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Malcolm Holcombe – Tricks of the Trade (Deluxe Edition)

In review of Come Hell or High Water, the previous studio album from North Carolina’s roots-folk troubadour Malcolm Holcombe, FabricationsHQ made mention that Holcombe’s honest and earthy music is "pulled from the bedrock of the Blue Ridge Southern Appalachians, woodlands and small town grounds" of the lands Holcombe calls home.

It’s also, clearly, where his voice was pulled from, as earthy as the soil that sits atop those grounds and dusty as the roads through them.

While such world-weary vocalisation can be an acquired taste it’s a voice that is as honest as the North Carolina day is long – more importantly, it’s inconceivable to think of Malcolm Holcombe’s rich tapestry of real life lyricism and folk-blues musicality delivered by any other voice.

Take the mid-tempo folk-blues of 'Money Train' for example, which opens Tricks of the Trade, Malcolm Holcombe’s sixth studio album in the last seven years.

The plight of the poor and finger-pointing at the affluent are very much part of Holcombe’s folk-blues fabric and 'Money Train' bitingly aims at the latter through its half sung, half narrated lyric ("I don’t care 'bout the starvin' naked world, somebody else'll fix it; I'm busy in a whirl, on the money train!").

There are also some lovely electric blues licks at six-string play on 'Money Train' (and indeed throughout the album) courtesy of Jared Tyler, who has worked on and off with Holcombe for more than twenty years.
Bass is provided by long-time musical accomplice Dave Roe (the album was recorded at Roe’s Seven Deadly Sins Studios in Nashville) while drum duties are shared by Jerry Roe and Miles McPherson.

Contrast is then provided via the country & western twangs and chorus harmonies of 'Misery Loves Company' (now there’s a country-blues title) and 'Into the Sunlight,' an up-tempo acoustic and electric picking number that carries more than a hint of lyrical ambiguity (another Holcombe trait), but seems to point to the fact that "into the sunlight" we all, indeed, "belong."

There’s further lyrical ambiguity within the lyrics of love song 'Lenora Cynthia,' which is as sweet as it is stark (built upon no more than Malcolm Holcombe’s vocal, acoustic guitar and cello of guest player Ron de la Vega).

But it’s the songs for the forlorn or overlooked that take centre stage more times than not, yet always with a resonance or razor sharp lyric that makes them much more than a simple plea for the poor.

'Damn Rainy Day' for example is an Appalachian folk-blues plea for those on the poverty line ("heat bill's paid and the TV works good enough, but my back still hurts") while the simple rhythm and pseudo gospel choruses (featuring singers Mary Gauthier and Jaimee Harris) of 'Higher Ground' belie the true lyrical nature of the "freedom to choose, freedom to lose" number ("Hollywood my ass, free carnival glass; another sucker for the man, another sucker for the rats").

Closing number 'Shaky Ground' is the album’s Springsteen in folk mode moment. A song that lyrically touches on national crises (recently past and still present), 'Shaky Ground' also doubles as the perfect book-end to 'Money Train' ("it must be nice not to face your troubles ev'ry day, with a cocktail in your face to wash away the pain").

For those in early, there’s also 'Windows of Amsterdam,' a red light meets full-bodied (pun intended) folk-rock number exclusive to the first CD run of the album. 
 
Tricks of the Trade perhaps, but Malcolm Holcombe’s seventeenth studio album also carries some of the best tracks of his trade.

Ross Muir
FabricationsHQ