AJ's Ale House NB 3/30/13

Vince Mejia was the drummer for the request piano show tonight in New Braunfels, TX, and he played great. The crowd was a little different than normal, which I just wrote off as a bunch of people's friends and family were in town for Easter, and came in not knowing what to expect. We showed them how it works, and the show went fine. My wife and niece even came out to sing along! I hope everyone has a happy Easter!

AJ's Ale House MF 3/29/13

Mikey Gammon and I carpooled to Marble Falls, TX tonight to do our requests show, and on the way, we were listening to "Big Butter Jesus" by Heywood Banks (on Good Friday), AND we dodged hitting the Easter bunny along the way. Bunny hopped out in front of our car, and we saved Easter by swerving a bit. Good times were had by all, and I had many great tunes requested like "Heart & Soul" by Huey Lewis, "Whatcha Gonna Do" by Buckwheat Zydeco, and "River Of Dreams" by Billy Joel. By far, my favorite request of the night was "Bista Burden". Priceless.

AJ's Ale House NB 3/28/13

We had a good crowd in New Braunfels, Texas tonight! Joe Resnick and I performed requests once again from the crowd. From rock, rap, country, and folk, we played a little bit of everything. Our party table was number 246, or 426, depending on who you asked. At least three birthdays tonight or in the crowd, and we had two of the braver partygoers come up on stage with me! It was just a fun night all around.

StageIt.com 3/26/13

Last night, Chris Wallis, Kevin Humphrey and I played another live online show, and it was great. We slammed through a set consisting of originals, plus a couple of our favorite Allen Toussaint tunes. I'm really looking forward to starting a new record with these guys soon. I've been writing a bunch recently, and just as soon as our guitarist, Ian Lee, gets back up and running after his hand accident, we will hopefully have some new tunes to play for the folks who watch our StageIt shows. Chris and Kevin both did a great job last night, and it's always a pleasure sharing the stage with them.

Jack's Roadhouse 3/25/13

A new stage greeted us tonight at Jack's in San Marcos, TX. Chris Wallis, Kevin Humphrey and I walked in, and all three of us were surprised to find a nicely crafted, large stage in the corner for bands to now perform on! The crowd seemed to enjoy themselves as we played from our newly built corner, and we agreed that it was a welcomed addition to the bar. Come out and see it for yourselves sometime!

AJ's Ale House NB 3/23/13

People were out, having a good time tonight in New Braunfels. Joe Resnick and I did another one of our marathon, three-and-a-half hour sets because the requests were hitting the piano fast and furiously. The one amazing stand-out fact about tonight; there were more birthdays in the room than I have ever seen before. I performed to more than a dozen birthday people, and I'm still not sure I got everyone! So, here's to you, Happy Birthday.

AJ's Ale House MF 3/22/13

Mikey Gammon (drums) and I played to a fairly packed house in Marble Falls, Texas tonight. What made it even more fun was the chance to see our regulars, and try to play their songs. There are several groups that come out to most of my Marble Falls shows, and they were in a dancing mood tonight! Mikey sounded great, and I look forward to catching his stand-up routine at the HaHa-Hole sometime very soon.

AJ's Ale House NB 3/21/13

I think St. Patrick's Day and spring break kinda messed up people's schedules, because Mikey Gammon (drums) and I began the evening with just a handful of folks, and the rest of the crowd didn't show up until about 11pm. Still, Mikey and I entertained the people by playing the requests on my piano, and people left AJ's happy, as usual!

Triple Crown 3/20/13

Triple Crown was the site tonight of The Hill Country Gentlemen's show, and what a show it was! Jeremiah was on fire on the bass, Troy sang his heart out, Kevin made the walls shake with his guitar, I played as many notes on my piano as I could, and Peter beat his drums like a rented mule. Don't feel bad for the mule, it's just an expression. And nobody "rents" mules in San Marcos, Texas. That's really more of a Grand Canyon kinda thing, by which I mean the rental, not the beating. Never mind. I take it all back.

Triple Crown 3/19/13

First, think about the number of people who live in the world. Now, think about the huge number of them who weren't in San Marcos, TX tonight. Those are the people this post is for, because I don't need to tell the people who were there what a treat it was to hear Chris Wallis' amazingly musical ten-minute drum solo. Cynics might be thinking that they were glad to not be there, but the folks who were could set them straight. Everyone agreed it was a highlight tonight, and if we'd videoed it, we could've released it as a drum clinic. After snapping a quick pic, Kevin (bass) and I just sat back and watched the magic happen. So world, you better get yourself together and see a Dan Holmes Group show soon. You never know what'll happen!

Jack's Roadhouse 3/18/13

Guess who played at Jack's tonight...
That's right; Kevin Humphrey, Chris Wallis and I did! As an added bonus for the good folks at Jack's, we did an impromptu rendition of "La Bamba" with one of the regulars singing, and then the bassist for The Hill Country Gentlemen, Jeremiah Sawyer, came up to sing a couple of tunes with us. I was thankful for the guest vocalists, as well as tunes sung by Kevin and Chris, because after all of my recent shows, my voice was strained tonight. It was a welcomed relief to listen to friends sing some good tunes!

AJ's Ale House NB 3/17/13

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! Mikey Gammon and I celebrated in New Braunfels, Texas tonight with a huge crowd. As an added plus, the pipers & drummers from the fire department came by to play a couple of tunes! This marked my fifth gig in four days, three of which were played with Mikey, which is a new record. Normally, the AJ's shows are always a different pairing of piano-drummers, so it was fun getting a chance to play multiple days with Mr. Gammon.

