Scott Holt – Nashville based blues guitarist and vocalist
8/13/2011
The American South has contributed much to musical history — and Scott Holt’s new album Kudzu establishes the lanky, tattooed Tennessean’s turf within the region’s strong songwriting tradition. Until now, Holt has been best known for his blazing guitar, but he’s more than a six-string powerhouse. Kudzu trumpets his arrival as a penetrating and soulful storyteller whose songs touch the heart of modern life, yet possess a timeless appeal driven by a blend of honesty and pure musical expression.
Holt calls it “tapping a frequency – getting to a place where the sounds that my band and I make are warm, human and undisguised by technology.” Joined by Dan Eubanks (bass) and Marshal Weaver (drums), they are creating songs that are real, about real people with real lives who are experiencing things worth writing about. He shares, “So much of today’s music is just a commodity, something to use to sell jeans or coffee. But music should be more than that. There have been times, like in the ’60s, when music had the power to change the world, so I believe that as an artist I should try to touch people’s lives and say something meaningful.”
Opening act - Butch Ross
When Butch Ross opened for Bill Staines last fall, he received a rare accolade: a standing ovation for an opening act. He transforms the lowly mountain dulcimer into a virtuoso's instrument, drawing from it unexpected power and expressiveness. He mixes old country and Appalachian songs with his own wordy, literate, poetic ballads about people, places, and situations you might read about in a good book of short stories. He has a strong clear voice and a stage presence of boyish charm. --Minstrel Coffeehouse
Butch Ross is a rockstar. He plays the mountain dulcimer and in case you're thinking "Rockstar? Mountain Dulcimer? Doesn't compute," let me fill you in on a little something. Butch Ross does something that no one else can touch. What he does is amazing. His genius is in the fact that he found something unique to him and he just worked it to a point where no one can come close to matching it. He's seriously brilliant. --Hayley Graham
