What: Jon Holt’s “Eaglefeather” CD release party

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Lone Star Sports Bar & Grill, 2370 E. FM 93, Temple

Admission: $7

Note: For information, call 771-1500

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It starts with a painting of a feather on a wall.

From there, Jon Holt, a 42-year-old musician was inspired to write and record the song that would become the soul of his debut album, “Eaglefeather.”

The song “Jonny Eaglefeather” talks of a musician who has “played so many shows for his native clan he had to leave the reservation, he had to form a band … and made them yell for more.”

The lyrics echo through Holt’s life. He picked up his first instrument, the ukulele, at age 8 and moved to the guitar a few years later.

Growing up in Corpus Christi, Holt practiced guitar with his friends, but never joined a band saying he preferred to perform solo. After high school, he joined the Army and used the music as a form of therapy.

“When I felt like times were tough or I had a little too much stress, I’d pick on the guitar,” Holt said.

While stationed in Hawaii in 1997, Holt signed up for a Battle of the Bands concert and won first place with a group of local artists.

The band eventually dissolved and Holt moved to a new post at Fort Carson in Colorado where he continued to sharpen his skills.

In 1999, Holt was offered a contracting job with Fort Hood and he made his way back to Texas. For the next several years, he performed at venues all across Central Texas.

The contracting job eventually took Holt to Iraq - “the desert” as he calls it. Using the opportunity to “keep the rust off,” he performed during his time overseas.

After returning from Iraq in February, Holt set up shop in the Temple Mall food court and played free for customers during the summer months. He also pulled double-duty in the recording studio from July to September.

“We’d do marathon 10 hour sessions most every weekend,” Holt said. “I’d also go in about two nights during the week and we’d put about four hours in. At a minimum we were putting at least a dozen hours a week. It seems like it was 100 hours in the studio.”

Holt worked with local musician and producer David Zychek at Largemouth Recording Studios to find the sound of his album.

“It was a back-and-forth thing,” Holt said. “He would have an idea and it would be good and that would spark something in me. Then the ideas would be just back and forth for the creation of this album.”

Zychek said he “helped (Holt) connect his vision of the tunes with the right instruments.”

The songs on the album all come from areas of Holt’s life.

In “Musical World,” Holt said he sings about “what I’ve seen from the music scene in general from playing at the Lone Star, beer, cigarettes and sometimes just letting reality take a little chill pill.”

The song “Carry On” has been in the works for more than a decade.

“I wrote that many years ago,” Holt said. “I wrote it in my barracks room when I was still in the Army. It went through a couple of incarnations before it became this song.”

Holt’s original idea for the album was the duo of him on guitar and his son, Matt, on bass.

“I thought it would come out a little more raw and acoustic sounding,” Holt said.

Instead he enlisted the help of Central Texas artists such as Dave Irons, Colt 45 and Ronny Griffin along with his son. He also said he found a new appreciation for the songs with a full band.

“I’ve played everyone of these songs acoustic,” Holt said. “But some songs now that I hear them (acoustic) they feel empty to me.”

Holt laughed when he talked about the struggle with exactly how to categorize his album.

“I don’t know what genre to put it in. I just wanted it to be a variety of songs,” Holt said.

Zychek agreed that the album is hard to pin a style on.

“I don’t know what you’d call it,” Zychek said. “It is so open to interpretation. There is something about it that has an originality.”

One thing Holt makes clear is that he feels he has paid his musical dues with performances at open mics and coffee shops across Texas.

“I’ve played in Dallas, Austin and Luckenbach,” Holt said. “These were all little milestones and things that I felt like I had to do in order to be a musician in Texas.”

The release party is Holt’s first test for “Eaglefeather” and he said he’ll just wait and see if people follow the call of Jonny Eaglefeather and “yell for more.”

“I’m just thankful to have made the CD,” Holt said. “After that I have no plan, except to make it available and see if people like it.”

Holt’s music is available at www.myspace.com/jonholtmusic.

rrenfrow@temple-telegram.com