Keep Your Head Up

Tony Holiday has been at the center of a Memphis soul blues revival anchored by a contingent of young, savvy, well-schooled musicians who have a "family-like" attitude and a strong belief in one another. Over the past couple of years, Holiday and his talented young band have been touring hard, taking spells in between to write and record with Producer Eric Corne in Memphis and Los Angeles. The result is Keep Your Head Up, an album that covers a tremendous amount of territory over eight pithy tracks. It features a nice array of special guests including Eddie 9V, Kevin Burt, Albert Castiglia and Laura Chavez, last year's Blues Music Award winner for 'Guitarist of the Year'. Throughout the record Holiday demonstrates an impressive command of styles, moving fluidly through Texas, Chicago and hill country Blues with plenty of Memphis soul and even a touch of Afrobeat. He also shows why he's one of the finest harmonica players on the scene today, despite electing not to play the instrument on over half the songs on the album. There's something in the water in Memphis, and Tony Holiday has tapped into it to contribute to an exciting new chapter unfolding in this storied region.