Early Works

1	Soul Thing 3:57
2	The Fall 4:40
3	Hold on to Your Love 2:52
4	The Deal 3:35
5	Heart and Soul 2:45
6	In Your Time 4:59
7	West Texas Sky 3:30
8	Somehow 4:14
9	Tighten Up 7:00
10	Son of a Carpenter 4:54
11	My Friend 3:21
12	Georgia 7:11

Barnes & Noble

These reissues of the American Idol winner’s previously unavailable pre-Idol material is released via Taylor’s own Modern Whomp Records and spotlights the soul singer's songwriter smarts. Taylor received over 63.4 million votes as the Season 5 American Idol Winner and is starring as “Teen Angel” in Greaseon Broadway.

All Music Guide

Officially released on CD late in 2008, long after his American Idol spotlight dimmed so dark he lost his major-label contract, Early Works reveals that Taylor Hicks was always a working musician, a no-fuss journeyman that cranked out soulful rock & roll, the kind that always sounds pretty good in a beer ad. That isn't much of a surprise: his Idol performances and post-Idolalbum suggested that he could always crank songs like "Soul Thing" and the softer "The Deal," a Bob Seger-styled midtempo number that surfaced on his major-label effort and is here in an early incarnation that isn't that much different. What's surprising about Early Works is its strain of sweet, folky singer/songwriter pop, halfway between Van Morrison and Stephen Stills. Most of the record is in this vein - possibly because it's a sound that's easier to market than the soul-rock that made his name - and while it's just as classic rock in its own way as the barroom blues boogie that brought him fame, it does suggest a depth not quite heard in his Idol-era performances. It's still journeyman stuff - music marked by its dogged devotion not divine spark - but it's well-done, heartfelt and endearing, sounding like the work of a local boy made good. Stephen Thomas Erlewine