Here are a few things you might learn about Taylor Hicks during an interview with the newly minted pop star and “American Idol” winner.

No. 1: The silver-thatched, 30-year-old vocalist will be all over the TV talk-show circuit and newsstands this month, promoting his first major-label album. (Titled “Taylor Hicks,” it comes out Dec. 12.)

No. 2: Hicks may soon play a theater or big nightclub (but not a sports arena) near you. His first national solo tour kicks off in late February.

No. 3: One song getting a lot of play on the Alabama-bred soulster’s iPod is a certain Paul Simon oldie.

Anything else? Well, Hicks doesn’t cop to it outright. But he’s got something to prove about his music, and it’s crunch time.

Solidly in his corner: the legion of fans who dialed and text-messaged their little fingers to the bone voting for Hicks to become the new Idol. And they helped turn his first single, “Do I Make You Proud?,” into certified gold.

The jury’s still out on Hicks for skeptical music freaks and rock critics who consider him gimmicky and despise the heavily hyped “American Idol” franchise on principle.

Hicks knows all about that. “I can’t please everyone,” he says, “and I’m not trying to.”

But after a decade of small-time gigs on the steakhouse-and-saloon circuit, Hicks is clearly eager to win more hearts and ears. And he wouldn’t mind (with a nod to Aretha) getting a little more critical re-re-re-respect either.

During a recent phone interview, he seemed more earnest and reserved than his folksy, exuberant public persona suggests. “You gotta understand I’m a working musician, and I’ve been doing this thing, studying and playing and learning how to do this, for 12, 13 years,” said Hicks.

His new album expresses his own musical personality, he stressed, not the bidding of the “American Idol” combine (to which he is still contracted).

“I’ve been involved in every single aspect of the record … song selections, dealing with arrangements, the mixing, the whole thing.”

If the disc sells well (a virtual certainty for a freshman post-“Idol” release), Hicks still may not hit the jukebox jackpot like earlier Idols and Grammy-winner Kelly Clarkson and country superstar Carrie Underwood. (The two other previous Idols, Fantasia and Ruben Studdard, won’t be bagging groceries anytime soon either.)

But Hicks is another kettle of catfish: the first winner who’s been a pro musician for years and has two indie recordings under his belt.

With his sharp bluesman suits and gritty voice, he’s a musical and sartorial link to such soul geniuses as Ray Charles, Van Morrison and Otis Redding.

Hicks is also a throwback to the spontaneous, full-serve entertainer. His brand of blue-eyed soul and playful dancing veer due south from the cool and glossy, club groove-dominated Top 40 sensibility of the past decade.

Out of the limelight, Hicks comes across as an unfailingly polite but complex guy – shrewd yet sincere, cautious but impassioned.

The caution may be prompted by a recent loose-lips media incident, when he appeared to dis the TV show that made him famous. (“American Idol,” he told Remix magazine, “for me is fizzling out.”) Hicks later explained the remark was taken out of context, and that he’s happy to be part of the AI “family.”

But he’s more careful now with big-picture queries. Asked if he’s part of a new wave of idiosyncratic young chartbusters like Nora Jones and John Mayer, who are shifting pop toward a more melodic, lower tech sound, he answered, “I don’t want to imply there isn’t a lot of good music out there already … But yeah, I do think people are ready for a change, for something different, and that really helped me.”

He added, “I’m really singing on this record, y’know. I’m not rapping. I’m not sampling. I’m really singing.”

And he’s not just crooning the soulful oldies like those he performed so vibrantly on “Idol.” Hicks calls his own style “modern womp” – “a groovy, funky sound” mixing modern/retro aspects of soul, jazz, pop and swampy blues.

The “Taylor Hicks” CD (produced by Matt Serletic, also producer of the hit Santana album “Smooth”) boasts two cuts penned exclusively by the singer: “Soul Thing,” and the breezy “The Deal.”

An obscure Marvin Gaye song (“Wherever I Lay My Hat”); the joyous “Gonna Move” by the late Paul Pena of “Genghis Blues” fame; and several new songs tailored for Taylor by veteran popsmiths are also on the disc.

“Matt and I sort of saw the album as a painting. With each song we used a different paintbrush to get a different effect,” Hicks explained.

They also aimed for less sonic clutter. “We stripped away, stripped and stripped down the arrangements, so I can play these things live. For me, performing live is the big, big thing. I’ve been touring for so long, if I stop for a while I really miss it.”

Like some of his generational peers, Hicks is also a computer-savvy marketer. He sends periodic Web shout-outs to his Soul Patrol, sends scoops to an excellent fan blog (www.graycharles.com), and on his official site (www.taylorhicks.com) has posted previews of three cuts from his new recording.

The revved-up single “Runaround,” a retort to a fickle lover, has funky horn and vocal backup, and a hook that won’t let you alone.

“The Right Place,” is an achingly tender ballad written for Ray Charles, who died before he could record it. (Hicks got a special tour of Ray’s private studio and was given a pair of his cuff links.)

The more banal, standard-issue pop tune “Dream Myself Awake,” penned by “Smooth” composer and Matchbox 20 vocalist Rob Thomas, sounds like a blatant ploy to attract younger listeners.

Hicks stands by the whole album but also said, “Look, I went on this monster ‘Idol’ tour, where I had to sing six, seven songs a night – more than anyone else in the show. Then I had only six or seven weeks to record an entire album. I wanted to get something out for the holidays, and we’ve done the best job we could.”

He noted, with endearing humility, “I made my first CD when I was 19 years old. By the next one I knew a lot more. This one will be much better than that, and the next will be even better. It’s a learning curve, y’know?”

Whether his fame waxes or wanes, and his new album draws much acclaim or heavy criticism, Hicks insists he knows what he’s about.

That Paul Simon tune he’s been listening to? The ballad “Something So Right,” which Hicks believes “could really lend itself to a soul arrangement.”

“I’m primarily a soul man,” he emphasized before signing off, “and I always will be.” Then with perfect deadpan timing, he cracked, “That is, until I go into my Ziggy Stardust period.”

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CATCH MORE TAYLOR

Hear the songs:

www.taylorhicks.com

www.myspace.com/taylorhicks

On TV:

Taylor Hicks’ release week includes a slew of scheduled appearances: Dec. 11, “The View” (ABC); Dec 12, “The Early Show” (CBS) and CNN’s “Showbiz Tonight”; Dec. 13, “Martha Stewart”; “Dr. Phil Christmas Show” (both syndicated) and “Christmas in Washington” (TNT); and Dec. 14, “Megan Mullaly” (syndicated).

More:

Head to a fan blog at www.graycharles.com; Hicks’ official Web site is www.taylorhicks.com.