Barry Holdship’s raucous; rootsy style was forged in a deserted Detroit parking lot. Raised on a steady diet of Elvis, Beatles and Dylan, Holdship deftly combines urgency, melody and the exhilarating innocence of pure pop. His song, “I Really Wanna Know,” was featured in the blockbuster film, “Basic Instinct.”

Holdship’s fresh, razor-edged sound was honed in his first band, Let’s Talk About Girls (named for the Chocolate Watch Band’s tune). L-TAG was a huge regional phenomenon and garnished every award possible in the Detroit and Midwestern area. Holdship’s energetic live presence has led him to share the bill with the Replacements, Dwight Yoakam, Gang Of Four, the Cowsills, the Bangles and even Chuck Berry, to name a few.

Holdship’s 1997 CD “The Jesse Garon Project” received high praise in both the US and Europe. Noted rock journalist Dave Marsh described him as “one of the best undiscovered artists in America.” He’s been reviewed in such papers as Billboard, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Sun-Times, and most recently HARP Magazine. In addition, he’s been featured on several tribute CDs, including “He’s A Rebel: The Gene Pitney Story Retold” (To M’Lou Music) and “It Was Forty Years Ago Today,” a Beatles tribute from Canada’s Bullseye Records.

With the release of his solo disc “Ruff Trax,” Holdship demonstrates once again he knows how to grab an audience with his hooks, harmonies and style. He creates melodies that seem so familiar, yet are most definitely “now.” Noted rock journalist Gene Scualtti says of Ruff Trax, “If you don’t think anyone can pull off this kind of unaffected rock ’n’ roll anymore, dig ‘Where to From Here?,’ ‘We’d Be Good Together’ (rockabilly-meets-gum) or the instantly classic ‘A Fractured Lullaby’ and think again.” Adrian Zupp in HARP Magazine says, “Here’s a guy who hasn’t forgotten what real rock ‘n’ roll is about.”

Imagine Buddy Holly, Bobby Fuller, Elvis Presley or even John Lennon channeling their vocal magic down from the heavens into one living being and you start to get the picture. But where other artists are content to wear their hearts on their sleeves, Holdship digs way down and pulls it out from some dark but serene place that only he knows about. Too “roots rock” to be called “power pop” but too “power pop” to be called “roots rock,” he avoids the pigeonhole, and instead follows in the footsteps of the masters, while luring the listener down his own original path.

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