Jamie Harmon
Tony Holiday
Memphis bluesman Tony Holiday will release the video to his single, “The Hustle,” on December 4th — the same day he will celebrate his 35th birthday.
The song, which is from his Soul Service album, is “about getting off tour, coming home,” Holiday says. “A guy who gets off the road and he notices all the things in his house that were broken are now fixed when he got home. He’s noticing changes around the home and his relationship. And all that needs to be fixed.”
Jamie Harmon shot the video, which begins with footage of Holiday’s Stacy Adams two-tone shoes tapping to the beat, and then blends into Holiday sitting in the bed of Harmon’s red 1971 Volkswagen crew cab truck. “He drove the truck. The bed on the truck is wide open. I’m not one for rollercoasters or anything like that. We’re logging 45 miles an hour sometimes going around the corner and I’m trying to stay relaxed. He mounted a camera in the bed of his truck and hit record and he said, ‘Well, I hope it works.’ He drove around Memphis and that was it. A one-take shot.
Jamie Harmon
Tony Holiday from ‘The Hustle’
“I was able to sing a few times through. It was a 45 minute drive.”
While this was his first video, it won’t be his last, Holiday says. “I find something that works and I really dive in deep. And that’s why I can’t stop playing banjos and harmonicas and everything else. Now that I’ve learned from this video, I’m definitely going to put out some more.”
Holiday’s second video, which was shot in Clarksdale, Mississippi, is for his single, “Good Advice.” The song, also from his Soul Service album, is “about all the great things your grandma told you. All the sayings.”
Like his first video, Holiday will keep “things simple” on “Good Advice.” “I’m not an actor or anything like that. I’m sitting on a porch in Clarksdale. There’s a few more angles, a few more cameras. It’s a little bit more complex than the last one.”
Holiday is currently working on his Porch Sessions Vol. 2 album, which he plans to release next year. The album includes Willie Buck, Bobby Rush, John Nemeth, Watermelon Slim, and “lots more,” he says.
Jamie Harmon
Tony Holiday
During the pandemic, Holiday has been “pretty much bunkered” at home. “I went out and did the video. I sneaked over to Nashville to this recording studio, Wild Feather Recording, and spent time doing two-day writing sessions. I was invited by these people to come down and share my ideas. And it’s cool because I’ll just get an idea and they’ll get on the phone and call in session musicians or another musician, and all of a sudden you have this song that comes to life.”
He also got heavily into the banjo. “I was looking for one and Kit Anderson — he’s a famed blues guitar player — said, ‘Man, I’ve got one laying around. I’ll just send it to you.’
“I’m just kind of getting back to my country roots. And that involves hill country. I’m transposing these hill country guitar lines over to the banjo.”
Holiday pretty much has his daily routine down. “I play guitar and harmonica every day. I get up early before my baby wakes up and I get that time in. I go to the park with her. I walk the Mississippi River a lot with her. And I spend time with my wife. I do the whole family thing. My days are just spent writing music and spending time with the family.”
He and his wife, Camille, are expecting another baby around June. Holiday already has two daughters: 18-year-old Elizabeth Rose and four-year-old Bonnie Rae.
“This year has had a chemistry that’s like no other. And it’s been a self-reflecting year. A lot of creativity came with this year. I just started playing a lot more of my stuff that I used to play. I think a lot of people have had to look at themselves this year. At least people in my circles. It’s been an opportunity, if you’re willing to take it, to look at yourself.
“I think people want to feel good now. It was hard to have the joys you were used to. People had to find it within themselves to feel good again.”
Jamie Harmon
Tony Holiday
