John L. Holmes, born 1950 in Walla Walla, WA, began learning to play the guitar at nine years of age. He has been playing professionally since 1962 until 1969 in eastern Washington. He then attended Whitman College as an Literature /Art major. After his sophomore year he travelled to Bogota, Columbia where he and his wife Patricia taught English and travelled through the west coast of South America.
After a year they returned to Whitman where they resumed their studies. John then formed the septet Wabuji which toured the Northwest with its unique blend of influences, from Jimi Hendrix to the Crusaders. He transferred to San Francisco Art Institute, spent a year at Pratt Art Institute in New York, and returned to San Francisco where he obtained a BFA degree in 1976. During his years in San Francisco he played music with a variety of groups from jazz to free improvisation.
He and Patricia then moved back to Walla Walla. He started farming in 1979 and continues to farm today as well as having created and shown art during the 1980‘s through the late 90‘s in New York, Japan, San Francisco and the Northwest. Since Patricia is from Hawaii, it wasn’t unusual to spend some months with her family in Honolulu. During this time he performed downtown occasionally and recorded an album, “Hooves,” with a group of musicians organized by Paul Noel, another Walla Walla “expat.”
Holmes has since released a words and music 45, “Jazzmen Tea,” and a CD, “Listening for a Vision,” with the poet Larry Leier after performances in Walla Walla and Seattle (Bumbershoot and Red Sky Poetry). He then released “The Holmes Stretch,” a CD featuring his original compositions under the band name John L Holmes y Los Amigos. Concurrently with “South of America,” there is another CD just released, “Tropical Reflections”, with similar personnel, but sharing compositions with the keyboardist Mike Friedman.
While farming for a living and raising a family, Holmes has been performing in Southeastern Washington wine bars and special events, as well as continuing to compose and record at his studio, Altered Natives.
