Dan Hicks, a true original of S.F. music scene, dies at 74

Dan Hicks, the Arkansas-born musician known for his wide-ranging musical and personal style, the wit and outright humor of his songwriting, and his role in the San Francisco folk and ’60s rock scene, died Saturday in Mill Valley after a long battle with throat and liver cancer. He was 74.

News of his death was posted on his web site and on social media by his wife, Linda “CT” Hicks.

Mr. Hicks emerged in the San Francisco folk scene in the late ‘50’s and in 1965 became the drummer for the Charlatans, an early folk rock band. Two years later, he formed Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, the group with which he was best known.

The Charlatans never achieved the success of other bands of the era, but as time went on, their significance as an influential part of the scene in the mid-’60’s was widely acknowledged. The Charlatans became the house band for the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.

Former Chronicle pop music critic Joel Selvin summarized the group’s status in a 2015 article for the paper:

“Today the band is little recalled by those who weren't there, but the Charlatans were the first important new rock band in San Francisco when LSD first rolled through town and things started getting weird. When the five-man band of Edwardian dandies in immaculate vintage wear returned from playing all summer 1965 at the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City, the Charlatans were the headline attraction at A Tribute to Dr. Strange, the Longshoreman's Hall dance/concert that was ground zero for the '60s San Francisco rock scene. ...Farther down the program that evening was another new band just starting out at a former pizza parlor in the Marina with the peculiar name of Jefferson Airplane.”

Selvin interviewed surviving members of The Charlatans in Sonoma as they were about to gather for a kind of “Last Waltz” performance at the Red Dog.

Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks first became the opening act for The Charlatans and then took off on its own. The Hot Licks signed with Epic Records, but their first album, “Original Recordings,” was a flop. After a label change, though, the band scored critical success with the albums “Where’s the Money?,” “Striking It Rich” and “Last Train to Hicksville.”

Mr. Hicks pulled the plug on the band in 1973 because of personal and business pressures. He later said the reason he disbanded the Hot Licks was simply that he didn’t want to be a bandleader anymore and called himself essentially a loner.

Over the next several decades, Mr. Hicks enjoyed success first as a solo artist, then as the founder of the Acoustic Warriors in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, before releasing “Beatin the Heat” in 2000, with a revival of the Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks name.

Mr. Hicks’ celebrated his 70th birthday in 2011 with an all-star concert at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, and two years later, released a recording of the evening, “Live at Davies,” with guests Rickie Lee Jones, Tuck and Patti, Van Dyke Parks, David Grisman and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

In 2014, despite undergoing cancer treatment, Mr. Hicks performed a tribute to Fats Waller at SFJazz, telling Jesse Hamlin, “ "You do it, you get through it, especially when you have an obligation, when you made a deal. A deal is a deal."

Daniel Ivan Hicks was born on Dec. 9, 1941, in Little Rock to Ivan and Evelyn Hicks. When he was 5, the family moved to California, settling in Santa Rosa. He began playing drums in elementary school and by the time he was a teenager, was playing paying gigs. He also had a 15-minute radio show in high school called “Time Out for Teens.”

He enrolled at San Francisco State University in 1959, where he later earned a degree in broadcasting. Around this time, he also began to play the guitar and was soon active in the area folk scene.

Over the next 50 years, Mr. Hicks remained defiantly impossible to categorize. He described his music as “folk jazz,” which comes as close as any description. Musically, he was a free spirit, and that earned him a fiercely devoted fan base.

His songs were often laced with tongue in cheek humor, evident in the titles “How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away,” “I Scare Myself” and “Canned Music” and “Santa Lost a Ho.”

A true original throughout his long, rich career, Mr. Hicks was acknowledged for his influence on other musicians such as Tom Waits and Elvis Costello.

Funeral arrangements are pending.