Blues musician Holiday to make stop in Dover

DOVER — Building on their successful national tour, Tony Holiday and his band will make a stop at Delaware Vets Post 2 in Dover on Thursday.

“Appearing before sold-out shows and leaving with standing ovations everywhere they go, we are excited that their tour could include a show here,” said Steve Rock, president of Dover-based Central Delaware Blues Society.

“Our members and those who attend our shows are very responsive to seeing someone they hear on the radio and see online come to the area,” added Jim Newell, Central Delaware Blues Society vice president.

“They have requested more national and international acts. We heard them and planned five for this year, in fact. Each member of this band is extremely talented. We are happy to present this level of talent to central Delaware.”

Community has been at the core of Mr. Holiday’s young career from the beginning. Since relocating from Salt Lake City to Memphis in 2017, Mr. Holiday has been at the center of a soul blues revival in Memphis, anchored by a contingent of young, savvy well-schooled musicians with a “family-like” attitude and a strong belief in one another.

Mentored by past legends, Mr. Holiday and this loose Memphis collective are building on the city’s rich traditions and carrying them forward.

“Motel Mississippi.” Mr. Holiday’s second solo album, was recorded about an hour outside Memphis in Coldwater, Mississippi, at Zebra Ranch, the studio of the late Memphis legend Jim Dickinson.

Combining the sounds of North Mississippi hill country, Delta blues, and Memphis soul, “Motel Mississippi” is equal parts blues, soul, and juke joint stomper. The album consists of six originals and two covers, “Rob & Steal” by Paul Wine Jones and “Nobody But You” by Asie Payton.

This followed two volumes of Mr. Holiday’s “Porch Sessions,” which saw Mr. Holiday traveling across the United States and throughout Europe recording blues musicians on their very own front porches, in front of juke joints, in the countryside, and even on the front stoops of raucous night spots in bustling cities, resulting in two critically acclaimed albums. T

The guestlist struck a balance between older legends like Grammy winners Charlie Musselwhite and Bobby Rush, former Muddy Waters guitarist John Primer and the iconic Lurie Bell, alongside some of Holiday’s peers Southern Avenue, Victor Wainwright, and John Németh.

Tickets are $20 for Central Delaware Blues Society members and $25 for nonmembers. Both tickets and $25 annual memberships are available at the door or at centraldelawareblues.com . Delaware Veterans Post 2 is at 720 Pear St, Dover.