Lamar Holley

Lamar Holley played many sold-out shows to imaginary audiences in his basement bedroom, where he spent most of his spare adolescent time writing and recording songs. Beginning with drums, the 16-year-old wanna-be rock star played all the instruments on his first album, which he named after his high school band, Bedlam. Between choir trips to notable stages (such as Carnegie Hall), arranging for his a cappella quartet (the Wanderers), and transcribing 1960's Doo Wop and pop music, Lamar was saturated with vocal harmony--an important element in all of the music he has recorded.

Lamar's stage experience began at age 12, when he starred as Frederick in Gilbert and Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance at the Lincoln Center in Fort Collins, Colorado. A year later, his voice now changed from soprano to tenor, Lamar was on the same stage, playing Harold Hill in Meredith Wilson's The Music Man. Because of these and subsequent experiences with the stage and screen, Lamar grew to love musicals and began to include elements of drama in his music as early as his first album ("Jonathan" is a duet between two friends debating the importance of school).

After high school, Lamar recorded his first concept album (with his friend and mentor, Mark Plummer), containing songs created entirely during improvisations--a critical ingredient for his songwriting. Stylistically, he borrowed from his favorites of the 60's and 90's, including the Beach Boys, the Beatles, XTC, the Origin, and Jellyfish. Lyrically, improvisational origins sometimes resulted in random or disturbing content, and dramatic dialogue and sound-effects created a radio-show effect.

Considering this background, it's no surprise that Lamar Holley's first mainstream record is a "pop-musical". More than a concept album, Confessions of a College Student sounds like it's sung by a character in an early 1960's radio-musical (if there ever was such a thing), as listeners follow the ups and downs of infatuation, rejection, and retrospect. With all this drama, however, Confessions of a College Student is also deeply personal--and, thus, true to its title. Lamar confesses autobiographical experiences and honest outlooks that most would be too embarrassed or private to admit. But by allowing audiences to laugh at him, Lamar Holley has given us the rare opportunity to laugh at ourselves.