Music

Holley happy to revisit state

Claire Holley
Claire Holley

Singer-songwriter Claire Holley is no stranger to performing in Little Rock, but she recalls her previous visit with mild chagrin, especially as she contemplates a forthcoming show in the far more performer-friendly confines of the Oxford American's South on Main club.

"I'll never forget the first time I played Little Rock, at some kind of festival, but it was rained out," Holley says from a trip back to her childhood home in Jackson, Miss. (where she was closing down the house of her late parents). "So my show was moved to the Boys and Girls Club somewhere, and I was playing while around me the kids were tumbling on those big mats."

Claire Holley

9:30 p.m. Friday, South on Main, 13th and Main streets (former location of Juanita’s), Little Rock

Admission: $7

(501) 244-9660

metrotix.com

She is looking forward to a more involved audience, as well as the chance to reconnect with some Arkansas filmmakers, with whom she has enjoyed past projects.

"My first video was shot on location at the home of Hans Stiritz of Evening Films, in Russellville," she says. "It was for my song, 'Another Day,' from my album Hush, and it was nominated for best video at the Little Rock Film Festival several years ago. And there's another film connection, where a film I scored, Looking for Lurch, was directed by Tim Jackson of Category One film. He's a Little Rock filmmaker and the subject of the film was Janice Wolf from Gassville, Ark."

Holley has recruited musical help from Arkansans for her South on Main show, she adds. Ben Harris, an electric guitarist from Fayetteville (who recently backed up Mark Edgar Stuart at South on Main) will join her, as will Little Rock percussionist Dave Hoffpauir.

Holley, who had learned to play a multitude of musical instruments at a young age (inspired by one of her parents' favorite albums, The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis), went on to attend Wheaton College near Chicago, and then moved with her husband, Chad Holley, to North Carolina. After releasing an independent debut album, Night Air, in 1997, she came to the attention of noted label Yep Roc Records in 1999 with Sanctuary, a collection of traditional hymns and gospel songs. The label then released her self-titled third album in 2001.

The couple were all set to move to Nashville, Tenn., but something caused them to hesitate.

"I think it was a sense of adventure, or something didn't feel right," she says. "I had done a gig in Los Angeles in 2003 when I released my album Dandelion, and we decided that area was where we wanted to be. I know LA gets a bad rap, but I can also see how people are drawn there."

She has since found opportunities in the movie and television communities, composing music for independent film The Fence, writing two songs for the ABC-TV series Men in Trees and writing music for the USA network series Graceland. She has released six full-length albums and two EPs, and has a new album she's readying for release in 2015.

"I recorded it up north in Ferndale, Calif., a really picturesque place to be," she says. "I would record for a while, then go for a walk. I was recruited to go there by Jon Phelps of Full Sail University."

Holley was part of a 100th birthday tribute in April 2009 to the late Mississippi author Eudora Welty, where she was joined by Kate Campbell, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Caroline Herring.

Style on 07/29/2014

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