Belt-sander-voiced and still slingin’ the bologna

Singer-songwriter Malcolm Holcombe radiates gruffness, like some recalcitrant flare from a darkened star. He sings about the basest of pleasures—and I don’t mean sex or love or the usual things that bring a man to a song. Instead, I mean sitting with the remote on the couch in “the power spot.” He makes it seem like the surest place a man could be.

Malcolm Holcombe has not had what you would call the most tightly controlled career. In 1999, Geffen Records released his debut album A Hundred Lies with critics from Rolling Stone ready to embrace him as a new Tom Waits or John Prine, and then promptly sat on it, sending Holcombe’s career and sobriety into a tailspin. “The check cleared and I blew it,” he admits with resignation. Thankfully, he has had some big names on his side. “Lucinda (Williams) has been kind and many others … still slingin’ bologna around.”

That bologna has stacked up as eight albums and an EP of belt-sander-voiced folk blues, countless tales of lives lived at face value, like my personal favorite “Goin’ Downtown” where a blunt-force stand-in for Holcombe rounds the family up to go “see the Christmas lights.” It’s the kind of thing that a guy does but no one else sings about. “All God’s children have different priorities,” Holcome says, celebrating people as manifestations of their nature. “If you like painting the barn, paint it all.”

To Drink the Rain, his most recent album, is no less forceful. His voice still cracks the speakers like a fencepost split by a tornado, but his intricate guitar work weaves a hammock in which comfort can finally be found—something he’s pleased to share with those who stuck with him all these years.

“I have been fortunate to have a few folks show up under one sun, moon and countless stars, strange but grateful to be of service—anywhere.”

Holcombe’s anywhere is here this month when he performs live at the Red Dragon Listening Room June 3 at 8 p.m. Red Dragon is on Facebook and the venue is located at 2401 Florida St.

malcolmholcombe.com