The veteran singer-songwriter will perform at Artistree this Friday
By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer
To borrow the title if not the sentiments of a classic Dusty Springfield song, Americana rocker and singer-songwriter Chad Hollister is the “Son of a Preacher Man.” The lifelong Vermonter and child of a Presbyterian minister brings a deep-seated spirituality, compassion, and sense of community to the music he creates, rooted in memory, empathy, and an abiding affection for his Green Mountain State roots.
Hollister, who now hails from Worcester, Vt., has built a devoted fan base throughout Vermont, New England, and the nation over the last three decades, touring as a solo act, in a duo with his longtime friend and bandmate, guitarist Jeff “Primo” Poremski, and fronting the Chad Hollister Big Band, which typically has up to 10 members. Now Hollister is bringing his rootsy sounds to the Hayloft Theater at the Artistree Community Arts Center in Pomfret for a solo acoustic performance this Friday evening, Jan. 12, at 7 p.m. The veteran roots rocker talked with the Standard last weekend, speaking reverently about his roots in Vermont, his present-day musical efforts, and the messages with which he imbues his songs.
“My dad started a new church, Christ Church, Presbyterian, just off North Avenue in Burlington, in 1954,” Hollister recollected. “If you know that round North Avenue Alliance Church that is there now, that was where I used to ride my champagne-sparkle-seated Schwinn bicycle through the sycamore trees. The round church wasn’t there at that time, but if you look just to the right of it today as you get off the Burlington Beltline, there’s a house there and attached to it, in what used to be a TV repair shop, was our church. I was born into that house at 909 North Avenue.”
Subsequent family moves took the young Hollister to Shelburne, the Champlain Islands, and finally, South Burlington, where he lived from the fourth grade through his years at the University of Vermont, from which he graduated in 1991 and where his life’s journey in music first took shape.
Two other musical luminaries and UVM alumni — Jon Trafton and Reid Genauer, who went on from college to form the beloved jam-rock outfit Strangefolk — were classmates of Hollister’s. “Jon and Reid used to play at the Middle Earth Café just as my duo was getting started too,” Hollister remembered, recalling a fabled Burlington music setting of yore. “We’d play with those guys every Wednesday night at Reuben James,” Hollister added. “I’d jam with them before Strangefolk was even formed. We were all good friends and still keep in touch.”
Fast forward 30 years and Chad Hollister’s life is still steeped in music and songcraft. But like many musicians in recent times, he’s seen a shift in his artistry coming out of the COVID pandemic. “This show at Artistree is a great example,” the roots musician said of this week’s gig — his first ever in the intimate confines of the Pomfret performance space. “We’ve been focusing more on taking fewer gigs and having the gigs mean more — being in more of a listening room setting instead of being in a bar or a big, loud setting where nobody cares.
Vermont-based roots rocker Chad Hollister and his longtime friend, bandmate, and guitarist Jeff “Primo” Poremski have toured extensively as a duo, playing standout “listening rooms” across the country in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The pair are shown here during a full-band performance at the Barre Opera House. Ross Mickel Photo
“My songs are thoughtful and intentional and about family, love, community, and positivity, which is really what’s important and what we are doing these days,” Hollister continued. “When I say ‘we,’ I mean me solo and then in a duo with my guitar player Primo, where we’re doing a lot of duo shows these days. We’ve guided things more toward the listening room-type settings, such as the City Winery in Boston, the Portsmouth Music Hall in New Hampshire, and the Shelburne Vineyard here in Vermont. Those are places where I can tell the stories and people really want to learn about a song and kind of become part of our community. The Big Band comes and goes these days, depending upon getting everyone together and the venues that can afford it. But one of my main goals is to not have the show be a one-off and then have them head back to their world, but instead to have them be able to take the music home, get on Spotify, and do a deep dive into my career of 30 years and seven recordings.”
Hollister has an eighth recording in the works — his first-ever, stripped-down, all-acoustic effort, setting aside the more expansive rocking sounds of his big band. “I’m working on a brand-new record with Jeff ‘Primo’ Paremski, our bass player, Rudy Dauth, and Chris Peterman, our sax player, who is from Richmond, Vt. We’ll have amazing special guests on the record as well, including Brett Lanier on pedal steel, who is coming up from Nashville, as well as Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew from the Talking Heads’ ‘Remain in Light’ tour, who’ll be playing on a track. It’s going to be just a real fun, acoustic record. The first single is actually out on Spotify right now. I wrote it with my sister. It’s called ‘Inner Sovereignty.’ We’ll be sprinkling a few more singles out there and then once we are finished we’ll release the whole thing, probably sometime in the spring.”
Asked near the end of last weekend’s conversation what Vermont means to him and how growing up and living in the state has impacted his songwriting, Hollister was effusive. “It couldn’t be any more my brand,” he commented. “If you want to get down to brass tacks, it’s where I was born, where I was raised, and where I continue to live. I just love the sense of community here. My wife Katie and I went to Connecticut and Massachusetts for brief stints — and we knew that we didn’t want to raise our family there. I feel that where you choose to lay your hat says so much about you as a person.
“I’m talking to you right now and I’m staring out at the trees,” Hollister concluded. “We have an owl that comes and visits us every few days and we just stare at it in wonder. I look at the mountains and the snow and the beauty of Vermont and it’s just so important to me. One of my biggest goals in life as a performer, singer, songwriter, producer — whatever it may be — is to inspire and bring the message of kindness and positivity to the world because we really, really need it.”