Highway gig for Malcolm Holcombe

THE distinctive American burr of Malcolm Holcombe will be one of the first things the audience notices when he plays the Highway in Crusheen on Sunday.
A native of North Carolina, he has just brought out a new album and he spoke to The Clare Champion from England last week, where he has been touring.
The response to his eighth full length album has been very positive, he says. “Folks have been awful nice. This record To Drink the Rain came out over here on February 14 on Music Road Records. Folks over here have been very kind, very receptive so far on the tour. It’s very humbling and folks have been very understanding.”
His work has been lauded in the USand writing in the Arkansas Times, Robert Bell praised his lack of pretence. “These days, there are hordes of performers who truck in ‘Americana’ or ‘roots’ or ‘folk’ music. But HoLcombe’s art is no phony drawl, pearl-snap affectation. Nor is it sterile, suffocated by-the-numbers old-timey music, suffocated by joyless authenticity. It is the real thing. If that sounds like your cup of tea, you’d best not miss him the next time he comes to town.”
Malcolm says that despite the time he has spent travelling and all he has been exposed to, his music is still rooted in his home place. “Being from the South, in the hills of western North Carolina, it’s very hard to lose that heritage.”
To Drink the Rain is his eighth album and he wants listeners to make up their own minds on it. “It’s kind of a crapshoot man, I’ve been trying to separate the wheat from the chaff and not pigeonhole any note or song. It’s left up to whatever gestates in the heart or in the ears of anyone who has the time and the wherewithall to indulge themselves in some of this caterwauling.”
While he says he hasn’t been to Clare before, he has huge admiration for one of the county’s most famous artists. “Some of my influences would be Peter Paulin, Mary Dillon, Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Burl Ives is one of my favourites. I’m very grateful to Maura O’Connell who covered a couple of songs on her Walls and Window record. I’ve never met her but she’s just a gem of Ireland and I’m very humbled that she recorded a couple of my songs.”
The music industry is renowned for hard living and Malcolm has had his own problems, although he is now sober. “I was like an artful dodger and I ran out of tricks! Then again, we have choices and I made some poor choices and now I’m trying to sow in a more fertile field.”
Now, he’s enjoying his music and the touring. “I’m glad to be working, times are hard so it’s great to be of service. I’ve got a wonderful tour manager in Shaun Whitehouse so there’s a lot of teamwork and people have been very kind. There’s a lot of good people in this world man.”
*Malcolm Holcombe’s show at the Highway in Crusheen will kick off at 9pm on Sunday. Tickets are available at the door or by calling Frank on 086 8599957.