AJ's Ale House NB 3/16/13

My second gig today was in New Braunfels, TX for one of the biggest Saturday night crowds I've seen in a while. Mikey Gammon once again joined me to help play people's requests. The piano was full of requested songs from the first minute we took the stage, all the way through until we hit our last note of our 3-hour-and-45-minute long set. Crazy pre-St. Patrick's Day crowd was there to get down!

SXSW St. Vincent de Paul 3/16/13

This afternoon, I played in Austin, TX for a South By Southwest show with The Hill Country Gentlemen. It went great! The Gents were playing well to a huge afternoon crowd on a comfortably cool Saturday. We released the debut of our single, "You Missed Your Train" at the show, and people were lining up to purchase some merch after our set. I would like to thank Lone Star Music Magazine for including us at today's event, and my wife, Christine Barton-Holmes for taking some great photos. See you at the next show!

AJ's Ale House MF 3/15/13

Crazy people in the crowd tonight in Marble Falls, Texas. Mikey Gammon drummed his drums while I tried to decipher random requests which were hitting the piano. I had fun listening to Mikey tell random jokes to the crowd in between songs. At least I can feel good knowing that I went home leaving behind a roomful of happy people!

AJ's Ale House NB 3/14/13

It was the evening of the triumphant return of Joe Resnick! He really hasn't been gone, but I haven't gigged with him in a couple of weeks. Of course, he played fantastically! The crowd was engaged in our show, which was good, because it was a small but mighty crowd. They sang loudly, and requested all kinds of different songs throughout the evening. Now I'm off to get a bite to eat before I head to bed!

StageIt.com 3/12/13

Tonight's live online show was so much fun, I almost forgot who I was. Chris and Kevin held a deep pocket while I sang and played piano. As a great added bonus, the injured Ian Lee came by to run sound for us! He interacted with the people on the other end of the Internet as they watched us get funky. This was the first night we tried the "four square" video approach, and I kinda liked it! We'll be back on StageIt.com in a couple of weeks.

Jack's Roadhouse 3/11/13

Kevin, Chris and I once again joined forces to rock San Marcos, TX, tonight. We had a decent crowd, and several of our regulars came out to hang with us for the evening. Monday nights are building slowly, but surely, and I hope to see some more of our friends next week at Jack's!

AJ's Ale House NB 3/9/13

AJ's was crazy tonight in New Braunfels, TX! We had a massive amount of participation and requests from the crowd. Cade Callahan made his AJ's debut tonight, and he did a great job keeping up with the insanity. I thought we might be a little slow because of the huge rainstorm which came through, but folks were out to party! The drive home was a little intense, though, with lightening every few seconds.

AJ's Ale House MF 3/8/13

Drummer Roger Glenn met me in Marble Falls, TX, tonight to play a bunch of requests from the crowd. We had a lot of strange requests tonight; strange but very cool. Lots of songs hit my piano which very rarely are requested. I felt like all night long, I was telling the crowd, "I've never tried this song, but..." and then I'd play it the best I could. Keepin' the faith!

Triple Crown 3/5/13

The Sniffs opened the show in San Marcos, TX tonight, and we closed it. Kevin Humphrey sang and played his butt off, and Chris Wallis made everything fuh-nkey! We played lots of tunes, many of which we hadn't played in a long time (or ever). Ian lee was missed, but we still had a good time keeping the groove alive! This post reminds me of when Coffeeboy worked retail in Dallas. Guess you had to be there.

Jack's Roadhouse 3/4/13

Tonight, we performed at Jack's Roadhouse, once again sans Ian Lee. Ian's guitar licks were missed. We did not hear him play any rhythm tonight. He did not take a single solo. Ian was not there. Kevin Humphrey and Chris Wallis sounded great, but Ian's guitar was lost in the mix, in that it was not present at all. Chris and Kevin were so funky, it made me want to call their dads.

Giddy-Ups 3/3/13

COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, involving constriction of the airways and difficulty or discomfort in breathing) was the subject of a blues driven benefit show all day at the south Austin, TX club, featuring many bands from noon-8p. I performed with Rob Roy Parnell to an energetic crowd. Pat Whitefield on bass, Chris Wallis on drums, and Coffeeboy Ibarra on guitar made this a fun mid-afternoon show. My wife took this picture while hanging out with her friends during the show!

AJ's Ale House NB 3/1/13

Crazy dancing, singing, and general mayhem this evening (at my second of two shows tonight) in New Braunfels, TX! Requests were hitting the piano all night long, and with the help of drummer Vince Mejia, we tackled all of them. I had several fans of the show come out to help me sing the hits, and sing they did! Thanks everybody!

Zilker Park Clubhouse 3/1/13

I had two shows today, the first of which, I performed some light dinner music at 6pm for a company party at Zilker Park. Tom Van Zandt graciously had me come in to start the evening's festivities in the clubhouse. It was a beautiful evening at the wonderful overlook as the sun set on Austin, TX, and my only regret was that I had to rush off quickly to make it to my second gig. My friend, Pat Whitefield set up a P.A. system to play some music after I had to leave, so at 8pm while I was running out the door, he was cranking up some '80s pop! Go Pat!