This Time in Grand Marais

I went out on the road with Scott Holt and the boys a long time ago. This was a short lap around the midwest, and I was stoked to be back in the van with Richard, and Tom, Scott, and a guitar tech I do not remember. I jumped into the regular crew role, got my seat behind the drivers seat, and threw my duffel in the trailer.

I had taken the train from home to Memphis where the boys picked me up. We did a bunch of shows that week, ended up that weekend in Minneapolis, one of the best towns. I hate driving there, so being in the van on that trip meant I did not have to drive. We got in, loaded in, met up with Tim O’Brien, and then went our own ways. Which means, Tom went and did stuff, and the rest of us went to the guitar shop with Tim.

You see, Tim was a guitar genius. He invented something for amps, some sort of signal changer or something, and his brother was a great enough business man that they made it into a company. It was all new, so Scott was the only guy with it on the road. Whatever it was, it allowed us to be really loud, and we liked really loud.

At the guitar shop Scott traded two fenders and got one white fender. It was funny, he could not take his hands off it. He sort of followed it around while they set it up. Then we left and all went to the hotel to take naps.

The show at Famous Daves was always good. We had a bunch of friends get up and play, and Scott was super stoked by it all. We played until the very last minute when the boss was giving us the CUT sign, so they wrapped up. The restaurant fed us, or gave us giant boxes of food for the hotel. I always eat in the hotel. Loading out comes first. Let the musicians shoot the shit, eat the food, the crew works. Period.

So we got up the next day, hit the guitar shop, picked up the white strat and went to a place called Grand Marais. We were playing at some sort of lodge or hunting vibes thing way the hell up north near Canada. AND IT WAS MAGIC.

Here is the thing, Holt is one of the blessed players. His talent and connection to the guitar has no boundaries. It is sort of amazing for me to think about now. We have been friends for a long time, and he became my favorite guitar player the very first time I saw him. He is a monster talent.

But in Grand Marais something cool happened. At the time the boys were a two set a night plus encore sort of gig. Richard the bass player was a little older, so he valued that break. On this night though something sort of magic happened.

The night started like normal, Holt was playing his number 1, and then called for the white guitar towards the end of the first set. The crowd was cool, and everything was moving along, but he hit that opening note on the white guitar and the whole place changed. The connection between Scott and the white guitar, never saw that before or since. Not really with anyone. He started in, and just never stopped.

The band did not play 2 sets and an encore, the band played 1 giant set, and played literally until everyone was gone or leaving. Holt could not stop playing that guitar. The solos were massive, the between song noodling was just more and more. Poor Richard was just shot. At some point he set the guitar down and Scott and Tom just went as a duo.

I had never seen a show with Scott that he did not have a conversation and joke and what not with the crowd. He did not say a word to them. It was like that Miles Davis back to the auidence thing. The boys were connected in a was that was magic, and what was cool is they allowed themselves to indulge in that magic and did not give two shits about the crowd. They just chased the music.

When it was over, the three of them were spent. So, I loaded them out by myself while they sat and drank some Minnesota drink, and giggled like school girls. I knew I would never forget it. It was literally the highest of highs. We got back to the hotel and I asked Scott what happened, and he just said, “I could not put the guitar down. I just could not put it down.”

I was grateful to see the show. I was grateful for all the Holt shows.

(not Grand Marais, but that is Number 1 he is playing)