ALBUM REVIEW: Guitarist Rick Holmstrom Shines Brightly on ‘Get It’

Mavis Staples casts a long shadow. For most of the past two decades, Rick Holmstrom has been standing behind her onstage, backing up her brilliance with his guitar fills. “It’s like this light bulb that’s blasting out its full amps all the time,” Holmstrom says. “No half-steppin’ around Mavis — you gotta suck it up.”

Holmstrom has come a long way, dragging his influences with him, from stints with Rod Piazza and His Mighty Flyers and Booker T and tours with Mavis as well as winning a Grammy with her in 2011 for You Are Not Alone.

Out on his own for a change, Holmstrom relaxes a bit for his latest release, Get It, on his own LuEllie record label. But that doesn’t mean that he’s slacking off. This one’s got plenty of snap and power, the bulb glowing brightly as Holmstrom’s trio, with Steve Mugalian on drums and Gregory Boaz on bass, keeps cranking up the wattage on this all-instrumental outing.

This is not the first time Holmstrom has let go of some vocalless treasures on his own. In 1996, Lookout felt like a tour of Texas honky-tonks with Jimmie Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, and Anson Funderburgh. The guitarist spoke up on 2021’s See That Light, utilizing Pops Staples’ trademark guitar shimmy to underscore a great deal of the material.

But Get It explores a whole ‘nother universe, like stumbling across a jukebox in a roadhouse in the Twilight Zone loaded with unearthly feel-good goodies. “Erlee Time” sounds like The Meters second-lining behind a bucketload of Leo Nocentelli guitar licks, as twangy as it is funky.

Holmstrom struts his plucky stuff on “Kronky Tonk,” hopping around like an electrocuted chicken chosen as the guest of honor at a down-home throwdown.

The guitarist invents a new genre, ’60s throwback instrumental doo-wop cowboy gospel, on “Walking With Diane,” boldly shining a light where few pluckers have dared to tread.

Holmstrom dons his chicken suit once again for the plucky “Funke3,” pimpin’ Jimi Hendrix for a syncopated, psychedelic strut down the middle of funky street.

Years of standing behind Mavis Staples, speaking without a voice, has made Holmstrom a formidable guitarist who can get his point across in a few deft licks as impressive as they are fun to listen to.