Since 2012, this is now the 7th album of Malcom Holcombe’s I have reviewed and ‘Bits & Pieces’ is his 18th album overall. Authentic is the adjective I have used most and it applies again for his latest release.
The album’s title suggests this baker’s dozen are orphan songs but they sound fully realized tunes to my ear. Thinking longer and harder was, however, a luxury Holcombe could ill afford. A cancer diagnosis in 2022 forced him and musical soulmate Jared Tyler to get these songs recorded sooner rather than later.
Tyler provides backing on harmonies, guitars, mandola, dobro and banjo. He also co-produced the album with Brian Brinkerhoff in North Carolina.
Life is depicted as an “everyday battle” that doesn’t come with a tidy plan or a neat set of rules (The Wind Doesn’t Know You).
Holcombe knows full well that good fortune or bad luck are not distributed fairly. He charts existence as a lottery based on deep experience not empty speculation. On Fill These Shoes, he sings “People get murdered for no reason / Some give up their lives so others keep breathin'.”
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Holcombe is more at home in a Hard Luck City than a Happy Wonderland but he doesn’t dwell on negativity for the sake of it. In Conscience of Manhe sings: “Great spirit lift me from despair / to your bosom sweet and fair.”.
This album may, in the words of Another Sweet Deal, be “one more for the road” but Holcombe is nothing if not a survivor so I’ll be waiting hopefully for a follow up.
Malcolm Holcombe’s website
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