Blues come to Dodson

East Texas' Edwin Holt is bringing his chart-topping music to Kilgore.

Holt will perform in concert June 10 at 8 p.m. at Dodson Auditorium

Tickets are priced between $15 and $30 and are available by calling 1800-714-6019, toll free. All seats are reserved.

Holt's blues tune, "Down to the Bone," a cut from this first album Second Time Around, has taken the number one spot on XM radio's Bluesville, Channel 74.

"I can't believe it!" he said. "It's my first album! My thanks go out to the listeners and XM radio for the playtime and contacting me with this exciting news!"

Released in June 2005, cuts from "Second Time Around" have been playing on XM radio for just a few weeks.

"The audience response is amazing," Holt said. "The album did very well in Europe. It was No. 2 in France for a longtime."

XM radio is not the only venue noticing Holt's talent: Vicente Zumel of "La Hora del Blues" (Spain) featured cuts from the CD for the entire month of March and gave rave reviews.

The album was produced in the Dallas-area using "all the top quality musicians, choirs and horn sections," Holt said.

It contains a lot of material written by Holt and his guitarist David Brashier.

"There are six cover songs on the album that I wanted to record or was told I should record," Holt said.

This month Holt will travel to Australia for the Blues on Broadbeach Festival, which selected Holt as one of only four international acts to perform.

Holt grew up in East Texas and has been singing the Blues nearly 15 years opening shows with legends like Bobby "Blue" Bland and Johnnie Taylor.

Holt began his musical journey at the age of six, thanks to an uncle who just happened to be a prison guard at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.

He sat on the front row, surrounded by prisoners chained together at the arms and legs, while Jerry Lee Lewis essentially brought the house down.

Twelve years later, after attending the Mississippi Delta Blues Festival, the spark was rekindled.

Holt played the bars and juke joints in Memphis and learned from Delta legends like James ''Son'' Thomas and Willie Foster before moving back to East Texas and eventually settling in Dallas.

Holt and his 12 piece Conspiracy Band are a fixture on the South Dallas Blues scene.