O Palisadian, Where Art Thou?

Country Musician David Holt Left the Palisades of His Youth to Chase Appalachian Sounds

July 02, 2009

Michael Aushenker , Staff Writer

In 1968, a young Texas-born musician named David Holt took his banjo and traveled to the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. He visited remote mountain communities such as Kingdom Come, Kentucky, and Sodom Laurel, North Carolina, searching for the best traditional musicians. His quest paid off handsomely. Over his three-decade career, Holt has earned four Grammy Awards for albums rich with American roots music and storytelling, and he has performed and recorded with - and mentored under - many of his heroes in the industry, including Doc Watson, Grandpa Jones, Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Roy Acuff and Chet Atkins.

But the seeds of his musical journey were planted in Pacific Palisades.

One might call Holt, 62, a country or bluegrass artist. On his Web site, he describes himself as a musician 'preserving traditional American music and stories.' He plays 10 acoustic instruments and has released numerous recordings of traditional mountain music and southern folktales.

Holt has become well known in North Carolina as host of the long-running public television program 'Folkways,' and for his radio show, 'Riverwalk: Classic Jazz From The Landing' for Public Radio International. He has also guest-starred on such shows as 'Hee Haw' and 'The Grand Ole Opry.' In 2000, he appeared in the Coen Brothers' 'O Brother, Where Art Thou,' starring George Clooney. The film itself did not click commercially, but the bluegrass-flavored soundtrack album became something of a phenomenon, winning a Grammy in 2001.

'I got a lot of energy from that,' Holt says, although the aftermath of the album's success had limited impact on his career. 'It didn't do much difference. I guess it raised awareness for that music. It's not like Angelina Jolie on 'Entertainment Tonight' every night, but there are millions of people who know who's who in the music. It's almost an underground thing.'

Holt's various albums have garnered Grammy Award attention. 'Grandfather's Greatest Hits' received a 1992 Grammy nomination for 'Best Traditional Folk Recording,' and featured Atkins, Watson and Duane Eddy jamming together. 'Why the Dog Chases The Cat: Great Animal Stories,' with fellow storyteller Bill Mooney, was nominated in 1995 for a Grammy. In 1996, 'Stellaluna,' a collection of bat stories, garnered two Grammys for Holt, as artist and producer. Holt's 'Spiders in the Hairdo: Modern Urban Legends' was nominated in 1999 for a Grammy in the Adult Spoken Word category. He and Watson shared the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Recording in 2002 for 'Legacy,' a three-CD collection chronicling Watson's life.

  A native of Garland, Texas, Holt moved with his family to Pacific Palisades during his junior high years. 'Dad moved there from Texas because he's an inventor [of parts for planes],' Holt says.

The Holts lived on Las Pulgas and El Medio. David attended Paul Revere Middle School. The Palisades of Holt's childhood was a different world.

'In 1957, Pacific Palisades was a middle class place,' he continues. 'There were no houses in the mountains. We could just roam. It wasn't Westwood, and it certainly wasn't Beverly Hills. It was a good place to start, and my dad loved the beach.

'There was no PaliHi. Eddie Fisher owned the whole land that PaliHi was later built on. Where that highway is today, there was a deep canyon. There were caves with stalagmites and stalactites. It was quite a remarkable, natural place. Nobody but kids went down there.'

Holt and friends 'tried to live off the land there over night eating leaves and pine nuts.'

Holt also whiled away hours in the village at such long-vanished destinations as the Hot Dog Show and the Bay Theatre, behind which 'there was a trampoline for kids to play on.'

At age 14, Holt says, 'My parents wouldn't let me get drums.' They brokered a deal with their son that if he would take lessons for a year at the Hobby Music Shop on Via de la Paz, they would get him a kit. Under the tutelage of Johnny Malone, Holt spent months practicing on a rubber pad. He got his drum kit.

By the time Holt hit high school, Palisades High was built. Holt graduated in the winter of '65, after serving as senior class president.

'At 15, I was the drummer in a local band called the Persuaders with Chris Gordon and Byron Case,' Holt says. 'We played all over Los Angeles and I got my first taste of performing. At 16, we got together with members of the Sun Rays, another local Palisades band, and recorded 'Ski Storm.' This was a surf-style instrumental featuring me doing a big drum solo.'

'Ski Storm' raced up the charts in 1964. It ranked number 13 on the Billboard charts the very week the Beatles' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' took America by storm.

After graduating from UC Santa Barbara magna cum laude in biology and art, Holt began his trek to Appalachia. Along the way, he made a stop at the Bryant, Texas, home of one of his idols.

'I sought out Carl Sprague, the first of the recorded singing cowboys,' Holt says. 'He taught me to play the harmonica and regaled me with old-time cowboy stories. This experience introduced me to the excitement of learning from the source: the old-timers themselves.'

In the Appalachians, Holt found old-time mountaineers with a wealth of folk music, stories and wisdom, including banjoist Wade Mainer, balladeer Dellie Norton, singing coal miner Nimrod Workman, and 122 year-old washboard player Susie Brunson. Holt not only learned to master the banjo, but such instruments as the mouth bow, the bottleneck slide guitar, and the paper bag.

'I stumbled onto almost like a lost world,' Holt says. 'A culture that was not going to be here much longer. These people I was learning from were born in the 1800s. They grew up before self-doubt was invented.'

In 1973, Holt convinced his wife, Virginia Callaway of Santa Barbara, to relocate to western North Carolina. Married for 38 years, the Holts currently reside in Ashville, a town of 150,000 with a vibrant musical scene. 'She didn't know anything about Southern culture,' Holt says. 'It took her about two years to get adjusted.'

Holt explains his attachment to the region: its music.

  'To me, mountain music is very soulful,' Holt says. 'The music is filled with a great variety of sounds and feelings. It contains elements of blues, bluegrass, early country, jazz and folk ballads. In essence, it encompasses the history of American music.'

Sort of a musical anthropologist, Holt enjoys finding a balance in his music that honors the past without disrespecting it.

'I don't play these songs as a museum piece,' Holt says. 'I take things and make them more acceptable for modern audiences. I don't break them, I bend them.

'One of my main heroes is Watson. He's added who he is to the music and that's what I try to do.'

Today, Holt tours with his band, The Lightning Bolts. He and Watson collaborate often, even sharing a Web site (www.docwatsonanddavidholt.com). Holt's son, Zeb, 32, lives in New York, where he works in NBC's online division.

Holt will not be visiting Los Angeles anytime soon, but American roots music fans can catch Holt and his Bolts on tour at UC Santa Cruz on October 2, and for free with Watson at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco on October 4.

'For over 40 years,' Holt says, 'I've been inspired by the great musicians I have known who play mountain music. The music I play is filled with their musical spirit. I feel part of an unbroken chain.'

Visit www.davidholt.com.