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The River Roses 1984-1991 The River Roses were on the bill with Al Perry the very first live music night at Club Congress; May 31, 1985 by Don Jennings, host of KXCI's Locals Only Chris Holiman has been a fixture in the Tucson music scene for much of the last 25 years, and he's the organizer of the annual Wooden Ball event which, for the past 10 years, has been uniting Tucson bands young and old for an evening of acoustic performances. But it was his singing and songwriting in the River Roses and 35 Summers that have arguably been his largest contributions to the Tucson music scene.

It was the mid-to-late 80's when the River Roses were the darlings of Tucson music fans, flirting with major labels and being one of the first Tucson bands to play the esteemed South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas. Chris Holiman was joined in River Roses by Caitlyn Von Schmidt, Peter Catalanotte, and Gene Ruley (who would later go on to play in many other Tucson bands including the Zsa-Zsa's).

After the breakup of the River Roses in the early 90's, Holiman wasted no time in starting his next project, 35 Summers. Over the course of 7 years and 3 albums, 35 Summers would see a whole slew of Tucson musicians revolve through it's lineup: Tommy Larkins, Randy McReynolds, Trixy Crowder, Jim Cox, and Todd Pearson, just to name a few. And guest appearances on the studio albums were numerous: Rainer, Chris Cacavas, Calexico's Joey Burns, and former River Roses bandmates Gene Ruley and Caitlyn Von Schmidt, among others. But it was the vocal pairing of Holiman and Tammy Allen that really epitomized the pop-rock sound of 35 Summers in the mid-to-late 90's, and it was a sad day when the band decided to pack it in.

Chris Holiman forged on with songwriting, and continues to play regularly as both a solo artist and occasionally with his band the Downtown Saints. But on Labor Day weekend, Tucsonans will have an opportunity to catch both the River Roses and 35 Summers when they reunite for the Club Congress 20th Anniversary Event. 40 Tucson bands from the past 2 decades will perform over 3 days on 3 stages, and 20 artists are reuniting specifically for the event. For more information, you can visit Hotel Congress