AJ's Ale House NB 6/29/13

I set my camera up tonight in New Braunfels, Texas to take a picture of Joe Resnick and I as we played our sing-along request piano show, but I had the settings wrong on my camera, and ended up taking over the 1,100 shots! 1,100 shots from the exact same position, as it was on a tripod, so if you flip through them fast enough, it looks like the movie. The crowd was large and having fun while my camera snapped away. I guess all that's left to do now is go home and delete 1,099 pictures.

Señor Buddy's 6/28/13

Austin, Texas got some rockin' blues handed to them by Nathan and the Naturals tonight! Nathan Hanners sounded great on guitar and vocals, while Kevin Humphrey's bass lines were tight on Brad Evilsizer's drums. We played from about 7p-10p, with a break in the middle for some delicious Mexican cuisine. Thanks goes out to Christine Barton-Holmes for another cool blog picture!

AJ's Ale House 6/27/13

Another crazy night of requests at my piano show in New Braunfels, TX tonight! It seemed to me that the crowd was evenly divided between people who wanted to hear ballads, and people who wanted to hear upbeat rock 'n roll. So, naturally, every other song I played was a ballad, or an upbeat rock song. The fairly large crowd stayed through my entire three-hour long set. Now, I need to go find some food!

Superfly's 6/27/13

I met up with The Hill Country Gentlemen today in San Marcos, Texas to perform at our local record shop. We're trying out some new drummers, and today we had Will Arrington, who did a great job. Not a huge crowd today, but the people who were there were into the show. I once again had a great time performing with Jeremiah, Troy, and Kevin!

Jack's Roadhouse 6/24/13

We performed our show tonight as a trio in San Marcos, with Chris Wallis on drums, Ian Lee on guitar and me performing bass and leads on my piano and organ. Making the show a bit melancholy for me was performing "I Wouldn't Treat A Dog", in honor of Bobby Blue Bland, who recently passed away. R.I.P Mr. Bland.

I had fun tonight, although it was bittersweet. On the one hand, we ran through lots of tunes which we had never played together before, and they all sounded great, which proved to me how talented the two guys I was performing with are. On the other hand, this was the last show for Chris Wallis, as he is moving on to pursue new goals in life. Ian, Kevin and I wish him all the best, and I'm sure we'll keep in touch. Thank you, Chris, for all your hard work and effort in DanHolmesGroup!

The Railyard 6/22/13

The Hill Country Gentlemen opened for Midnight River Choir tonight at the Railyard in San Marcos as part of a promotion put forth by Texas State Tubes. This was my third gig today with Kevin Humphrey (guitar) and Chris Wallis (drums), and my second gig today with Troy Stone (acoustic) & Jeremiah Sawyer (bass). It was a great night to perform outside, and the Midnight River Choir provided a great sound system for us to play through. I also had a chance to catch up with some fans who I hadn't seen in a while. Thanks to all who came out!

Jack's Roadhouse 6/22/13

This afternoon marked the first day DHG and the Gents did back-to-back sets. It was for a cancer benefit being held at Jack's in San Marcos, so we offered up our services. First up, DHG with Ian Lee on guitar, Kevin Humphrey on bass, Chris Wallis on drums and me on piano played about an hour worth of our blend of funky tunes and originals. Immediately following our set, Ian left, Kevin picked up the guitar, Jeremiah Sawyer took over the bass, and Troy Stone lead us in an another hour of music, this time with The Hill Country Gentlemen's signature rocking Americana. We all went our separate ways at about 3pm, happy knowing we played well! Now, for a little down time before the next Gents show this evening...

Cheatham Street Warehouse 6/21/13

The Hill Country Gentlemen and the Will Callers joined forces tonight in San Marcos to play some of the finest music possible. First up, the Will Callers did their set of thick grooves and lilting melodies. Great players and nice guys all around. Kevin Humphrey (Gents guitarist) jumped up and joined them for their last few tunes before switching bands. Jeremiah Sawyer (bass), Troy Stone (vocals), Chris Wallis (drums) and I got up to finish up the evening with swagger!

AJ's Ale House NB 6/20/13

My request piano show didn't get started until late tonight due to the Spurs game, so I only had about an hour and fifteen to perform for those who hung out after the game ended. I still took a bunch of requests, and amazingly, Journey and Billy Joel were among the first played. See you next week!

Superfly's 6/20/13

The Hill Country Gentlemen had a chance to experience my mad drumming skills at Superfly's in San Marcos just a little while ago. Kevin, Troy and Jeremiah sounded great as they ran through the Gents set list, as I had the opportunity to hear it from a different perspective. I had fun, and I'd be happy to fill in on drums again if needed. Although I think between me switching instruments and Kevin cutting off his hair, the crowd needed to be reminded who we were! Ha!

Taxi's 6/18/13

Tonight, DanHolmesGroup found a couple of new friends in musicians Adam Johnson (guitar) and Ruben Colon (trombone). Together with Chris Wallis (drums) and Kevin Humphrey (bass), we played the blues for a bunch of San Martians. Taxi's will be having blues every Tuesday, and we are excited to be a part of the experience. Come out sometime and support your local musicians!

Jack's Roadhouse 6/17/13

Tonight, we performed at Jack's in San Marcos, TX as a trio with me on keys, Kevin Humphrey on bass, and Chris Wallis on drums. There wasn't a huge crowd, so we played a couple of sets of tunes for the people, including a few DHG rarities like "Not A Thief Anymore". I enjoyed listening to Kevin sing and harmonize with me on tunes. See you next week!

