Salty Holmes, Date of Birth, Date of Death
TweetSalty Holmes
American musician
Date of Birth: 06-Mar-1909
Date of Death: 01-Jan-1970
Profession: actor
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Pisces 
About Salty Holmes
- Floyd Holmes (March 6, 1910 – January 1, 1970), better known as Salty Holmes, was an American country musician and Western B-movie actor. Holmes was born of Cherokee lineage in Glasgow, Kentucky.
- He became a virtuoso on the harmonica, specializing in the style known as "talking harp" which imitated the human voice (much like Sonny Terry).
- He also played the jug and guitar.
- He formed the group The Kentucky Ramblers in 1930, who changed their name to The Prairie Ramblers in 1933 and began broadcasting on Chicago radio station WLS-AM with new vocalist Patsy Montana.
- They continued performing and recording under this name until 1952, playing country, hillbilly music, gospel, and pop songs.
- They were the backing group on Montana's platinum hit "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart".
- Group members included Jack Taylor on bass, Chick Hurt on mandolin, and Alan Crocket and, later, Tex Atchison on fiddle.
- They made over 100 recordings between 1933 and 1940, including as session musicians. The Prairie Ramblers have been called a "hot string band" and "a hot fiddler band".
- Both their "aggressive rhythms" and Chick Hurt's mandolin playing inspired Bill Monroe, the "Godfather of bluegrass", and a mandolin virtuoso.While a member of the Prairie Ramblers, Holmes befriended Gene Autry, who invited him to Hollywood to star in Westerns in 1936 and 1944; among the films Holmes appeared in are Arizona Days and Saddle Leather Law.
- In a scene of Arizona Days, Holmes played two harmonicas using his mouth and nose.
- The Prairie Ramblers also backed Autry on some of his recordings in the 1930s. He collaborated with Jean Chapel as Mattie & Salty, playing regularly on the Grand Ole Opry; the two married in 1947 and divorced in 1956 and had a daughter named Lana (Chapel) who was part of their act as a young child.
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