"There's such a live aspect to me," he says. "You put me on the radio, and you can't see me, you can't feel me, you can't touch me, so it's easy to count me out in that regard. On the road, that's where you really make your mark and have your longevity," Taylor recently explained in a PRNews release.

Fans will have the opportunity to experience Taylor's music live when he stars as Teen Angel in the National Tour of Grease starting December 1. They will also see the real Taylor Hicks when he appears as himself, singing the single from his new album scheduled for release early next year.

He will be finishing the new album in France where his producer, Simon Climie lives. In a trendy cutting edge marketing strategy, Taylor has gone indie inking a deal with Artist To Market (A2M) which gives him solo control. "Basically, I am my own record label."

What that means for the upcoming CD is that the bulk of it will be written or co-written by Hicks..."I've always been a singer-songwriter, and that's going to be able to surface a lot more than it did on the last record," he says.