Branson — "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks said he's heard about Branson, where he'll perform July 30.

"Isn't it kind of like a country version of Las Vegas on steroids?" asked Hicks in a recent telephone interview while he was waiting to perform in St. Louis.

Hicks apparently has plenty of fans in the Branson area. Tickets for the first seven rows of center seats at the Welk Resort Theatre sold within an hour for a Branson record-high price of $99.50, said Joe Sullivan, executive producer and general manager of Welk-Sullivan Productions.

Sullivan, who has been bringing top-name entertainers to Branson for 15 years, said he wasn't surprised at the sellout.

"It was customers who told us, 'I'll pay $100 for front-row seats for that show,'" Sullivan said. "I heard that from a lot of people, all female. 'Why don't you bring in Taylor Hicks?'"

Good seats are still available in the 2,250-seat theater for $39.50, $49.50 and $59.50. But Traci Morrow said she's thrilled with her third-row center seats. The bookkeeper at Dunton and Associates in Branson will be there with her parents, Marge and Gary Hoenie, who also are fans.

Morrow, who's 37, said she was sold on Hicks when she saw his first appearance on "American Idol."

"I like him because he was all-around different," Morrow said. "I always voted for him. I'd call several times."

Her mom, who directs the kitchen at the Boys and Girls Club of the Ozarks, is a "way bigger fan," and they often watched "American Idol" together, Morrow said.

Hicks said it was a fluke that he even tried out for the program. He got bumped from a plane trip and used the free ticket to go to Las Vegas.

"I just wanted to go to Las Vegas, for all the reasons people want to go there," Hicks said. "My brother called me and said there were auditions there."

Now, he's getting to enjoy something he's longed to do.

"Riding in a tour bus," Hicks said. "It was something I always wanted to do, whether it was mine or somebody else's, and now I get to actually ride in mine."

He said he remains focused despite a busy appearance schedule. He said he enjoys the concerts as well as time in the studio.

"I'm trying to just play some really good music right now," Hicks said. "I do have the production a lot more on this tour, on this level, which makes the music aspect easier."

Hicks said he's pleased with his recently released biography, "A Heart Full of Soul."

"I do think my story is pretty interesting, and maybe it can teach people if you don't give up, you can succeed," Hicks said.

"American Idol" contestants get plenty of attention, and for Hicks it included an article in the National Enquirer headlined "Hicks' Chick" with photos of Hicks and a woman holding hands on a beach in Hawaii.

Hicks said he'd heard about the article but hadn't seen it.

"I know there were pictures of me on the beach," Hicks said. "I don't think that has anything to do with my music. ... There are always positives and negatives to anything, fame included."

Hicks also was featured in People magazine, named "Hottest Bachelor" last year.

Despite birth dates that vary on the Internet, Hicks said he was born Oct. 7, 1976.

Sullivan said Hicks' Branson appearance may help attract other hot acts.

"They're beginning to look at Branson as more of a mainstream stop for touring artists, a place to play on their way up, not at a later stage in their career," Sullivan said.

"American Idol" has changed the music industry, Sullivan said.

"It used to be that to break in a new artist, you had to have radio air first and foremost," said Sullivan, who also was a longtime Nashville producer. "'American Idol' is offering an alternative."