The Holmes Brothers

The Holmes Brothers are an American trio from Christchurch, United States, active from 1979 to 2015. The group consists of Willie "Popsy" Dixon, Sherman Holmes and Wendell Holmes. Their sound draws on blues and folk, and also incorporates soul, gospel, country, rhythm and blues and funk.

Background and formation

Sherman and Wendell Holmes are born and raised in Christchurch, Virginia, where their schoolteacher parents encourage their early interest in music. They grow up hearing Baptist hymns, anthems and spirituals alongside blues by Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker and B.B. King, and both sing in the church choir. Sherman studies clarinet and piano before moving to bass, while Wendell learns trumpet, organ and guitar. Sherman later studies composition and music theory at Virginia State University before leaving for New York in 1959 to play with Jimmy Jones, known for "Handy Man". Wendell joins him after finishing high school.

The brothers play in several bands before forming The Sevilles in 1963. That group lasts three years and often backs touring acts including The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Butler. After The Sevilles end, Sherman, Wendell and fellow Virginian Popsy Dixon continue in Top 40 bar bands, while Wendell also tours with Inez and Charlie Foxx until 1979. The Holmes Brothers form in 1979, with Sherman on bass, Wendell on guitar and piano, and Popsy on drums. All three share vocals, sometimes in solo passages and sometimes in gospel-style harmony, and the band also works with additional musicians at times.

New York years and recordings

The trio moves from Christchurch to Harlem and plays regularly in blues clubs, especially Dan Lynch's, which is part of the New York City blues scene. There they build working relationships with later blues and folk artists including Joan Osborne and members of Blues Traveler.

The Holmes Brothers sign to Rounder Records in 1989 and release their first album, In the Spirit, the following year. They record four more albums for the label. In 1992, they sign to Peter Gabriel's Real World Records as the first American act on the label. In the mid-1990s they perform with Van Morrison and record the soundtrack to the independent film Lotto Land, in which they also appear.

In 1997, Joan Osborne hires them as her backing band for a tour supporting Bob Dylan. The next year they accompany Freddie Roulette on his album Spirit of Steel. In 2001 they sign with Alligator Records and release Speaking in Tongues, produced by Joan Osborne. They later record two songs for the soundtrack album to the TV series Crossing Jordan, and Peter Gabriel releases the single "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" with backing vocals by the group in 2003.

Later albums and recognition

Following Simple Truths, the band appears on Outlaws And Angels—The Willie Nelson and Friends 3rd Annual Birthday Concert, and also on television and radio programmes including Late Night with Conan O'Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, All Things Considered, On Point and Here And Now. Simple Truths and State of Grace are the first Holmes Brothers albums to reach the Billboard charts, and both reach the top five of the Blues Albums chart. State of Grace wins the Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Album of the Year. In 2005, the group wins the Blues Foundation's Blues Music Award for Band of the Year.

Their 2010 album Feed My Soul is shaped in part by Wendell Holmes's illness, and Brotherhood follows in 2013. In 2008, State of Grace also wins the Blues Music Award for Soul Blues Album of the Year. Across their career, the trio release twelve studio albums.

Performances and collaborations

The Holmes Brothers build a following through regular appearances at summer folk, blues, gospel and jazz festivals, and they tour internationally. They also perform for President Bill Clinton. Their recording and performance collaborators include Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Freddie Roulette, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne.

Media coverage describes their music as rooted in R&B, gospel and country, and notes the contrast between rough and smooth elements in their vocal style. The group appears on programmes and in publications including Late Show with David Letterman, The CBS Saturday Early Show, USA Today, The New York Times, Billboard, Time Out New York, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker and NPR.

End of the group

Popsy Dixon dies of bladder cancer on 9 January 2015. Wendell Holmes dies on 19 June 2015 from complications due to pulmonary hypertension.