Scott Holt

Scott Holt started playing guitar when he was 19 years old. After a childhood of exposure to Southern Gospel, Country and 50s Rock and Roll, Scott heard Jimi Hendrix and somebody switched the light on!

While taking his first guitar lessons from Doug Thurman, Scott was soon discovering Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, Albert King, Freddy King and Buddy Guy. Once Scott discovered the Blues, his path was set. After I heard this music, I knew that it was all I wanted to try and play. I wanted to be Buddy Guy! Since he couldnt be Buddy Guy, Scott would have to settle for playing with the legendary Blues man.

In late 1987, Scotts father Jess was working in Florida. Buddy Guy and Junior Wells were scheduled to play in the area and Jess called Scott and asked him if hed like to come down and see the show. Daddy called me and asked me if I knew who Buddy Guy was. When I told him I did, he suggested that I drive down for the show in Tampa. I mentioned to Dad that Buddy lived in Chicago and he tracked Buddy down at home, unbeknownst to me, and arranged for me to meet him at the show! That night really changed my life. I had never been to a club before and never seen anybody put on a show like Buddy did. He was off the stage, out in the street, playing against a parked car, stopping traffic, it was unbelievable!

That night backstage, Buddy invited Scott to come by the hotel the next day for a guitar lesson and the beginnings of a friendship were formed. Buddy and I got along from the start. I cant speak for him, but I think he saw that I wanted to learn and be a part of this music, that I was serious and he responded to that. After that, we spoke on the phone occasionally over the next year or so and the next winter, I asked to come down to Tampa and see him again. He invited me to come sit-in with him! I couldnt believe it.

Over the course of the next year, Scott would sit-in with Buddy several times including the first night Buddys club, Legends, was opened in Chicago. In early 1989, Buddy called Scott and asked him to join his band. Scott Holt would be in the Buddy Guy Band for the next 10 years. I learned so much from Buddy and the musicians in that band. I learned how to play the Blues, to entertain an audience and so much more that it really was, as Carlos Santana told me once, my trip to the university. Also during his 10-year stint, Scott married Buffy and they had a daughter Olivia. Thats what makes my life complete. I love music and Ill play until I cant do it anymore, but after God, my wife and child are the most important things in my life.

In December 1999, Scott Holt made, what he called, the hardest decision in my life. After 10 years, it was time to try and go out on his own. I formed a band with a drummer named Tom Larson and Leo Lyons from the band Ten Years After. I look at it now as sort of phase 2 of my education. In other words, all the lessons I learned from Buddy, I then had to go put into practice. Since then through personnel changes and 4 critically acclaimed records, Scott has managed to develop a following in the U.S. and Canada. Im blessed to be surrounded by people who are supportive and have a band that shares my vision. Ive always believed that music played from the heart is a form of prayer. Thats what the Blues is to me, its the sound of the human spiritual heart rejoicing or crying or doing both at the same time. Now that Im on my own, its my responsibility to keep the Blues alive and to make sure that the architects of the art form are remembered and honored. We cant forget Muddy, Wolf, Earl Hooker, John Lee Hooker or Junior Wells, or the host of others who in some case literally gave their lives to this music.