Meet Elliot Holden

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elliot Holden.

Elliot Holden is an American Rock, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Pop, Blues, Classical Fusion artist. Currently based in Atlanta GA, Holden was born in Germany and lived all over the world is from a military family. His family eventually settled in Augusta, GA where he took up the guitar a few months before his 14th birthday after seeing the movie “Crossroads” starring Steve Vai, Ralph Macchio, Jami Gertz, and Joe Seneca. In his sophomore year of high school, he met another local guitarist, Keith Jenkins (who eventually went on to serve as a guitarist for James Brown for 12 years until Brown’s death in 2006). Jenkins’ influence on Holden was paramount as he turned Holden on to the sounds of Eric Johnson, Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, and Steve Morse. Once, at age 15, when Elliot was too young to enter bars for concerts he was chaperoned by Jenkins’ mom to a Steve Morse show at the venue The Post Office in Augusta while Jenkins worked as a guitar tech for another local guitar hero named Chris Nix. Their friendship continues to this day as Jenkins often plays bass for Elliot on recordings and tours.

Since first starting to play guitar Elliot has always written his own music. At the time, it just seemed like the easiest way to learn to play but would later serve as a critical foundation in his musical development. He has released 3 albums to date and is currently working on his 4th tentatively entitled “Everybody Loves Me.”

Elliot’s diverse musical style has earned him opening slots with such acts as THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND, SNOOP DOG, DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND, ADRIAN BELEW, ERYKAH BADU, SONNY LANDRETH, Porter Batiste Stoltz and many others. He was featured in GUITAR PLAYER Magazine’s Spotlight and his fiery playing has been compared to that of Eric Johnson, Jeff Beck, and Jimi Hendrix. However, the scope of Holden’s influences reaches far beyond the scope of guitar virtuosos.

Please tell us about your art.
Elliot Holden a.k.a. Urban Guitar Legend is an artist-composer living in the West End for 11 years now. Self-taught and inspired by the sounds of Jimi Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, William Kanengiser, Drake, Eric Johnson, and other contemporary artists. His greatest passion is to share his work with others. Elliot’s current live performance work entitled “Hendrix to Hip Hop” chronicles the evolution of blues, jazz, rock, classical and hip-hop by combining elements of each style with original arrangements and compositions of my own. His artistry is as much an educational journey as it is a musical one; by aiming to bridge the gap between modern music’s roots and the genre that has evolved to be the driving force behind today’s popular rhythm – hip hop.

Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
First and foremost, stay out of debt. Pay cash or don’t buy it, because you CAN NOT AFFORD IT! Stop kidding yourself. You’re not the Federal Government, spending other peoples money will not end well for you.

Get an education in something that is related to your music or artistry. Such as web design, audio engineering, graphic arts, any computer related field (development, develops, linux administration), law, business, marketing. You will be able to get a job making a decent living to fund your art.

Save your money and live on “LESS” than you make.

How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
https://www.elliotholden.com
https://www.urbanguitarlegend.com
https://www.twitter.com/urbangtrlegend
https://www.youtube.com/urbanguitarlegend
https://www.facebook.com/urbanguitarlegend
https://www.instagram.com/urbanguitarlegend

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.urbanguitarlegend.com
• Phone: 706-231-9776
• Email: elliot@urbanguitarlegend.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/urbanguitarlegend
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urbanguitarlegend
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/urbangtrlegend
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/urbanguitarlegend

Image Credit:
Libra Cordero, Drew Stawin

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