Rick Holmstrom w/ special guest Laura Chavez
Rick Holmstrom, Laura Chavez
McCabe's Guitar Shop3101 Pico Blvd, Los Angeles 90405
Rick Holmstrom brings a solo set to McCabe’s Guitar Shop, joined by special guest Laura Chavez. The pairing puts two blues guitarists on the same bill, with Chavez’s guest appearance adding a second voice to the evening. The show takes place in McCabe’s back-room listening space, where the audience sits among the instrument shop’s walls of guitars and the focus stays firmly on the players.
Holmstrom has released seven solo albums through labels including Black Top, Tone Cool and M.C. Records. His work with Mavis Staples earned Grammy wins for You Are Not Alone in 2011 and Beautiful Strangers in 2026, following nominations in 2009, 2013 and 2015. He has toured with Johnny Dyer, William Clarke, Rod Piazza and Booker T, and played with Staples on tours alongside Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Trombone Shorty and Ziggy Marley; in 2014, Holmstrom and Staples performed for President Obama at the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. Chavez has played with Lara Price and the late Candye Kane. A reviewer describes her playing as “stinging, soulful, and personal,” drawing on Texas, California, Chicago and Mississippi blues styles, with “maximum tone with minimal distortion.”
McCabe’s is a working instrument shop with a concert history stretching back to the late 1960s, and its back room has welcomed both emerging artists and performers who keep returning. The show takes place among walls hung with guitars and other stringed instruments, with the audience seated in folding chairs facing a small stage. It is a listening room: there is no bar, and the quiet lets acoustic detail and lyrics carry through the room. Concerts are ticketed, and the shop’s current listings and tickets are available online, so check ahead for your show. The shop is on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica; the concert room is reached through the store. Expect an evening focused on the performance, rather than drinks or dinner between sets.