Malcolm Holcombe
Biographie Malcolm Holcombe
Malcolm Holcombe
Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, Malcolm Holcombe is being recognized by the contemporary U.S and European folk/americana community as a performer of national stature, and an uncommonly unique guitarist/vocalist about whom Rolling Stone magazine says: "Haunted country, acoustic blues and rugged folk all meet [here]..."
The acts of writing songs and playing music have always been hopeful ones, however bleak the subject matter of the songs might be. With Down the River, Malcolm Holcombe has once again given us a handful of songs that are testimony to the human spirit. In these songs, the old truths still hold. Love, the inner life, music, these are eternal verities and will outlast the trickery and chicanery of those who would turn us against each other. In these strange and troubled times, we need Holcombe’s witness as much as we ever have, and it is our good fortune to receive it.
A study in paradox, Malcolm is well-known and unknown. He’s praised as a national treasure, and yet he’s not sitting by the phone, waiting to receive any shiny awards. He’s a musician who hones his craft for the sake of the craft- a quality that’s in short supply in a world where the shortest route to getting famous is the most frequently taken.
Within this dance between reverence and anonymity, Holcombe has managed to reap high praise in more music reviews than can be counted throughout his more than twenty years of making music. He’s from the back- backwoods of North Carolina, yet he’s managed to touch a global audience, receiving accolades from as far away as Germany and Italy.
His gritty, honest, woeful guitar beckons you to listen to his often tongue-in-cheek tales of hard living, simple pleasures, and sage-like wisdom, yet Holcombe gives us so much more. This is music designed not just to tell us a story about people and places, but walk us directly to another place and time.
