A small yet enthusiastic crowd of hardcore Holcombe fans have descended on The Errigle Inn, huddled around the Real Music Club stage eagerly awaiting the evening’s performance. Their hero is sucking on a cigarette in the roof-top garden, cradling a pineapple juice and waxing lyrical with aficionados and admirers before unassumingly sneaking up front, perching at impossible angles on a battered chair and thumping out timeless rhythms and poetic verse.
Easing into the evening with “Mountains of Home” and “Down The River”, there’s a hark back to nature, to the old sounds of Appalachia and while the outlook may take in sweeping valleys and meandering rivers, the voice is as craggy and weathered as any mountain top. That’s the real beauty of a Malcolm Holcombe show. That conflict bundled up in one hunched-over, road weary, survivor. It’s mountainous peaks, deep river beds, the lonely windswept plains and the warm crackle of a vinyl record by the fireplace as the sun descends.
“Trail O’Money” marks the first foray into the more upbeat songs of the evening, coupled with “Sparrows and Sparrows” described by Holcolmbe himself as a “happy-go-lucky cut-your-throat tune”. Settled in now, we’re treated to stories that weave through song and the turbulent history of a man who many doubted would ever make it this far. There are a few references to the hellraising days and the “disturbed shit” that went down; tales of punches pulled in New Orleans and the mutual appreciation of times on the road with Mary Gauthier who’s a great friend of Holcomb and also of Belfast’s Real Music Club.
It’s impossible to forget that folk and blues music originated with the old spirituals and gospel tunes of the New World and there’s been a long tradition of Jesus weaving into lyrics alongside jukeboxes and Jack Daniels. “Whenever I Pray” and “For The Mission Baby” tease out the more God-fearing thoughts that lurk somewhere in that mixed up Americana darkness as Holcombe rants about church bells and the digital revolution. This is your altar call folks. This is communion. There’s no hellfire and brimstone just a simple call for a short break wherein we can “go smoke some cigarettes and touch each other”.
Holcombe is the real deal. In a week nestled between the release of a new Johnny Cash record and a new HBO series of ‘True Blood’ we find ourselves in the musical equivalent. Inspirations are worn firmly on sleeves tonight with name-checking of the aforementioned Gauthier, alongside The Kingston Trio, The Andrews Sisters and Maura O’Connell. The latter’s “Far Cry From Here” is one of the sets more tender moments alongside a brand new track “For The Love Of A Child”.
He’s been through wars with alcohol and with record labels and yet with a back catalogue stretching back over the decades; there’s potential for this show to go on all night, putting other artists repertoires to shame. There’s no need for stomp-boxes or holey dungarees or the moth-eaten hats of the likes of Seasick Steve here. No bullshit. No fakery. With Malcolm Holcombe what you hear is what you get.