Local musician Johnny Holliday gets back to his rustic roots with Rattle Can at Bounty Bar
by Miranda Steadman | Contributing Writer
Local musician Johnny Holliday serves up a savory helping of blues the second Saturday of every month at Bounty Bar on Folly under the name Rattle Can. It was Holliday’s older sister who coined the moniker. You can also find him off the beaten path any given Wednesday on the stage at Chico Feo.
“On a pretty day, Chico Feo feels like a neighborhood block party that’s just a block off the beach,” says Holliday, who enjoys jamming on the outside bar’s “janky stage” among the “jungle trees” of Folly Beach. At Chico Feo you might find Holliday rocking a self-styled drum kit that he MacGyvered out of an old suitcase from the 1950s. He put a kickdrum inside and ran a microphone through the vintage suitcase to create the unique instrument.
Inspired by artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells and Junior Kimbrough, Holliday’s performances meld guitar, harmonica, and percussion together. He credits late greats, such as John Prine and Townes Van Zandt as his major songwriting influences. One time he caught Shakey Graves busking outside of an Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros show in Austin, Texas. He was impressed by his unapologetically raw style and you can hear that influence in Holliday’s own live performances.
Holliday’s musical journey actually began years before that. He says his father, who played guitar and harmonica, encouraged him to play music. So, he started playing the banjo when he was 15 years old. After his father passed away, Holliday’s Uncle Jimbo took him in and bought him his first Gibson guitar. He moved to Portland, Ore. when he was just 19. There, he recorded an album with his uncle and began playing music with Holy Smokes and The Godforsaken Rollers.
Holliday has performed as far as South Africa, where he rocked Splashy Fin Music Festival and random venues around Durban, South Africa. He treasures memories of traveling to Mazunte, Mexico to perform. Holliday decided to move back to the South to play music. He was excited to reunite with old friends back here, like musicians Riley Randall of See Water and Noah Jessup.
After returning to Charleston, Holliday started the rock band 87 Nights. Then, over the Covid-19 quarantine, the band got together and wrote an album in a cabin located outside of Asheville in Burnsville, North Carolina. Wolfgang Zimmerman of Brave Baby produced the band’s first album. 87 Night’s next record will be titled Can of Worms.
“My music is going back to my roots with Rattle Can,” says Holliday, adding that he digs the atmosphere at Bounty Bar because the funky lighting sets the mood for his shows. Holliday is often joined onstage by friends such as violinist Lightning Luke from Bridge City Sinners, Susto keys player Dillon Dawkins, and Liam Farrell and Layton Meacham of The Destinators. Also, from time-to-time, Holliday will jam with members of the local band Little Bird in another project called Foxhunt.
