Tony Holiday

Keep Your Head Up

Forty Below Records

Tony Holiday used to play guitar and front the Salt Lake City-based Tony Holiday and the Velvetones. When he switched to harmonica, he recruited the then-young prodigy Landon Stone as the band’s guitarist. The band won the Salt Lake City Weekly Music Awards and was named 2016’s “Best Blues Band.” Now residing and working out of Memphis, the band is now named The Tony Holiday Band. The band has shared the stage with luminaries both in Memphis and, in the spirit of the early field recordings, as they traveled from coast to coast. Their debut recording, 2019’s “Porch Sessions,” captured Holiday with Charlie Musselwhite, Rockin’ Johnny Burgin, Kid Ramos, John Primer, James Harman, Bob Corritore, John Nemeth, Kid Andersen, Mitch Kasmar, and Aki Kumar. They play 200 shows a year and have also shared the stage with Guitar Shorty, Lazy Lester, Tinsley Ellis, Curtis Salgado, Ronnie Baker Brooks, Toronzo Cannon, and many others. Their 2020 follow-up album was produced by co-writer and guitarist Ori Naftaly, from the group Southern Avenue.

This new album, “Keep Your Head Up,” was recorded by producer Eric Corne at the Archer Recording Studio in Memphis, and at studios in both Glendale, and Encino, California. All of the songs are written by Holiday. The lead-off track features guitarist Eddie 9 Volt, as he shares a vocal duet with Holiday, “taking everything she could find…she broke into my mind…then I let her call my name,” with David Ralicke, sax; Mark Pender, trumpet; Sasha Smith, keyboards; and Chad Mason, Fender Rhodes.

“Twist My Fate” includes Kevin Burt as he shares the vocal while Holiday plays harmonica; Terence Grayson, bass; and Ray Hangan drums; “because baby when I met you, I was gone…twist my fate.” On “Woman Named Trouble,” again featuring the horns and a trumpet solo from Pender, Holiday sings, “Yes, I like what she done to me… she could mess around with my trouble and throw away the key.”

“Good Times” with Holiday back on harp; Gordon Greenwood, bass; and Eric Freeman, drums; Holiday sings, “When you’re done, you got nowhere to run…my baby left on the morning train…ain’t no love in the heart of the city, good times comin’ around the bend.” “Shoulda known better, with guitarist Laura Chavez; bassist Tara Prodaniuk; drummer Matt Tecu; Holiday chimes “I should have known better; what I know, I know better now.”

“Walk On The Water” features producer Corne on the backing vocal, as Holiday takes a stunning vocal “I look you in the eye, to see what kind of guy are you, a soldier or a spy…” “Drive It Home” features guitarist Albert Castiglia, sharing a vocal duet with Holiday blowin’ harmonica as they harmonize, “you got to give it number one and drive it home…you got to give it number three, so put your lips next to mine and drive it home…you got to give it number four, baby, got to give some more, put your hips next to mine and drive it home.” Greenwood on bass, and Andrew McNeil, drums. On the closer “I Can Not Feel The Rain,” Sasha Smith plays both the Hammond organ and piano, with Jad Tariq on guitar, and background vocalists Sandra Williams, Benton Parker, and Corne as Holiday sings, “The water keeps on runnin’, runnin’, but runnin’ don’t feel the same. I can feel the water, but I can not feel the rain.”

“Keep Your Head Up” is an album that demonstrates an impressive command of styles, as Tony Holiday leads his band through Texas, Chicago, and hill country blues with plenty of Memphis soul. It seems that he just gets better and better. Highly recommended listening.

Richard Ludmerer

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