Chris Holiman

Longtime Arizona music watchers know Chris Holiman’s name. He’s been a mainstay of the regional scene since the mid ‘80s, in particular notching fame as vocalist and songwriter for Tucson’s River Roses, one of the leading lights during the ‘80s/’90s desert rock explosion that also saw the likes of the Sidewinders, Gin Blossoms and Giant Sand come to prominence. Since then he’s kept active fronting first 35 Summers and then the Downtown Saints, and now he’s released The Bittersweet Blue, his third album under his own name, featuring former bandmate Gene Ruley on electric guitar and Fen Ikner on Drums and bass. What’s interesting about Holiman is how remarkably consistent he’s been, musically speaking, over the years regardless of the setting: his gently keening vocals have always been a signature, and he’s always relied on the twinned stringed power of acoustic guitar strums with electric guitar painting around the edges, effectively making his songs instantly identifiable. But whether you’re a veteran Holiman fan or a newcomer 12 deftly-wrought folk- and pop-rock gems.