bio

Widgeon Holland

Bio

  Widgeon Holland began to sing before he could talk. When he turned 13, his father, a bass player for many music legends including Willie Nelson, taught Widgeon three chords and the opening lick to Johnny Be Goode. One month later he won first place at his school talent show and soon began to play regular gigs at many of the bars and clubs in his hometown of Austin, Texas.

  So it would come as little surprise that just a few years later Widgeon, now 17 embarked on a meteoric rise to international acclaim, having come under the tutelage of legendary music business executive Chesley Millikin. Irish born Millikin was the first head of Epic Records in London. He is also known for his associations with The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead among others, but he is best known as the man who led Stevie Ray Vaughan to stardom after seeing him play The Steamboat Club in Austin, TX, the same club where he discovered Widgeon.

  After touring extensively throughout America, Canada and Europe where he has won rave reviews from the press, Widgeon has gone on to play with the likes of Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood, whose Irish studio he used to record his first album “Sex and Vampires”. (The first single “Sex Junkie” hit #4 on one European chart).

Widgeon has also taken to the stage or been in the studio with various members of bands such as The Animals, The Faces, Sly and The Family Stone, The Ray Charles Band, George Clinton and The P-Funk All Stars, Leftover Salmon, Thin Lizzy, Hothouse Flowers and The Commitments. Not to mention being the hired guitar slinger for Long John Baldry on his 1997 Australian tour.

  Widgeon has also opened for acts like Bob Weir, Percy Sledge, Robben Ford, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, Buckwheat Zydeco, Johnny Johnson, Joe Ely, Lou Ann Barton, Angela Strehli, Delbert McClinton, Lee Rocker, Lady Bianca, Tab Benoit, Kenny Neil, Big Head Todd and The Monsters, Chris Duarte and Ben Harper. 

  Widgeon has proven to be a favorite on the international festival scene and has performed at such famous festivals as The Guinness Blues Fest, The Oslo Jazz Fest, The Melbourne Arts Fest, The Marin Summer Music Fest and many others.