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Johnny Holland has been a regular visitor to Country Revival CMC in Dagenham and has always been well received with a good mix of Country classics and newer songs; he always includes some useful line dance suggestions. He was smartly turned out and believes that image is a very important aspect of his performance.  He has a rich voice with a Brummie accent and a good vocal range with plenty of friendly banter and quickly made friends with the knowledgeable audience at the club, opening proceedings with Midland’s Runnin’ Wild and Troy Cassar-Daley’s Things I Carry Around.
Johnny lists his Country influences as artists like Hal Ketchum, Travis Tritt, Alan Jackson and Toby Keith and we got songs from all of them tonight and not always the songs that you regularly hear. Early in the evening he sung Alan Jackson’s It Must Be Love.
He learnt to play guitar while still at school and, when he left at 16, he fronted a number of 60’s/70s cover bands as a singer and guitarist. It wasn’t until c2002 that he developed a love of Country music and he told me in one of the breaks that playing in Country clubs is a much better environment than the kinds of venues he used to play. He feels a Country audience is a lot more attentive and appreciative of the music. After a lifetime in the limelight he still enjoys singing and playing and has no thoughts of retiring any time soon.
A few more songs that stood out for me in the first set included George Strait’s Stars On The Water, Brooks & Dunn’s Neon Moon, Mark Chesnutt’s Woman, Sensuous Woman. Next came a couple from Hal Ketchum, Small Town Saturday Night followed by Invisible, a nice slow song we don’t often hear, tonight it was a request. It was a hot night and slower songs tended to get more people onto the dance floor.
For me a good all round Country soloist is someone with a good voice, a nice personality and a musician who can play well. I have seen Johnny once before so I knew we were going to get plenty of intricate guitar solos which the audience always appreciate with applause and cheering.
Set 2 opened with Tracy Byrd’s Heaven In My Woman’s Eyes, Lee Roy Parnell’s We All Get Lucky Sometimes and more Hal Ketchum with Loving You Makes Me a Better Man. Next came Reba McEntire and Brooks and Dunn’s Cowgirls Don’t Cry, then Toby Keith’s A Little Less Talk And A Lot More Action and Darryl Worley’s Messed Up In Memphis with included a great guitar solo.
The club always likes a barn dance and Johnny gave us three in a row, John Prine’s Same Thing Happened to Me, Alan Jackson’s Gonna Come Back As A Country Song and Marty Stuart’s Tempted, next we than had another Alan Jackson song I haven’t hear for years, It’s Alright To Be A Redneck.
Johnny was always on the move around the stage and always with a smile, he was clearly having a good time and that rubbed off on everyone. A singer who is enjoying himself makes us all feel good.  Set 3 opened with The Eagles’ Take It Easy, William Michael Morgan’s Missing and The Lennerockers’ High Class Lady. The set included Blake Shelton’s Ready To Roll and Dwight Yoakam’s Fast As You which included another long and complex guitar solo at the end.
As the evening wound down a few more that stood out included Darryl Worley’s Honky Tonk Life, Merle Haggard’s Today I Started Loving You Again and Rodney Atkins’ If You’re Going Through Hell. Johnny finished a very enjoyable evening with Little Texas’ God Bless Texas which brought warm and very well deserved applause. I really enjoyed the evening and I am sure everyone else did as well. I look forward to seeing Johnny Holland again at some time in the future; a good all round Country entertainer in line dance and western clubs.
See below my phone video of Johnny Holland