If Janis Joplin had joined Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac…. It might have sounded a lot like this.
Eric Gales needs no introduction. Guitar World’s Best New Talent for 1991, Billboard blues chart-topper, and a 2022 Grammy nominee, Gales is also a Cleopatra Records regular (most recently his 2023 collaboration with Doug Pinnick, covering Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love”), as well as a regular on the official Jimi Hendrix tribute tours.
Mick Jagger is a fan, and so is Joe Bonamassa, who has described him as“one of the best, if not the best, guitar players in the world.” Now he’s playing alongside Swedish born, LA based Linn Holmes, on her Cleopatra Records debut single, spreading molten guitar across an audacious cover of the Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post.”
“He is such a phenomenal guitar player and musician,” says Linn. “I've listened a lot to his previous work. I am beyond honored that he wanted to work with me on this track!
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/FxFUtoF-DAY
Linn was still a child the first time she heard Gregg Allman’s “Whipping Post” - not on the Allmans’ debut album where it first appeared, but via the southern rockers’ 1971 Fillmore live album, where it consumes one entire side of vinyl.
It remains one of her all-time favorite songs, but taking it into the studio with Gales, plus producers Daniel Jakubovic and Rev. Tom Chandler, she adopted an altogether different approach to the number.
Condensing the Allmans’ 22 minute epic to less than three-and-one-half minutes, without losing an iota of the energy, was a tall order after all. But drenching the song even deeper in the blues, Linn’s vocal is spellbinding and Gales’ guitar is electrifying. There’s ears out there that have been listening to the Allmans’ version for over half a century. But with Gales at his most incendiary, Linn makes it her own regardless.
”As a massive Allman Brothers fan, recording ‘Whipping Post’ - I have never had more fun in the studio, getting to pay tribute to one of my favorite bands of all time and to get to create our own take on the song.
“I hope the listeners can feel the pure excitement of working on this track, as we are beyond thrilled to share it with you.”
Of course, none of this should come as a surprise. A long standing stalwart of the LA session scene, Linn’s magnificent voice is familiar too from her work alongside the 12-piece vintage rock group Harry Katz and the Pistachios, with the duo Asteron, Canadian rockers Elderoth and Quiet Riot bassist Chuck Wright’s Ultimate Jam Night all-stars.
Her own solo career, too, is exploding. Invited to appear on Fernando Perdomo’s 2025 tribute to Hall & Oates’s epochal War Babies album, Linn turned in what has to be one of the vocal performances of the year.
Two 2024 singles, “Cut Me” and the vivacious “Baby Blue,” meanwhile, set the stage for her debut EP Introducing Linn Holmes, described by The Source as “reflect[ing] Holmes’ deep appreciation for the rich musical heritage of the past while infusing it with a contemporary flair.”
Now Linn has joined the Cleopatra family, and her label debut, accompanied by a captivating video, can only embed her even deeper into the vanguard of modern rock’s most dynamic vocalists.
Catch Linn live with an acoustic set at the Foundation Room at the Los Angeles House of Blues, on Saturday May 31.
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/linnholmes_whippingpost
