Elliott Ross Holmes (born June 14, 1984) is an American

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, fiddler, composer and producer known for his progressive style that is genre fluid, mixing old and new world styles.

Early life

Growing up in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the List of cities in Texas by population, fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the List of United States cities by population, 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, T ...

, Holmes's family was steeped in music, especially Texas contest fiddling. His Grandfather played the

and that was Ross’s first introduction to the instrument. At the age of 8, his younger sister (Katie Shore from

Asleep at the Wheel Asleep at the Wheel is an American Western swing group that was formed in Paw Paw, West Virginia, and is based in Austin, Texas. The band has won nine Grammy Awards since their 1970 inception, released over twenty albums, and has charted mor ...

) started taking fiddle lessons and this quickly piqued Ross’s interest to learn the instrument for himself. Holmes foundational training combined Texas contest fiddle and classical styles taught to him by his mentors, Texas fiddlers Jimmie Don Bates, Joey McKenzie and Dr. Kurt Sprenger of the

Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra The Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra ( pl, Orkiestra Filharmonii Narodowej w Warszawie) is a Polish orchestra based in Warsaw. Founded in 1901, it is one of Poland's oldest musical institutions. History The orchestra was conceived on ...

. At the age of 11, Holmes enrolled in the Mark O’Connor string camp which acted as a major catalyst for him to pursue a career in music. Additionally, his background and training as a member of the Texas Boys Choir was Holmes first exposure as a touring musician across the

U.S The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

Music career

Holmes has worked with famous bands and artists such as

Mumford & Sons Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, ...

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers,

Warren Haynes Warren Haynes (born April 6, 1960) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known for his work as longtime guitarist with the Allman Brothers Band and as founding member of the jam band Gov't Mule. Early in his career he was ...

Ryan Bingham George Ryan Bingham (born March 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor whose music spans multiple genres. He is currently based in Los Angeles. As of 2019, Bingham has released six studio albums and one live album, t ...

Bela Fleck Bela may refer to: Places Asia *Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India *Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India *Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara *Bela, Dang, in Nepal *Bela, Janakpur, ...

Abigail Washburn Abigail Washburn (born November 10, 1977) is an American clawhammer banjo player and singer. She performs and records as a soloist, as well as with the old-time bands Uncle Earl and Sparrow Quartet, experimental group The Wu Force, and as a ...

, and

Keith & Kristyn Getty Keith & Kristyn Getty are a Northern Irish Christian duo, best known for writing many popular modern hymns with veteran English songwriter and worship leader Stuart Townend. Due to the success of "In Christ Alone", the duo has spearheaded the m ...

. He is a founding member of progressive Bluegrass group, Cadillac Sky. Mumford & Sons, Austin City Limits, 2011

Cadillac Sky

Cadillac Sky formed in 2002 when Holmes met founding members

Bryan Simpson Bryan Simpson is an American singer-songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas, who is based out of Nashville, Tennessee. Simpson is best known for his solo output as The Whistles & The Bells, his work as a founding member of Cadillac Sky, and the so ...

(vocals, mandolin), Matt Menefee (banjo) in Texas. The group’s early years reflected a more traditional bluegrass sound, which evolved to the progressive bluegrass style they were later acclaimed for. The ensemble got a foothold touring regionally around the south. When their progress was interrupted in 2004, Holmes drove overnight to

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and t ...

for an audition with fast-rising country traditionalist,

Josh Turner Joshua Otis Turner (born November 20, 1977) is an American country and gospel singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to MCA Nashville Records. That same year, his debut album's title track, " Long Black Train", was his breakthrough single ...

. Holmes earned his first industry experience on the road with the baritone star. Cadillac Sky became active again in 2006 with the group signing to the

Skaggs Family The Skaggs Family, starting from a small frontier town in southern Idaho, came to have an important impact on merchandising across much of the United States. During most of the 20th century, the Skaggs name was prominent on hundreds of stores th ...

label. They released their debut album, ''Blind Man Walking''; which reached number two on the ''US Grass Billboard Charts''. Later on in the winter of 2011 Cadillac Sky disbanded, declaring a hiatus.

Mumford and Sons

With Cadillac Sky on hiatus,

invited Ross to be their fiddle player. He toured globally as the band evolved to one of the largest pop sensations, making headline appearances for 250,000 people at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Mus ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, and

Red Rocks Amphitheatre Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind ...

. Holmes joined

Railroad Revival Tour The Railroad Revival Tour was a music tour that featured popular roots, folk, country, rock, bluegrass and Americana acts in 2011. The musicians travelled between shows across the American Southwest in 17 vintage train cars from the 1940s, 1950s a ...

, a multi-day jaunt that Mumford & Sons,

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros is an American folk rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 2005. The group is led by singer Alex Ebert. The band's name is based on a story Ebert wrote in his youth, about a messianic figure named ...

and

Old Crow Medicine Show Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, '' Remedy'', released in 2014, won the ...

traveled by a 14-car train from

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

in 2013. Holmes became a deep contributor to Mumford & Sons where he acted as arranger for the string parts for the band’s anticipated second album ''Babel''. The album went on to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2012 in which Holmes was recognized for his role by

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy A ...

ChessBoxer

In 2010 Holmes musical explorations with Cadillac Sky banjo player Matt Menefee evolved into a duo project called ''ChessBoxer''. The style reflected a movement to the Newgrass sound by combining genres of bluegrass, folk and rock. In 2013 Holmes and Menefee self-released their debut EP ''ChessBoxer.'' In 2014, double bassist Royal Masat became a member of ChessBoxer. In 2015, the trio self-released their second recorded work, ''Apollo EP,'' while supporting guitarist

on the international Ashes & Dust Tour.

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers

In 2013 Holmes received a phone call from Bruce Hornsby who expressed interest in working with him. Holmes became a member of Hornsby’s touring band, the Noisemakers, and from 2014–2017 played fiddle and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

on tour and on Hornsby's latest studio release, ''Rehab Reunion''. Holmes became indispensable to the new sound of the band but left in 2018 when he was invited to become a member of the

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

In Jan 2018, Holmes was invited to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for several shows as a substitute after John McEuen's departure from the band in the fall of 2017. After establishing a rapport with the band, Holmes was invited to become a member of NGDB along with Jaime Hanna, son of Jeff Hanna.

Debut Release

On October 23, 2018, Holmes self-released his debut album, "Not Very Good at Winning," a collection of 12 Texas-style contest fiddle tunes recorded in 360° sound at Southern Ground Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. The album is the first solo unaccompanied recording of Texas-style contest fiddle tunes since Eck Robertson recorded in New York City June 30 and July 1, 1922.

Discography

Cadillac Sky (Band member – Fiddle, Vocals, Writer, and Misc instruments)

Mumford & Sons (Touring member – Fiddle, Misc instruments, Arranger)

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers (Band member – Fiddle, Mandolin, Vocals)

ChessBoxer (Band member – Fiddle, Vocals, Writer, and Misc instruments)

Solo (Fiddle, Arranger, Producer)

Producer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Ross Living people 1984 births American jazz composers Record producers from Texas American bluegrass fiddlers American country fiddlers American jazz violinists 21st-century violinists