Rick Holmstrom (born May 30, 1965) is an American

electric blues Electric blues refers to any type of blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930 ...

and

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

guitarist, singer and songwriter. Holmstrom has previously worked with William Clarke,

Johnny Dyer Johnny Dyer (December 7, 1938 – November 11, 2014) was an American electric blues harmonica, harmonicist and singer. He made numerous sound recording and reproduction, recordings, both as a solo performer and with other musicians. He was nomin ...

, and

Rod Piazza Rod Piazza (born December 18, 1947, Riverside, California) is an American blues harmonica player and singer. He has been playing with his band The Mighty Flyers, which he formed with his pianist wife Honey Piazza, since 1980. Their boogie sound ...

. He is currently the bandleader for

Mavis Staples Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer, actress, and civil rights activist. She rose to fame as a member of her family's band The Staple Singers (she is the last surviving member of that band). Duri ...

. In addition, Holmstrom has played and recorded with

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several pop ...

Billy Boy Arnold William "Billy Boy" Arnold (born September 16, 1935, Chicago, Illinois) AllMusic biography">AllMusic.html" ;"title="AllMusic">AllMusic biography/ref> is an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. Arnold is a self-taught harmonica p ...

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

Jody Williams Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950) is an American political activist known for her work in banning anti-personnel landmines, her defense of human rights (especially those of women), and her efforts to promote new understandings of security i ...

, and R. L. Burnside. One critic observed of Holmstrom, "he delivers music with technical savvy and traditional stylings, without sacrificing originality and pure adventure".

Early life

Rick Holmstrom was born in

Fairbanks, Alaska Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the p ...

, United States, one of three children and the only son of Larry and Diane Holmstrom. His paternal grandfather, Francis O. Holmstrom, was a native of

Everett, Washington Everett is the county seat and largest city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett is the seventh-largest city in the ...

who moved to Fairbanks during the early part of the middle 20th century and owned a jewelry store in downtown Fairbanks for many years. Holmstrom grew up in Fairbanks, where his father worked as a broadcaster and broadcasting executive, and also headed the Fairbanks office of the

Governor of Alaska A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

under governor

Jay Hammond Jay Sterner Hammond (July 21, 1922 – August 2, 2005) was an American politician of the Republican Party, who served as the fourth governor of Alaska from 1974 to 1982. Hammond was born in Troy, New York and served as a Marine Corps fighter pilo ...

Music career

After relocating to Southern California, and while attending college in

Redlands, California Redlands ( ) is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 73,168, up from 68,747 at the 2010 census. The city is located approximately west of Palm Springs and east of ...

, Holmstrom joined a local blues group. Holmstrom also went to blues concerts, where he played guitar with Smokey Wilson and Junior Watson. He joined William Clarke's backing band, and played both

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, ...

and

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

for three years up to 1988. That same year, Holmstrom suffered a significant tragedy in his family, as his father and one of his sisters were killed in a

whitewater Whitewater forms in a rapid context, in particular, when a river's gradient changes enough to generate so much turbulence that air is trapped within the water. This forms an unstable current that froths, making the water appear opaque and ...

rafting accident in Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. Later joining forces with

, Holmstrom played on his albums, ''Listen Up'' (1994) and ''Shake It!'' (1995). He moved on to join

's backing group, the Mighty Flyers and, in 1996, released his first solo album, ''Lookout!'' on Black Top Records. It was an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

affair, about which one reviewer noted "Holmstrom's inventive ideas are top-notch, making each track stand mightily on its own". However, Holmstrom continued to perform with Piazza, and help him record ''Tough and Tender'' (1997). By 2000, Holmstrom's second solo effort, ''Gonna Get Wild'' was released on Tone-Cool Records, and he stayed long enough with Piazza's backing ensemble to participate on ''Beyond the Source'' (2001). Holmstrom's next release, ''Hydraulic Groove'' (2002) is one of his most daring efforts, where he used loops and samples, and incorporated elements of acid jazz/ nu-jazz,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

and

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...

to his blues, featuring guest performances of

John Medeski Anthony John Medeski (born June 28, 1965) is an American jazz keyboard player and composer. Medeski is a veteran of New York's 1990s avant-garde jazz scene and is known popularly as a member of Medeski Martin & Wood. He plays the acoustic piano ...

and

DJ Logic DJ Logic (born 1972 as Jason Kibler) is an American turntablist active primarily in nu-jazz/ acid jazz and with jam bands. Kibler was born and raised in The Bronx, NY. Because of an early interest in hip hop, Kibler started using the turnta ...

. ''Hydraulic Groove'' peaked at number 9 in the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' Top Blues Albums chart. In 2005, Holmstrom played at the

Dark Season Blues Dark Season Blues is an annual blues music festival in late October, at 78 degrees north in Longyearbyen ( Svalbard) in Norway, and marks the beginning of the dark season when daylight and the sun is about to leave Svalbard for four winter mon ...

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

. Holmstrom turned to

record production A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

duties for other musicians before, in 2006, releasing ''Live at the Cafe Boogaloo''. Holmstrom switched

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the pr ...

to M.C. Records, and in 2007 issued ''Late in the Night''.

With Mavis Staples

Since 2007, Holmstrom, along with his trio from the ''Late in the Night'' recording, have frequently toured and recorded with

. They appear on her 2008 album, '' Live: Hope at the Hideout'', her 2010

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

-winning album, '' You Are Not Alone'', and her 2017 album, '' If All I Was Was Black''. Staples, in turn, appeared on Holmstrom's 2012 album, ''Cruel Sunrise''.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmstrom, Rick 1965 births Living people American blues guitarists American rhythm and blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American rhythm and blues singers American male singers Record producers from Alaska Electric blues musicians Singers from Alaska Songwriters from Alaska People from Fairbanks, Alaska Guitarists from Alaska 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters

Early life

Music career

With Mavis Staples

Discography

See also

References