★★★★★
Malcolm Holcombe's markedly rough-edged pipes match up well with either the most pungent blues line or recollections of a more warm-hearted nature. The Carolina singer/guitarist here reveals himself to be a considerably versatile tune-crafter as well. Acoustic accompaniment is first-rate. Standouts in a strong set include "Roots", "Sign For A Sally" and a particularly haunting piece of talkin' blues, "Savannah Blues".
- rootsmusicreport.com
2014-08-18
★★★★★
North Carolina country-blues songwriter Malcolm Holcombe's gritty voice carries hard-earned wisdom on his eighth album, produced by long-time collaborator Jared Tyler. His sometimes slurred delivery is an acquired taste, but all his songs bear repeated listens. The arrangements, which feature upright bass, dobro and fiddle, are inspired, organic and unfussy. Holcombe sings of both earthly and spiritual matters, and channels his faith without getting preachy...
- www.nowtoronto.com
2011-10-31
★★★★★
Plenty of singers sound like they've followed a lifelong regimen of whiskey and cigarettes, but sometimes you wonder if they aren't putting on a bit of an act. Not so with Malcolm Holcombe. By the time he's done singing, growling, and rasping his way through a song, you can just tell: that voice isn't merely lived in; it might have even been to the edge. His own bio even goes so far as to mention the belief among fans that they'd soon be talking about Holcombe in the past tense...
- www.popmatters.com
2011-05-11
★★★★★
To listen to Malcolm Holcombe you ideally need to be in a position where you have no other distractions and where you can give full attention to his harsh and gravelly voice and songs full of Country/Blues history and soul. He is soaked and almost drowned in the tradition of storytelling that has been the staple of Americana for years but he also has a freshness and honesty about his singing, far removed from the mechanically jaded voice of many in the same genre...
- www.music-news.com
2011-04-11
★★★★★
As Tom Waits' voice is to Bing Crosby's, so Malcolm Holcombe's is to Tom Waits': this is a wondrous far-travelled, beat-up and leaking old instrument, all sighs and groans, growls, rasps and mutterings (and that's just in-between the singing). Listen to a Holcombe song and what you're getting is personality in spades, a narrative so gritty with the noise of tough living that it rarely dips below the red on the authenticity meter...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2011-03-07
★★★★★
Cut from classic troubadour cloth, North Carolinan Holcombe has been recording for 20 years, though dogged by bad luck (dropped by Geffen, his previous album, A Hundred Lies, was only released after fans Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams found him a label). His husk of a voice and country-blues finger-picking is reminiscent of Eric Andersen and Tim Hardin, but closest to JJ Cale. The 48-year-old's stream-of-consciousness lyricism is unique, though, bearing the scars of a troubled past...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2010-06-19
★★★★★
With the guttural causticity of an Appalachian bred Howlin' Wolf, "My Ol' Radio" and "Goodtimes" open Holcombe's sixth album moaning self-satisfaction like Austin's Scott H. Biram full up on chicken. "Goin' Downtown" and the title track grin with defiant self-destruction, the latter declaring, "I'm soakin' up the slaughter, I'm lyin' through my teeth, my calculated coffin, don't tell me what I need." Few songwriters can pen lines that provocative, much less bring them convincingly to life...
- www.austinchronicle.com
2009-07-21
★★★★★
If you haven't encountered Malcolm Holcombe before, the perfect opportunity has just presented itself in Gamblin' House, his fourth album and debut long-player for Echo Mountain Records. Renowned for live performances that glow with gospel fervour in a voice that has been described as ''half howl, half hosanna'', Holcombe deports himself with all the untethered phrasing of Joe Cocker and the rasping, gravedigger's growl of Tom Waits...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2009-06-12
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