Holt caught rock ‘n’ roll fever when he was 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 right arm – a symbol of Holt’s fandom and work ethic. He also wears a tattoo of Jimi Hendrix. “When I was a teenager and discovered Hendrix, I’d never heard anybody play like that and I instantly knew what I wanted to do,” he recalls. “I begged my parents for a white Stratocaster and guitar lessons.” His first instrument was a cheaper electric, but with the help of a Hendrix savvy instructor Holt was on his way, developing the rudiments of his style. With Kudzu, you can hear echoes of Hendrix’s stinging vibrato and wah-soaked stringing booming through “Wicked Grip,” a dark-edged unadulterated rocker, and within the shimming chordal architecture of the album’s “The Fool.”
Holt made his first step toward musical apprenticeship when his father took him to Chicago to hear bluesman Buddy Guy. “I had never been in a club before or heard a really great guitar player like Buddy live,” Holt recounts. After a backstage meeting, the young student and venerable master stayed in touch. Over the next year or so Holt was invited on stage to jam with Guy, and then one day Guy called to invite Holt into his band. “I’d never even been in a band before,” Holt says. “I tried to get bands together in my parents’ basement in Tennessee, but it never worked out. So all of a sudden at 18 I was leaving home for Chicago with my guitar, my amp, a suitcase and my passport.”
Holt played at Guy’s side for a decade. “Buddy taught me everything, from how to order at a restaurant to 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.” And Guy remains an enthusiastic supporter of Holt. “He heard Kudzu and told me, ‘Man, I’m really proud of you. You gotta move it around!’ ”
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