EXCLUSIVE! Ray Charles Tribute Show Coming To Folsom, Modesto — A Chat With Emmy Winner Clint Holmes

by Michael P Coleman

I’ve spent years worrying about the legendary Ray Charles.

The artist was peerless when he debuted in the 1950s, seamlessly fusing gospel, jazz, country with the blues and presenting something solely his own that we’d ultimately call “soul music.” Even all of these decades later, and 16 years after Charles’ death in 2004, only Aretha Franklin’s brilliance rivals his.

But I haven’t heard younger male artists talking about Charles’ influence on their careers nearly as often as I’ve caught artists like Beyoncé and the rest of the girls talk about Franklin. Aretha is universally considered the undisputed Queen Of Soul, but if you asked who soul’s reigning king is, I think you’d hear a variety of names.

A new show is setting out to change that.

Georgia On My Mind: Celebrating The Music Of Ray Charles will play the Harris Center in Folsom on February 13 and the Gallo Center for the Arts in Modesto on February 15. The show features all of Charles’ iconic hits, including “Hit The Road Jack,” “I Got A Woman,” and “Mess Around.”

It’s somewhat fitting that it takes eight singers to give today’s audiences a glimpse of what Charles brought to stages around the globe. The show will feature six time Grammy nominee Nnenna Freelon, 10 time Grammy Award-winning group Take 6, and Emmy winner Clint Holmes, who let me interrupt a rare, poolside break in Florida to talk about his connection to Charles and the new show.

“He’s one of the artists I grew up with,” Holmes said. “My mom was a white opera singer, and my dad was a black jazz singer, so I grew up with everything! With my dad, it was all about Nat ‘King’ Cole and Ray.”

For the uninitiated, Holmes’ smooth stylings land closer to Cole’s than Charles’ — but having seen a clip of him from the new tribute show, we can all rest assured that Charles’ gritty, soulful vocal legacy is in very good hands.

Or, in the vernacular, Holmes can blow.

Read MPC’s full feature, and hear more from Emmy winner Clint Holmes!