Chris Holt is an extreme multitasker and a favorite among some of the world’s best performers. When Chris isn’t touring the world as guitarist for Rock & Roll Hall of Fame legend Don Henley, this five-time Dallas Observer Music Award winner (three of them for Musician of The Year) juggles his time between being an in-demand multi-instrumentalist and a songwriter fronting his own bands, while releasing solo albums in-between.
Even before joining Henley’s touring band behind the 2015 Cass County, Chris was prolific. Besides his own bands, the Slack and Olospo, as well as his work in Hard Night’s Day, a popular Beatles tribute band, he found the time to release a trio of solo records over the years, most recently a double LP, Stargazer (2016).
The list of legendary artists Chris has played with includes Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Stevie Nicks, the Doobie Brothers, Timothy B. Schmidt, Chris Stapleton, Lyle Lovett, Jamey Johnson, the Dixie Chicks, Martina McBride, Clint Black, Steve Earle and Patty Smyth. Most recently, he’s been playing guitar with The Dirty Knobs and creating new original music with Bastards of Soul, whose two studio albums, Spinnin’ (2020) and Corners (2022) have been released to critical acclaim.
While Chris has gigged and recorded with dozens of acclaimed artists from the DFW area over the past 20 years, he’s also spent many years as a teacher and mentor to budding musicians across the DFW metroplex, while being a husband and father of three. He not only plays guitar, but also piano, bass, drums, pedal steel, lap steel, banjo, mandolin, ukulele and harmonica.
During the pandemic of 2020, Chris began a weekly Facebook Live series, All-Request Thursday, that he continues to this day. “The way it works with my show is, people send me their requests every week, and I put them on the master list, which is about 300 songs or so. And it never really shrinks, because every week, I’ll knock 20-ish songs off, and then I get 30 more requests. So, the list never really shrinks,” he said.
“I’m doing what I love now,” Chris said. “I don’t want to take for granted or miss out on how fun it is to do this.”
