Lonnie Holley is a folk artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. For years he’s been making amazing outsider art and now, thanks to Dust-to-Digital, we can hear some of Lonnie’s excellent recordings. “Keeping a Record of It,” is the first new release from Dust-to-Digital that isn’t a reissue. It’s also Lonnie’s second collection of songs (please check out “Just Before Music” too!). “Keeping a Record,” will suck you in with it’s almost trance like melodies, meanwhile Lonnie’s vocals and lyrics keep you grounded and interested in what he may say next. It’s almost like he’s preaching the good Word until you figure out he’s on a whole other level consciously–one of spaceships and birthday parties. He’s like Sun Ra, Junior Kimbrough, Arthur Russell, and a minimalist modern composer all wrapped up into one (he also had help on this record from Deerhunter’s Bradford Cox and the Black Lips’ Cole Alexander). It’s crazy. AND it’s great.
“Last year, at 62, after decades of singing while he worked, Holley released his jarring debut album, Just Before Music, a marriage of improvised keys and the rambling, hollow bellow of his voice, as well as the first original recording put out by the archival folk label Dust-to-Digital. This year, he’ll tour, and he recently starred in a Whitney Museum group show, ‘Blues for Smoke.’” – The Fader
“Lonnie Holley sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers’ collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit.” – Aquarium Drunkard
Read more on Lonnie over at the Dust-to-Digital site.
