“Martinez has at least one other big plan in mind on her yellow brick road to country music stardom. Rather than moving to Nashville like so many songsters, she hopes to help Charlottesville develop its country scene into “a new Bakersfield,” referring to the late ’50s-era home of honky-tonk. Along with her own burgeoning band, she says acts like Charlie and the 45’s, who frequent Honky Tonk Karaoke at Holly’s Diner, and John Shanesy and The Accommodation, which skews toward the outlaw side of the honky-tonk spectrum, are poised to drive the growth. And while Charlottesville has a few musical miles to go before it’s the new Bakersfield, Martinez figures the current zeitgeist makes the time right. Renaissance, after all, follows the plague, she says.” — C-Ville Weekly, 8-10-22

Ramona and the Holy Smokes is a Honky Tonk band from Charlottesville Virginia, whose original country music recalls classic country from the 1950s and 60s. 

The Holy Smokes are fronted by Ramona Martinez, a prolific singer-songwriter whose sincere and heartfelt music has been described as “incredibly relatable” and “earnest.” She also pulls from her Mexican-American roots to perform and compose traditional Mariachi music in a Country Western style.

The current line-up of the Holy Smokes includes: Kyle Lawton Kilduff (Electric guitar), Brooks Hefner (Pedal Steel), Jay Ouypron (Bass), and Porter Bralley (Drums.)

After taking Central Virginia by storm, Ramona & the Holy Smokes are touring more extensively in the Mid-Atlantic, the South, & New England.