Originally Published on August 12th, 2026

When I reviewed Ballads, by J Holmes, I was intrigued by his character. He was this guy living in Japan who wrote excellent punk music with his band, Fever Moon, but also wrote this old rock/country sound that was incredibly relevant today. Like a reincarnate of Bruce Springsteen. His voice was the perfect kind of ugly beautiful that would just keep me listening. It’s as if he wasn’t actually a musician, but a Spirit Guide.

125. EP Review of Ballads by J Holmes

He caught my attention with his submission by telling me that he was donating the proceeds of his album sales to charity. This was another indicator he was just a kindred spirit. I listened to Ballads, as well as his album, Cedarwings. Afterwards, when he released HONEYHORSE, I reviewed that one as well. I actually obsessed over that album honestly.

When I saw a submission for Ballads 2, I just knew it would be something special. I am a deeply positive guy and sometimes that bleeds into my vision for this platform. I want to be genuinely critical. I want to point out the good. I want to point out the areas where there are opportunities for improvement. I think, sometimes, I try to be too nice. I’ve been in a relatively dark place for a couple of weeks. It has been difficult to shake, honestly. It gives me the clarity to be absolutely honest.

Ballads 2: Get Stoned and Sing

Ballads 2: Get Stoned and Sing was released on August 12th, 2026. It is an 8 song album that runs at around 27 minutes long. Songs were written and recorded by J Holmes and independently released. It features one single released prior to the album, Floodlights, which released on July 29th. It follows the 2025 release of the EP Ballads, and Holmes’ LP album release of HONEYHORSE.

So, I’ve been in a really weird place for the last couple of weeks. I don’t know what it is, this depressive state. I sort of feel like the walls are closing in. The closer I look to my home, my wife, and my family, the more at ease I feel. The moment I look beyond that, I feel a need to circle the wagons.

I say that to say, something’s effecting me. It’s effecting how I am hearing the music too. Something happened when I listened to Ballads 2 the first time. After the first run through the music, I wasn’t feeling it. I mean, I listened to Perfect Love and I felt that was catchy but the rest of it didn’t resonate with me. Not like the first Ballads did. So, I closed my eyes, I took a deep breath, and I waited for quiet. When it came, I played it again.

The feeling of the music hit me like a truck. Like an absolute truck. Just as I wasn’t expecting to not feel anything upon the first listen, I hadn’t expected the emotional content of the second listen to practically overpower me. It was all sticking. Even parts that I can’t entirely relate to, I felt connections by way of my own, similar experiences. I’ve never been kicked out of rehab, or been to rehab to be kicked out of rehab. But I’ve done some bad shit because I felt like I had to do it and I couldn’t stop from doing it. I’ve even tried to stop and failed at trying to stop too. I realized that the music was resonating exactly in line with how I was feeling. This indescribable, depressive space where I feel like I’m good but something’s definitely wrong. Like a person with cancer before the diagnosis. The album catches that and it says, “instead of dwelling on that depression, let’s sing about it.” No.

“Let’s get high and sing.”

I’ve learned a lot from this experience. When I set out to do Fifteen Minutes of Fame, I wanted to leave the “algorithm mindset” behind. I wanted to evolve to a critical plane that existed on a spectrum. I guess it’s not really evolving, I guess it is returning to a place where we can devote more time and thought to things. Music, in particular. However, it is evolving, because the world isn’t going to slow down while we stop to appreciate something. So, we look for balance. Personally, I feel myself searching for that balance every day.

I am obsessed with statistics, with numbers. I LOVE numbers. Numbers are great, but they don’t define an artist. Therefore, I am learning when to consider numbers and when to not. I’ve learned that I don’t like to look at the numbers when an artist submits music. I just go right into the work.

If I had stopped to look at J Holmes’ statistics, would I have taken the time to listen to him? Do people stop to look at my statistics before they decide whether or not they want to listen to me? When I perform, I don’t want people thinking about that. I doubt that J Holmes does either. The more I understand J Holmes, the more I truly believe he doesn’t care about numbers. He might not even be aware of them.

J Holmes is an authentic, punk cowboy. He is an incredibly interesting human being. The funds that he made from these Ballads projects are all being donated. He sees that there is more to music than his persona and there is more to it than algorithmic deception. It is extraordinary and it is inspiring.

On the surface, we don’t see the stories. But we all have them: me, you, and J Holmes. J Holmes has a very real, very human story.

“In January 2024, I started having seizures and the episodes were so serious that it took me out of commission suddenly and without warning. I went from going out to concerts, drinking 2 bottles of wine a night, to being stuck in the house all day experimenting with different medications to try and help the problem.

I was an absolute mess. But, within that timeframe, I began having what I can only describe as extreme spiritual enlightenment. It was profoundly unnerving and unexpected, and my entire mental frame simply began to creak and snap.

It was during this moment that I found myself having my first experience traveling outside of my physical body and somehow drifting through the cracks of space and time. The strongest image that I recall from this ride was floating high above an open green field. On that field, was a lighted stage and there below was a band playing live to an enthusiastic audience. The air was full of cool spring night air and everything felt clean and peaceful. The members of the band were playing a wonderful song and, as the song began, I realized that this was a song that I had written. Or was going to create very soon.

The tune was immediately strange and familiar and I could feel a natural, sad warmth radiating from the ground to the sky. It filled me with a sense of awe and confusion. In my astral vision, the song was called Floodlights.

When I awoke in the new morning, I pulled out my notebook and scratched the lyrics out. As I was writing, I heard the voice of Joe Jack Talcum singing the words. It was as if a childhood connection to listening to The Dead Milkmen cassettes as a kid was merging with my pen all the while as the previous night’s sky vision was the intertwining energy that somehow bridged it all into being. A few weeks later, I sent Joe Jack Talcum a demo of the song and asked if he would be into the idea of singing along.

And, just like that, it was thread together.” (J Holmes)

Go press play.