Bob Holmes: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• Ted Jarrett
• Lenny Kaye
• Marshall Crenshaw
• T Bone Burnett
• Jay Miller
• Bob Shad
• Mars Williams

• Easy Mark Tomeo
• Faron Young
• Barc Holmes
• Trish Milliken

Genre:

Rock Music

Decades Active:

1980's|1990's|2000's

One of several musicians with this name active during the lively new wave years, this Bob Hughes earned the absurd description of the "cowboy Mick Jagger" through his activities with the band Rubber Rodeo. The adventures of this legendary clash between art students and country and western were followed by a more highprofile producing career including projects by David Bowie and k.d. lang. In the '90s, Holmes spent a great deal of time working on a Saturday morning cartoon show for children, 'Ranger Ralph and the RoundUp Ranch. He should not be confused with the Robert Hughes who played guitar with Til Tuesday and Cyndi Lauper.

Although strongly influenced by bands such as Roxy Music Devo and the Talking Heads, Rubber Rodeo utilized both country and western song repertoire and, more importantly, the costuming that often goes along with that genre. The group evolved in 1980 out of a similar project called Asphalt Cowboys. The instrumentation of this group was even odder than the mix of music, as every instrument was doubled. Hughes has recalled in interviews that it was like two bands in one, and actually wound up splitting like a protein cell. The two bands that came out were Rubber Rodeo and The Peregrins, the latter group eventually getting around to creating an MCA album of its own which Holmes produced.

Rubber Rodeo records were first released in the early '80s. Several years later the group had signed up with Polygram, resulting in a pair of albums released in 1984 and 1985. The band garnered a Grammy nomination for a video short produced to promote the second album. It was nonetheless decided that Rubber Rodeo was no longer bouncing, and Holmes went on to a variety of other involvements. One was a group called Boo Radley with his former Rubber Rodeo bandmate Trish Milliken. The idea of naming a band after the eerie character in the book To Kill a Mockingbird seemed to be circulating, however, and Holmes and company wound up relinquishing the rights to the Boo Radleys, an English band.

Holmes' association with Reeves Gabrels, one of the sons of comedian Soupy Sales, extended back to the last days of Rubber Rodeo and continued in the Boo Radley band. Gabrels went on work with David Bowie, no doubt part of the connection that led to Holmes producing and mixing two '90s Bowie projects. Holmes also produced three albums for the group Treat Her Right as well as releases by Will Sexton, Nils Lofgren and others. Although the aforementioned television series was not a hit, it did lead to a variety of opportunities in childrens' music. A Rubber Rodeo reunion album was recorded in the '90s, but never released.

- Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide