Malcolm Holcombe

Event information

Born and raised in the Blue Ridge mountain town of Weaverville, 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]...

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. His is a sound that combines folk, acoustic blues, country, filtered through a smalltown-bred primordial soul.

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 going to 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 absolutely gripping, the man, the music, and the delivery.

‘songs that are at one moment frightening in their intensity, the next tugging your heartstrings’ - Acoustic Magazine

‘mixing raw homegrown mountain country, bluegrass and footstomping blues’ - fRoots

Renowned for live performances that glow with gospel fervour in a voice that has been described as ‘half howl, half hosanna’ - BBC Country