The Holmes Pitezel Case

The Holmes Brothers are certainly one of the best blues discoveries of the 90s. Rough, gutsy, and almost unbelievably funky, they make music that seems steeped in the energy, dust, litter, smells and fumes of Brooklyn's neighbourhoods.
The brothers are Wendell and Sherman Holmes and Popsy Dixon (the latter the owner of the best falsetto voice since Al Green and the Reverend Claude Jeter), and this powerful, emotional, joyful and rocking album is their fifth. The songs, originally written and recorded for the film Lotto Land, stand proudly on their own - although if you do see the film you’ll understand how well they fit the bitter sweet story of the development of the two different relationships and a missing multi-million dollar lottery ticket…

The sixth album by New York's Holmes Brothers is another all-spirituals set - though not in the traditional sense of the word. Produced by pop singer Joan Osborne (before she was a superstar, Osborne woodshedded with the Brothers and developed a fine rootsy singing style of her own), who was there in the Manhattan trenches with the band, this set goes a long, long way to capturing raw, excruciating grooves. With the a trio of singers as soulful as any group Memphis or Motown ever produced, the Holmes Brothers take it to the gut each and every time. This set opens with Ben Harper's "Homeless Child," and let's just say after the deep, grease-fire funk the vocalizing creates, Harper should never play it again…

The Holmes Brothers deliver a mix of joyous blues, funk, R&B, and soul that resonates deeply with hope and personal redemption, a sort of sturdy and comforting secular roots music informed by the trio's precise, gospel-based vocals. Brotherhood continues to update that signature sound, featuring eight new Holmes Brothers originals and imaginative covers of songs by Ike Turner, Ted Hawkins, and the great Stax Records songwriting team of William Bell and Booker T. Jones.