It’s that time of year again. The time of year when new releases dry up and we’ve got to look back and think about the year gone by. I never make a list but I will repost some of my favorites in no particular order.
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I know there’s a lot of music out there. Lots of different genre’s, sub genre’s, and micro sub genre’s. I know we’re all inundated with pr mailings, email submission requests and a stack of cds to plow through. And then we have our favorites that we champion. I have mine and you have yours. But I can’t believe there’s not more consensus on the music of Malcolm Holcombe. The guy is a major talent. Blogs like Nine Bullets, Herohill, Slowcoustic, Here Comes The Flood, and You Crazy Dreamers have all sung his praises and while that’s great I’d like think he could get out of our little rootsy music blog grotto.
Part of the blame rests at the feet of his label that although small, should have the resources to reach out to the music blogs and I think part of the blame rests at the feet of the premier music blog sites who are not open to blues and folk based music (unless it comes in a pre-approved hipster wrapper – Bon Iver, The Tallest Man On Earth). The new record Drink The Rain doesn’t break any new ground. The same could be said for nearly every classic record by Guy Clark, Greg Brown, John Prine, or Ray Willie Hubbard and like those artists Malcolm Holcombe has his own distinctive sound that combines amazing songwriting, a gutteral vocal delivery and a mastery of blues and folk based idioms.
I could link to any of the 12 song on the new record and you’d get my drift. But I think “One Man Singing” expresses some of the feelings I have about the artists we follow and love.
