SCOTT HOLT

“Chipped Front Tooth”

Gracetone Records / Lightyear Entertainment

I would imagine that it takes more than just being an everyday, run of the mill guitar player to land a job playing alongside the legendary Buddy Guy. That being said, there’s a 32 year old guitarist from Columbia, Tennessee by the name of Scott Holt that has something special in terms of musical ability. And since 1989, he has also possessed that very job as Buddy Guy’s right hand man.

After working a few years with Buddy, Holt formed his own band, playing a broad range of contemporary and Chicago style blues when he wasn’t on the road with Guy. His band’s 1998 debut effort, “Messing With The Kid”, introduced Holt to a new audience of blues fans. Holt’s sophomore effort, “Dark Of The Night”, featured special guest appearances from Buddy himself, as well as the likes of Mitch Mitchell and Billy Cox from the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Tommy Shannon, Chris Layton, and Reese Wynans from Double Trouble. With guests of that caliber, it was clear that Scott Holt had become the real deal. His third solo effort, “Angels In Exile”, further established Holt as a rising talent on the blues scene; an expressive guitarist and soulful singer who can tastefully blend blues standards with his own refreshing, original material.

Now the Scott Holt Band has released “Chipped Front Tooth” on Gracetone Records (Lightyear Entertainment). Self-admittedly a rough, unpolished recording effort, the music on “Chipped” is never-the-less expressive and honest. The opening track, Holt’s cover of the Howlin’ Wolf penned “Rockin’ Daddy”, delivers with a barroom feel and pure guitar sound that sets the tone for the recording. Holt’s original material provides the perfect compliment, with tracks like “Tick” and “If I Could” offering a seamless transition between blues standards from Bobby “Blue” Bland (“You’d Be A Millionaire”) or Willie Mabon (“I Don’t Know”). Holt has always done an admiral job shifting gears between uptempo rockers and soulful ballads, and his work on “Chipped Front Tooth” continue on that same trend. Tab Benoit also lends a hand with some great pedal steel guitar and accordion work, as well as mixing down the final project.

Holt’s spontaneous approach on “Chipped” was unique in the fact that the band opted to tour with the new material prior to recording. The entire disc was recorded in a single day, with most of the tracks possessing an improvisational feel and realness that is often lost in the production line. Holt points out that the material here “is like a woman with a chipped front tooth; the realness just accentuates her natural beauty”. After a quick glance at the cover art, I’m not sure I would agree, but after a few listens to “Chipped Front Tooth”, you begin to believe that Scott Holt knows what he is talking about (“sometimes it’s the little imperfections that make something more beautiful”). And the Scott Holt band clearly has something to say here.

- Don Sikorski

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