From blues to country, folk to R&B, and gospel to rock, Riley Holtz is a jack of all musical trades. With the soulful heart-wrenching ballad “Movin’ On,” the in-your-face “Father I Have Sinned,” and the folk feel of “Josey’s Ring,” Riley’s forthcoming debut album, Illegal Before Noon, has something for everyone.
Inspired by his great-grandfather, who used his G.I. Bill from World War II to earn a vocal performance degree, as well as home hi-fi listening sessions with his dad, where he discovered the likes of Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra, James Taylor, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, and a whole lot of everything classic, Riley started singing at 6 years old and hasn’t stopped since.
After being medically discharged from the US Navy at nineteen, back in small-town Missouri, Riley picked up a guitar for the first time ‘out of necessity,’ as he puts it. Coming home from his second shift job driving forklifts, he would stay up until 5 in the morning practicing chords and matching his voice to the soulful strumming. It wasn’t long after that he wrote what would become the first song for his debut album, “Giving Up On Love.”
Throughout the year in the studio recording with Cam, Kevin, and Nathan, Riley crossed paths with Chris Sanders (keys) and Patrick Ramsey (guitar), and The Lost Cause was formed.
Like the talented songwriters he looks up to, this album was not written for one particular audience, rather for everyone who likes good music – a culmination of a quarter century of love and loss, joy and sadness, hard work and heathens, but most importantly, a passion for music.