AJ's Ale House NB 6/15/13

Joe Resnick and I shared the stage for a sing-along piano show in New Braunfels, TX. We had a great crowd, and they gave us every kind of request you could imagine. Metallica, Van Morrison, Roy Orbison and Billy Joel were just a few of the requested artists tonight. I enjoy performing with the talented Mr. Resnick, and the crowd enjoyed his beats, too. Thanks, people of AJ's, for another fun night of tunes!

Jack's Roadhouse 6/14/13

DanHolmesGroup had a great crowd last night at Jack's in San Marcos. They were out to dance and have a good time, while we were out to play music and have a good time, so our goals fit in well with the crowd's goals. What more can I say? I'm performing with three stellar musicians (Chris Wallis on drums, Kevin Humphry on bass, and Ian Lee on guitar), I'm happy with our sound, and the crowd had fun watching us do our thing. Plus, we're starting to really gel some serious three part harmonies on some tunes!

AJ's Ale House NB 6/13/13

Woooo! It was a good night of interesting requests in New Baunfels, TX tonight. I was once again performing a solo piano show, and getting requests like Bill Withers, Tom Waits, Lyle Lovett, Grateful Dead & Ray Charles. People hung out for the duration, and then had me play an encore. Just before I left, I snapped a picture in front of the tap wall, and I look a bit dazed mostly due to the fact that I played about three hours non-stop!

Superfly's 6/13/13

The Hill Country Gentlemen performed another hour-long set tonight in San Marcos at the cool record shop known as Superfly's. We did a few tunes in 6/8 & 4/4, but no crazy time signatures. I was thinking about time when I walked outside, and saw two cars crash into each other! The people were fine, but the wreck seemed like a manifestation of my imagination's take on the way the band would have sounded if we tried to play an odd time signature.

Jack's Roadhouse 6/10/13

My day started the way a good day should; in the river. Chris Wallis, drummer extraordinaire, met me at my place at about noon to go with me for a long swim before lunch. After swimming and eating, we began our set-up in the studio for recording of my new tunes. Ian Lee and Kevin Humphrey joined us about 4:30p to run through some of the arrangements and do some test tracks. By 8:30p, we headed to Jack's for a few hours of funky blues, including one of my new tunes. I'm really enjoying what each one of these guys bring to the table, both in live shows and in the studio setting. I just hope other people are as excited to hear our new tunes as I am!

Threadgill's 6/8/13

The show tonight at Threadgill's was great fun! It was held to celebrate the release of HalleyAnna Finlay's new CD. First up was singer/songwriter Curtis McMurty, who performed his well-written, mellow stories with his acoustic for the first half-hour of the night. Next up, I took the stage with the Hill Country Gentlemen for a rocking hour or so of the Gents unique blend of Americana, blues, country and rock. I enjoyed performing at Threadgill's as much as I enjoyed the food! Finally, HalleyAnna took the stage with her band to play her sweet tunes from her new album. She has a great voice, and definitely worth checking out if you haven't heard her. Thanks HalleyAnna, and thank you Threadgill's!

Gruene Hall 6/7/13

Big show last night at Gruene Hall with Rob Roy Parnell was fun. We had a huge crowd, and lots of dancers. Coffeeboy played guitar with fantastic style. We had west side horn players Al Gomez and Louie Bustos on trumpet and sax, respectively. Jason Corbiere and Pat Whitefield rounded out the rhythm section, while I had the pleasure of playing piano & organ. These kind of shows are what playing music means to me. Great musicians taking turns speaking their mind with their instruments while an appreciative crowd listens on!

AJ's Ale House NB 6/6/13

Tonight marked the first of my upcoming Thursday night solo piano shows in New Braunfels, TX. The Spurs were playing, so the crowd was thin. I knew I wouldn't have their attention until after the game, so when took the stage, I announced that my show would be in alphabetical order, and started playing "Ants Marching" by Dave Matthews Band, and then went right into "Basket Case" by Greenday. By the time I was done, people were giving me songs for C, D, E and so on. 26 tunes and a fun way to play the night!

Superfly's 6/6/13

The Gents sounded great today! There were a lot of familiar faces in the crowded record shop in San Marcos, Texas for our show. As an added treat, the one-and-only HalleyAnna Finlay sang some impromptu backing vocals on a tune with us. Thanks to everyone for coming out and supporting the Gents!

Jack's Roadhouse 6/3/13

Chris, amazing drummer. Kevin, fantastic bassist. Ian, excellent guitarist. Me? I'm happy to be playing shows with these three. Not a huge crowd at Jack's tonight, but they had a good time. It's always a diverse crowd there, and no matter how old or what country they hail from, they always seem to dance to the bands funky beats. Maybe we should have a new motto, like:
"Give a young Venezuelan our rhythms!"
Yeah!

The Big Easy 6/1/13

Last night, I performed with Rob Roy Parnell at The Big Easy in Houston, TX. The band consisted the great talents of Pat Whitefield (bass), Chris Wallis (drums) and "Coffeeboy" Iberra (guitar), plus a special guest dropped in, also on guitar, the tasty tones of Jonn Del Toro Richardson. The crowd danced the night away, and I had a good time watching them as I played! As an added bonus, my brother and sister-in-law (along with a couple of friends) made it out to see the show, so I even had a chance to catch up a little with them.

Buster's BBQ 5/31/13

Nathan and the Naturals performed in Lakeway, TX tonight, and the show went fantastic! Kevin Humphrey played some big bass grooves on top of Brad Evilsizer's tasty drum work. Nathan sounded relaxed and confident as we played through a couple of sets of rocking blues tunes. On break, we were fed some delicious BBQ by the staff of Buster's, and before we finished, they were inviting us to come back and play again in the near future!