Singer Junior Holt has new plans in the works for 2023. He plans to show some of them during his first appearance, alongside his son Bamm, at Rebel Salute which takes place January 20-21 in St Ann.

The son of legendary singer John Holt, he has made a career covering his father’s classic songs and performing them on stage. Recently, he and Bamm have changed their focus.

“Wi a try step out of di John Holt ting an’ try do some original songs. Wi still plan to [do] some of his songs to keep di legacy alive, but wi doing some new songs an’ people will hear dem soon,” said Holt.

He and Bamm Holt have put a fresh spin on several songs made famous by Holt, a giant of the lovers rock era of the 1960s who died in 2014. Eight of those covers can be heard on Volts of Holt Volume 1, an album they released last year which contained four originals.

Police in Helicopter, Tribal War, and Stranger in Love are some of Holt senior’s songs the father-son combination have covered. They also perform regularly together on events such as ‘A Tribute to John Holt’ which they promoted at The Garden in South Florida in October 2021.

As for Rebel Salute, Junior Holt and his son are looking forward to performing on the Tony Rebel-promoted show which returns to Grizzly’s Plantation Cove after a two-year break due to COVID-19.

“To me, Rebel Salute is a platform mi waan dey pon from long time. It’s a big achievement for us, dat people can si dat Junior Holt an’ di whole John Holt legacy still alive,” he said.

— Howard Campbell