van Ronk, Mississippi John Hurt, and his self-professed "hero" "Spider" John Koerner. He plays a Mule resonator, National resonator guitar, a fretless open-back banjo, and a twelve-string guitar, often in the Piedmont blues style. He is divorced from Emily Parr, who occasionally adds vocals to his music. He has two children.
Oddjobs was an alternative hip hop group from Minnesota formed in 1995. The band released three studio albums and several EPs, including 2003's critically praised Drums, and broke up in 2004, with the members re-forming as Kill the Vultures and Power Struggle.
Koerner, Ray & Glover was a loose-knit group of three blues musicians from Minneapolis, Minnesota: "Spider" John Koerner on guitar and vocals, Dave "Snaker" Ray on guitar and vocals, and Tony "Little Sun" Glover on harmonica. They were notable figures of the revival of folk music and blues in the 1960s.
Luke Redfield is an American musician, songwriter, and poet. He was born in Duluth, MN and has since been living all over the country. His songwriting is influenced by Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, and Jack Kerouac, as well as his own experiences of living on the road.
Mel Gibson and the Pants is an underground hip hop band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They released three albums in the early 2000s. Band member Ryan Olson is also a member of Digitata and Gayngs.
Kill the Vultures is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota formed in 2005.
Communist Daughter is an indie rock band from Saint Paul, Minnesota, founded by Johnny Solomon in 2009. They have released three albums and three EPs.
No Bird Sing is an alternative hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 2013 they signed to Strange Famous Records.
Jacob Lukas Anderson, better known by his stage name Prof, is an American rapper, singer, and producer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He released his first full-length album, Project Gampo, in 2007 and has since released six additional albums and three EPs. In 2012, City Pages named Prof on their list of Minnesota's 20 best rappers. He was formerly signed to Rhymesayers Entertainment.
Mixed Blood Majority is an American hip hop group from Minneapolis, Minnesota. The trio includes producer Lazerbeak of Doomtree, and rappers Alexei "Crescent Moon" Casselle of Kill the Vultures and Joe Horton of No Bird Sing.
Kevin Bowe is an American songwriter, record producer and musician from Minneapolis. He is best known for his work with prominent rock and blues artists including Paul Westerberg and the Replacements; writing songs for hit albums by Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd; as well as Etta James' Grammy-winning Let's Roll. He has contributed to dozens of albums over his career, including several of his own as a bandleader; he has appeared on many film and television soundtracks including ESPN and The Sopranos. His songs have been covered by many prominent rock and blues artists, including Joe Cocker, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robben Ford, and John Mayall.
J.S. Ondara, known mononymously as Ondara, is a Grammy Award-nominated Kenyan singer-songwriter, whose debut album, Tales of America, was released on February 15, 2019 via Verve Forecast. The critical success of the debut led to a follow-up deluxe edition, Tales of America: The Second Coming, in September 2019 featuring the original lineup plus five bonus tracks.
You're Not Alone is an EP by rock band Semisonic. Released on September 18, 2020, it is the band's first collection of new material in 19 years following their hiatus after touring 2001's All About Chemistry. The EP was preceded by the release of its title track on June 26, 2020.
The Vibro Champs are a rockabilly band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, founded in 1992. They have released four albums, most recently Mr. International in 2009.
Roma di Luna was an American folk/Americana group from Minneapolis, Minnesota formed in 2004. The band released four records, including most recently We Were Made To Forgive in 2018. The group began as a husband-and-wife duo comprising Alexei Casselle of Kill the Vultures and Channy Leaneagh, later of Poliça, before expanding to a group of seven.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
