Their musical styles are miles apart, but Holly and Hank Jr. are finally coming together, too.
“Well, we’re actually doing our first show together on July 4; I’m opening for him. It’s in Lexington, Kentucky (Rupp Arena); as far as the music, I think for both of us, if the right song came along, we would do it; but I don’t want to do it just for the press or idea of, you know, ‘Hank and Holly.’
Now I did write lyrics over some music – that Hank Sr. had written – for a project that Bob Dylan is working on. The song is called "Blue Is My Heart," and I wrote the lyrics over it and then dad sang backup on it. So that was a really cool thing that we got to do together. And it felt like the three of us. ... So that, hopefully, will be coming out this year. It was really cool. ... I think it’s going to released through Sony. It’s been worked on for a while. I think Sheryl Crow did some stuff on it and Jack White and different people writing music over lost lyrics of Hank’s. So I cannot wait to get that out to be able to talk about it more.”
And speaking of granddaddy’s music, Holly was introduced to his haunting song “How Can You Refuse Him Now” by a famous movie star who’s also an Academy Award-winning producer and director.
“That was, actually, Mel Gibson came to town to a local church here (for a screening of The Passion of The Christ). And he was just telling the congregation, ‘Please, get this movie played in your small groups and please tell the other churches about it.’ It was such a small project at the time. He had no idea it was ever going to be a hit in theaters or anything like that.
“So he came to town, he invited a few local musicians and I got to meet him after he did a little speech at the church in the little conference room. And he said, ‘You know, I’d love for you to do something from the record (The Passion of the Christ: Songs Inspired by).’ He knew this song of my grandfather’s, I never had actually heard it. And he played it for me and turned me on to it. It was amazing. It was a little project I thought I was doing and it turned into this huge thing. And even though the song wasn’t actually in the movie, it was still so great to have anything involved on it. ... That was a really humbling experience. Just think, for someone else to bring me a song of my families’ that I was so unaware of.”
Article comments
1 - dtwsfan
Nice feature and love Holly's detailed comments. Hope her new album succeeds and there's a place for her in country music.
2 - ashley
Very interesting interview. Really enjoyed reading about those that inspired her.