Keeping a Record of It

Keeping a Record of It is the follow-up to Lonnie Holley’s debut album, Just Before Music. It features recordings made in 2006, 2010 and 2011. Guest performers include Cole Alexander from the Black Lips, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, and visual artist Lillian Blades

“Last year, at 62, after decades of singing while he worked, Holley released his jarring debut album, Just Before Music, a marriage of improvised keys and the rambling, hollow bellow of his voice, as well as the first original recording put out by the archival folk label Dust-to-Digital. This year, he’ll tour, and he recently starred in a Whitney Museum group show, ‘Blues for Smoke.’” – The Fader

“Lonnie Holley sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers’ collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit.” – Aquarium Drunkard

Holley, then, certainly fits Dust-to-Digital’s continuum and mission of seeking out the overlooked and offering it a spotlight. It’s never too late to discover a treasure, the release seems to assert. Holley has been an art-world star for some time. Overlooked until now, his music doesn’t simply demand attention; these songs devour it. —Grayson Currin