Baltimore Music Examiner

Courtesy Kylehollingsworth.com

Sunday evening I went to see Mickey Hart at Rams Head Live, well not really, I went to see Kyle Hollingsworth play keyboards for Mickey Hart.  I think     Mickey Hart might have been the old guy who occasionally banged on miscellaneous percussion next to the real drummer.   In any event, Kyle Hollingsworth was the breath of fresh air on a stage full of stale old curmudgeons.  Though the female vocalist from Deep Banana Blackout livened up the stage a bit, with the exception of distinguished bassist George Porter, Hollingsworth shared the stage with some very bored and uninterested musicians.  Guitarist, Steve Kimock must have had a death in the family or his dog ran away or something.  The guy looked miserable.   He never cracked a smile. His playing was uninspired and the dude actually occasionally sat down during songs as if he was playing in his living room.

            Now that I got the negative rant out of my system, the positive of the night was Kyle Hollingsworth.  Although Mickey Hart failed to mention or maybe didn’t want to acknowledge, Hollingsworth grew up in Towson, attended Towson High and Towson University and played for about a decade in the local band, Black Friday. Hollingsworth put out three CDs with Black Friday and appears on their upcoming release, Four, due out this fall.  In the early 1990’s Hollingsworth moved to Colorado and hooked up with The String Cheese Incident and became a jam band icon.   It was clear in the crowd last night that a large part of the room consisted of Cheese heads there to see Hollingsworth.  Despite he recent success and stardom, Hollingsworth has not lost his passion for doing what he does best: jam on the keys.  His performance was spirited.  He played to the crowd and looked to engage the other musicians who were trudging along with their case of the miserables. 

            It was great to witness the local bred, quiet, and unassuming Hollingsworth get his due in the hometown that often failed to appreciate his talent back in the day when the Baltimore music scene was dominated by guitar driven grunge.   In short, Kyle, thanks for giving us our money’s worth and hopefully your enthusiasm will inspire your fellow band mates for the rest of the tour. Maybe that old guy with the glasses who bangs on the funny looking drums might even crack a smile as well.