Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Gracetone Entertainment launches with Scott Holt album release in January

Gracetone Entertainment has announced a January 11, 2011 release date for the company’s inaugural release Scott Holt’s Kudzu. Joined by Dan Eubanks (bass), Marshal Weaver (drums), and Joe Peterson (keys / organ), Holt has delivered an album that will come to define him as a timeless, pure, soulful storyteller. Kudzu’s eleven songs touch upon the heart of modern life, driven by a blend of honesty and pure musical expression.

Holt shares, “My goal is to reach a place where the sounds that my band and I make are warm, human and undisguised by technology. So much of today’s music is just a commodity, something used to sell jeans or coffee. But music should be more than that. It has always had the power to heal and bring change in the world. I believe that my music should touch people’s lives and say something meaningful.”

He continues, “We spend so much time, as a culture, pointing fingers and isolating ourselves - focusing on our differences, when the reality is that we all have the same dreams of health and happiness. We all want the best for the people we love, and we all want to feel secure. Those things are essential qualities of being human and they connect us more deeply than any religious or political differences separate us.”

Holt caught rock ‘n’ roll fever when he was a very young boy and his parents took him to his first concert: Elvis Presley. Today Presley’s trademark “TCB” with lightning bolt logo is tattooed on his left arm - a symbol of Holt’s fandom and work ethic. He was blessed with a quick start as a young man, when at the age of eighteen he was invited by Buddy Guy to join his band.

He recalls, “All of a sudden at 18 I was leaving home for Chicago with my guitar, my amp, a suitcase and my passport. I played with Buddy for a decade, and he taught me everything - from how to run a band and win over a crowd. He is my hero and one of my best friends. To this day, what he can do never ceases to amaze me.”

Kudzu was co-produced by Holt, Doug ‘Truth’ Smith and Tim O’Brien. He attributes his partners in the production process with helping him achieve the fearless quality that made Kudzu possible.

He shares, “It was obvious that they believed in my songs and the direction I was heading every inch of the way. It’s the first time I’ve really experienced that in the studio.
If you listen, you can always hear the blues in the foundation of my playing, but the greatest bluesmen, like Buddy, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, were always changing, experimenting and evolving. Now that I’ve been able to do the same, I feel that with Kudzu I’ve found the key to not only my own musical future, but something bigger than myself.”

No comments: