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WENDELL HOLMES OF ACCLAIMED SOUL/BLUES BAND THE HOLMES BROTHERS WRITES OPEN LETTER AS HE ENTERS HOSPICE
Wendell Holmes, vocalist,
guitarist, pianist and songwriter of the critically acclaimed soul/blues band
The
Holmes Brothers, penned an open letter to his friends and fans as he
entered hospice care. Wendell recently retired from touring when he was
diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. Holmes Brothers drummer Willie
"Popsy" Dixon died on January 9, 2015 of complications from cancer.
Text of the letter in full:
As I write this letter,
I am preparing to go home on hospice care. One benefit of hospice is the time
it allows you to say some of the things you want to say to those you love and
care about. I’m grateful for the opportunity to say “thanks” to many friends
for your many expressions of love to me and my wife Barbara.
Thank you for being my
friends in life. You’ve shown me how you care through your many cards,
letters, phone calls, home and hospital visits, on line acknowledgements, and
more importantly, your prayers. Please know that it is greatly appreciated
and I am awed by it all. It means a lot to me.
It was Abraham Lincoln
who said that “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here,
but will never forget what they did here.” Of course, I’m no Lincoln, but I
believe there’s an element of truth there, and I do hope my music, whether
some song I wrote, sang or maybe some notes I played, will leave a lasting
impression.
You know that it is my
custom to tell everyone who will listen…”don’t go it alone,” and I can tell
you that it’s been by God’s amazing grace that I have had a truly enjoyable
journey. It's been a great ride and my thanks to you for making it so.
I love you, and may God
bless you all!
Wendell Holmes
P.S. Thanks too as you
continue to support, enjoy and appreciate the gifts in my big brother Sherman
as he carries on The Holmes Brothers legacy with his own Sherman Holmes
Project along with Brooks Long and Eric Kennedy.
Wendell, the man Entertainment Weekly has
called "a timeless original," was born in Christchurch, Virginia in
1943. He and his older brother Sherman were raised by their schoolteacher
parents, who nurtured the boys’ early interest in music. As youngsters they
listened to traditional Baptist hymns, anthems and spirituals as well as
blues music by Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker and B.B. King. According to Wendell,
“It was a small town, and my brother and I were about the only ones who could
play anything. So we played around in all the area churches on Sundays.” The
night before, though, they would play blues, soul, country and rock at their
cousin’s local club, Herman Wate’s Juke Joint. “When he couldn’t get any good
groups to come from Norfolk or Richmond, he’d call us in,” Wendell recalls.
“That’s how we honed our sound. We used to say we’d rock ‘em on Saturday and
save ‘em on Sunday.”
Once Wendell finished high
school he joined Sherman, who had already begun playing professionally in New
York. The two brothers played in a few bands before forming The Sevilles in
1963. The group lasted only three years, but they often backed up touring
artists like The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Butler, gaining a
wealth of experience. Sherman and Wendell met drummer Popsy Dixon, a fellow
Virginian, at a New York gig in 1967. Dixon sat in with the brothers and sang
two songs. “After that second song,” recalls Wendell, “Popsy was a brother.”
They continued to play in a variety of Top 40 bar bands until 1979, when the
three officially joined forces and formed The Holmes Brothers band.
The band toured the world,
releasing 12 albums starting with 1990's
In The Spirit on Rounder. Their most recent release is 2014's Brotherhood on
Alligator. The New York
Times calls The Holmes Brothers "deeply soulful, uplifting
and timeless."
In September 2014, The Holmes Brothers were honored with a National Endowment For The Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor the United States bestows upon its folk and traditional artists. They won two Blues Music Awards including Blues Band Of The Year in 2005. The Holmes Brothers are featured on the cover of the current issue of Living Blues magazine.
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