Music Scene Column by Tom Lounges

BY TOM LOUNGES
Times Correspondent
Friday, March 24, 2006 12:36 AM CST


It has been nearly a dozen years, since this writer first penned words about a young singer/songwriter named Josh Holmes. Those words described a young Schererville teenager who was "determined to see his music break out of the region and into the national consciousness."

Confidence in himself and his music never waning, Holmes has been patiently waiting for the rest of the world to simply catch on to his music.
While the Holmes-driven teenage band Krooked Minds may have beat out 400 other acts to win a McDonald's-Sponsored Battle of The Bands, they were not destined to be the next Nirvana.

Like Proteus, a heavy metal basement band Holmes had formed earlier, Krooked Minds did serve an important purpose. Those groups and earlier incarnations of his now long-running self-named band, have each helped expose, refine and define the young man's natural penchant for composing and performing.

Holmes' late 2004 album, "A Table 4 One," got the artist moderate radio air play in several major and secondary markets, while becoming a favorite at several college radio stations.

To promote the release of that album, Holmes undertook a three-day weekend tour during which time he performed 15 free all-ages concerts across the entire state of Indiana that began at the southern tip and traveled all the way up to conclude in his home base of Lake County.

Last month, Holmes was personally invited by the promoters of the internationally renowned "Clear Lakes Buddy Holly Festival" to perform from the songbook of his personal childhood idol, Ritchie Valens. (Holmes taught himself to play guitar and sing while accompanying his parents' old Valens records.)

Holmes, who was voted last weekend as "Favorite Regional Solo Acoustic Artist of 2005" in a survey poll of Chicagoland night club patrons, will release his follow-up to "A Table 4 One" tonight with a special all-ages concert performance at the Radisson Hotel's Metropolitan Ballroom in Merrillville.

Holmes' new CD, "2nd Generation Loss," will be officially released and distributed on a national level next week for fans outside the region to enjoy.

Tonight's release party has a ticket price of $15 which includes a first-run copy of "2nd Generation Loss." For more information, visit www.joshholmes.net.