Wendell Holmes Enters Hospice, Writes Open Letter To Friends And Fans

Wendell Holmes, vocalist, guitarist, pianist and songwriter of the critically acclaimed soul/blues band The Holmes Brothers penned an open letter to his friends and fans as he entered hospice care. Wendell recently retired from touring when he was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension. Holmes Brothers drummer Willie "Popsy" Dixon died on January 9, 2015 of complications from cancer.

Text of the letter in full:

As I write this letter, I am preparing to go home on hospice care. One benefit of hospice is the time it allows you to say some of the things you want to say to those you love and care about. I’m grateful for the opportunity to say “thanks” to many friends for your many expressions of love to me and my wife Barbara.

Thank you for being my friends in life. You’ve shown me how you care through your many cards, letters, phone calls, home and hospital visits, on line acknowledgements, and more importantly, your prayers. Please know that it is greatly appreciated and I am awed by it all. It means a lot to me.

It was Abraham Lincoln who said that “the world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but will never forget what they did here.” Of course, I’m no Lincoln, but I believe there’s an element of truth there, and I do hope my music, whether some song I wrote, sang or maybe some notes I played, will leave a lasting impression.

You know that it is my custom to tell everyone who will listen…”don’t go it alone,” and I can tell you that it’s been by God’s amazing grace that I have had a truly enjoyable journey. It's been a great ride and my thanks to you for making it so.

I love you, and may God bless you all!  

Wendell Holmes

P.S. Thanks too as you continue to support, enjoy and appreciate the gifts in my big brother Sherman as he carries on The Holmes Brothers legacy with his own Sherman Holmes Project along with Brooks Long and Eric Kennedy. 

Wendell, the man Entertainment Weekly has called "a timeless original," was born in Christchurch, Virginia in 1943. He and his older brother Sherman were raised by their schoolteacher parents, who nurtured the boys’ early interest in music. As youngsters they listened to traditional Baptist hymns, anthems and spirituals as well as blues music by Jimmy Reed, Junior Parker and B.B. King. According to Wendell, “It was a small town, and my brother and I were about the only ones who could play anything. So we played around in all the area churches on Sundays.” The night before, though, they would play blues, soul, country and rock at their cousin’s local club, Herman Wate’s Juke Joint. “When he couldn’t get any good groups to come from Norfolk or Richmond, he’d call us in,” Wendell recalls. “That’s how we honed our sound. We used to say we’d rock ‘em on Saturday and save ‘em on Sunday.”

Once Wendell finished high school he joined Sherman, who had already begun playing professionally in New York. The two brothers played in a few bands before forming The Sevilles in 1963. The group lasted only three years, but they often backed up touring artists like The Impressions, John Lee Hooker and Jerry Butler, gaining a wealth of experience. Sherman and Wendell met drummer Popsy Dixon, a fellow Virginian, at a New York gig in 1967. Dixon sat in with the brothers and sang two songs. “After that second song,” recalls Wendell, “Popsy was a brother.” They continued to play in a variety of Top 40 bar bands until 1979, when the three officially joined forces and formed The Holmes Brothers band.The band toured the world, releasing 12 albums starting with 1990's In The Spirit on Rounder. Their most recent release is 2014's Brotherhood on Alligator. The New York Times calls The Holmes Brothers "deeply soulful, uplifting and timeless."
 
In September 2014, The Holmes Brothers were honored with a National Endowment For The Arts National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor the United States bestows upon its folk and traditional artists. They won two Blues Music Awards including Blues Band Of The Year in 2005. The Holmes Brothers are featured on the cover of the current issue of Living Blues magazine.