Great Show tomorrow night at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville

SPECIAL BACKSTAGE SHOW!Stuart's welcomes North Carolina folk/Americana cult legend Malcolm Holcombe for a special backstage show! Don't miss this one! Tickets on sale now!
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]...A 5 song EP by singer-songwriter Malcolm Holcombe, Wager, was released on October 9, 2007. This is a companion piece to a 12 song Malcolm Holcombe CD, Gamblin' House, which will be released January 15, 2008.Holcombe, who recently signed with new indy label Echo Mountain Records, went into Echo Mountain Studios to record his first CD release for the label with a wealth of new material. With Grammy award winning producer Ray Kennedy at the helm, and highly notable musicians Kenny Malone (drums, percussion), David Roe Rorick (bass) and Ed Snodderly (dobro, fiddle, banjo) rounding out the ensemble, Wager and Gamblin' House resound with a fresh take on Holcombe's highly distinctive music and lyricism.

Try as you might to use other adjectives, when you write about Malcolm Holcombe and his work, you always come back to rugged and rustic. His visage appears to be carved of granite, and his voice is a sculpture crafted of tree bark and discarded railroad iron. His words and images cling to you for hours, even days, like wood smoke.
All of those things certainly apply to his new Gamblin’ House, produced by Ray Kennedy (Steve Earle, Ray Davies), a gentleman that Malcolm has wanted to work with for a long while. "We were second-story men. We put our ears to the safe and cracked it," offers Malcolm rather cryptically. (A conversation with Malcolm Holcombe is a fascinating festival of crypticisms, old sayings, and anecdotes punctuated with pronouncements.) "We learned the songs downstairs, then went upstairs and played them." Joining Malcolm and Ray in that pursuit was a rhythm section of Kenny Malone and David Roe, along with longtime cohort Ed Snodderly on several stringed instruments including what Malcolm calls "old-time fiddle." As always, there are echoes of John Prine and Guy Clark and the lesser-known kindred spirit Bill Morrissey, but the total package is all Malcolm Holcombe. His is a sound that combines harmonica-blessed folk, acoustic blues, stringband country, and smalltown-bred soul.
However, to get the full effect of that primordial soul, you need to see Malcolm onstage; his legendary performances are intense and all out. "If you're gonna do something, do it," is his explanation. "If you're gonna dig a ditch, dig a ditch. If you're gonna shine a shoe, shine a shoe." In other words, if you're gonna stand in front of a crowd of strangers with just your guitar and your songs, make it worth their time. He does it by presenting those songs with a gospel fervor (call it half howl, half hosanna) and with a penetrating stare, aimed (thank goodness) at nothing and no one, that becomes almost as deeply ingrained as his songs. It's sinewy and unfussy, the man, the music, and the delivery.
For more information, visit www.malcolmholcombe.com