Malcolm Holcombe last night at Stuart's

Stuart's had a "house concert" up on the stage last night, seating about 50 folks or so, for a good show by Malcolm Holcombe, from North Carolina. He is a unique and intriguing performer; both in his singing/guitar playing; and his stage presence, and in his songs. After watching him perform his two sets, and becoming rapt with his performance, I went home and read Peter Cooper's article about him in the Jan./Feb 2008 issue of No Depression. Of course you can count on Peter to have a good article about a musician, and capture many aspects right on. 53 years old; having spent some time moving around with music, and spending some Nashville time, he is back in his native North Carolina; the Asheville area. Some quotes from the Cooper article:
""not that Holcombe's music was easy over eggs; He was bracing, always. Malcolm Holcombe is lullaby-less. Somebody once told me he played brilliant songs that she didn't want to hear."
"He reinvents our language, this Holcombe fellow. Or he subverts it, at least." "he's not one for a line. He's elliptical, obtuse, indistinct and vague, and yet somehow he hits the nail wherever it is that you're supposed to hit the nail." "His guitar playing is completely atypical. Holcombe bangs and pounds on his acoustic, which he tunes down a whole step and then capos at the first fret, thus raising it a half step from the whole step down. In his lyrics he creates patterns of images that aren't bound by any notion of achieving specificity of anything other than emotion. Wasted words and untruths are nonexistent."
He had some dark times; living in rough motel rooms in Nashville when his music buddies took him "home" and wondered if they would see him again; reminds me of Andy's song about Henry Chinaski. He had a contract with a big label in the late 90's- and then after recording an album, they didn't put it out. He worked in diners in Nashville, and would get up for the occasional song/ or set, and amaze folks. So this is an intriguing musician.
We came away with some phrases from some songs, that stick with you, and an eagerness to follow this career.

I liked attending one of the back stage shows at Stuart's; just to see how they put that on.