Johnny Holm will perform Saturday, Aug. 3 at the grandstand at the Pipestone County Fairgrounds. This year marks his 50th in the music business. Source: johnnyholm.com
This year’s Pipestone County Fair began Wednesday, July 31 and will conclude with The Johnny Holm Band Saturday evening.
Johnny Holm is widely known across Minnesota and for good reason. He’s been performing music here for 50 years.
“I like what I do a lot,” he said by phone earlier this week. “I like people.”
That’s evident in the amount of time he spends performing. Holm said he’ll perform 55 shows over three months before this summer is over. He performs covers from musical genres that span many eras, mostly appearing in Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin at fairs, outdoor music shows, corporate shows and other events and venues.
Holm said the Pipestone audience can expect a wide range of music that includes “pretty much everything.” The Johnny Holm Band website says the band’s shows are “mostly impromptu” and change direction to suit the crowd.
County fairs are a common place to find the Johnny Holm Band this time of year. Holm said they typically play about 10-to-15 fairs a year. Just this week he performed at the Chippewa County Fair in Montevideo on Wednesday and Riverfest in Thief River Falls on Friday before coming to Pipestone for the Saturday performance.
Holm said he passes through Pipestone fairly often during his travels and likes to stop at the Dari King when he’s in town. It’s been quite some time, however, since he’s performed here.
“I used to play there all the time in the 1980s,” he said.
He also performed many times at the Showboat in Lake Benton.
“The ballroom years were pretty crazy,” Holm said.
A Minnesota native, Holm is originally from Brainerd and now lives in Breezy Point. He said he’s always loved music and started performing solo after he went to college at Moorhead State University. He performed solo for about three years and then started adding band members.
Those band members have changed over the years and Holm said he’s been fortunate to have had the chance to play with many talented musicians. Among the Johnny Holm Band’s six current members is his daughter, Jordan Holm, who started playing in the band as a teenager 14 years ago. He said it’s been “wonderful” to perform with one of his five daughters.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more,” Holm said.
Holm said he feels blessed to have been able to do what he loves for the last half century and that he plans to keep at it for another six years at which time he’ll be 75. He said he’s been working out in an effort to achieve that goal and feels that he’s in good shape.
Holm said he tries to make every show the best it can be.
“You’re only as good as your last show,” he said.