Gerry Hale’s Innocent Bystanders

I have always been a great fan of Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks, in fact every band I have even been in was influenced by his music in one way or another. He was one of the unsung heroes of eclectic acoustic music from the 70’s onwards and so I decided to finally make a CD of all my favourite songs.

The big surprise came when so many Melbourne singers and musicians heard of my activities and got in touch and wanted to be on it. The list kept getting bigger and in total there are 52.

This was way back in early 2000’s and then the story gets even more surprising…. I was in my shop one day, the phone rang

and I found my self talking to Dan and what a gentleman he was (addressed me as sir )

He loved the recordings and wanted to come over and do some gigs…umm yes !

This eventuated in two shows at the Brisbane Arts Festival, big thanks to Deborah Conway ( a huge fan ) and one secret show in Melbourne at which 400 people showed up with zero publicity, just whispers… The crowd was as diverse and cooky as his music and a unforgetable night was had by all. Dan was on form.

Very sadly Dan passed away a few years later so all we have is great songs and humour. He was a rare bird that never flew high enough for all to see.