Late-Blooming Harmonies

The Holmes Brothers, who perform Friday night at the Skirball Cultural Center, fall into the category of “overnight sensation” even after plying their musical crafts for more than 30 years.

The men--guitarist Wendell Holmes, bassist Sherman Holmes and drummer Willie “Popsy” Dixon--had worked small clubs, weddings, private parties and whatever gigs they could get in New York.

The band wasn’t even looking for a recording contract when Rounder Records offered it one in 1989.

Now the trio, all in their 50s, spend much of their time on the road, taking their hybrid style of blues and gospel around the world.

“We’re very proud and we want to do better,” said Sherman Holmes.

Although others might lament the time lost playing for unappreciative audiences, Sherman does not think that way: “I don’t have any regrets--I just had my formative years.”

Wendell and Sherman Holmes were born and raised in rural Christchurch, Va., in the Tidewater region of the state.

Their parents, who were both schoolteachers, encouraged their sons’ musical interests. Both boys studied piano; Sherman took up the clarinet and Wendell the trumpet. And both young men performed in church and listened to all kinds of music on the radio.

“Hank Williams, Jimmy Reed, Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan--we listened to a lot of different people,” Sherman remembers.

Sherman, the elder of the brothers, studied music at Virginia State University for two years and then moved to New York City to play professionally.

In 1959, he picked up his brother Wendell at his high school graduation ceremony and took him straight to New York, where the brothers got a job performing with singer Jimmy Jones, who had the first hit recording of “Handy Man.”

The brothers teamed up with Popsy Dixon sometime in the 1970s. Dixon, another transplanted Virginian, who had grown up in Brooklyn, has a gospel background.

“Contrary to what people believe, we worked a lot,” Sherman said. “We always supported our families; we always treated the music like a business.”

At a Greenwich Village club called Dan Lynch’s, the trio worked a jam session for several years.

It was there that record producer Andy Breslau first heard the band and got it signed to Rounder, which released the group’s first CD, “In the Spirit,” in 1990. Its fourth and latest CD, “Promised Land,” was released last year.

The band’s instrumental work is solid, but it’s their vocals that really distinguish the Holmes Brothers’ music.

The trio sings the blues with a gospel-tinged, three-part harmony. Sherman’s baritone holds the bottom, Dixon’s falsetto rings on top and Wendell’s voice fills all that’s in between.

The band has appeared on David Letterman’s show; recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel and Joan Osborne; and received rave reviews in the New York Times, Washington Post and other papers.

Last year, the group had an opportunity to perform at a fund-raiser for President Clinton and spent some time with the chief executive.

“We talked to him for about 10, 20 minutes,” Sherman said. “He seemed like a great guy, and my instincts don’t fool me very often.”

Commenting on the president’s current problems, Sherman Holmes would say only, “I think questions that shouldn’t be asked, shouldn’t be answered.”

More Skirball: The Holmes Brothers’ performance is the first in a new “American Roots” concert series at the Skirball. Other acts scheduled are guitarist-composer Bill Frisell on Oct. 1, singer-songwriter Peter Himmelman on Nov. 1 and blues artist John Hammond on Dec. 5.

BE THERE

The Holmes Brothers will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at the Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. $12-$18. (213) 660-8587.