Drew Holcomb and The Neighbors
Nashville, Tennessee, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2004 | INDIE
Music
Press
Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, the Nashville-based band fronted by Holcomb and his wife Ellie, seem to constantly be writing, recording and touring. Since last year’s Good Light, Ellie has released a solo record and Drew even put on a music festival in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.
Now, though, The Neighbors are back with “American Beauty,” a song from the band’s forthcoming full-length projected for release in 2015. Listen to “American Beauty” in the player above. For more from Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, check out our live session with the band in the player below. - Paste Magazine
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors, praised for their unique Tennessee brand of Americana music, are gearing up for the release of their latest album. Be sure to pick up Good Light. - Paste Magazine
The singer/songwriter is doing what he loves with the one he loves. - Huffington Post
Take a deep breath and enjoy Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors' reassuring new video. - CMT
Mixes full-throttle Americana music with an introspective singer/songwriter approach. It sounds like the South. It sounds like Tennessee." - American Songwriter
Good Light displays Holcomb’s strength as a songwriter while lyrically celebrating his devotion to wife and bandmate, Ellie, and daughter Emmylou. - Paste Magazine
Building on the promise of last year's calling card EP, Lost & Found, local singer-songwriter Drew Holcomb delivers a vital follow-up in Washed in Blue. Produced once again by Scott Hardin under the aegis of golden touch studio pro Paul Ebersold, Holcomb's debut proper has all the makings of a breakthrough commercial hit. From the crisp pop-rock canvas of opening track, "Boy," to the epic, philosophical closer "Resurrected," the 11-track album combines intellect and emotion like few local (or even national) records ever do. The David Gray comparisons still apply, not that Holcomb tries to hide them (he even rattles off the Manchester musician by name in one song). Ditto the Ryan Adams and Steve Earle alt-country allusions, a curious cross-cultural palette that actually givesthe Memphis newcomer a compelling voice all his own, especially when supported by the quality and depth of the songwriting. "I believe that we knew love together, I believe it was strong/And I believe that I am brokenhearted now that you are gone," sings Holcomb on the pensively beautiful highlight, "Sweetness," which doesn't address the usual relationship woes but his younger brother Jay, who suffered from spina bifida and died at 13. Try listening to it now. Combined with Hardin's vibrant production (much in the form of his own electric guitar and keyboard work), Washed in Blue is indeed a blue mood cleansing. Only in his early 20s, Holcomb might want to hold off on those seminary plans of his; major label money just may pay for it in a few years. Drew Holcomb has a CD release party 9 tonight at the Hi-Tone, 1913 Poplar. - The Commercial Appeal-Memphis
Building on the promise of last year's calling card EP, Lost & Found, local singer-songwriter Drew Holcomb delivers a vital follow-up in Washed in Blue. Produced once again by Scott Hardin under the aegis of golden touch studio pro Paul Ebersold, Holcomb's debut proper has all the makings of a breakthrough commercial hit. From the crisp pop-rock canvas of opening track, "Boy," to the epic, philosophical closer "Resurrected," the 11-track album combines intellect and emotion like few local (or even national) records ever do. The David Gray comparisons still apply, not that Holcomb tries to hide them (he even rattles off the Manchester musician by name in one song). Ditto the Ryan Adams and Steve Earle alt-country allusions, a curious cross-cultural palette that actually givesthe Memphis newcomer a compelling voice all his own, especially when supported by the quality and depth of the songwriting. "I believe that we knew love together, I believe it was strong/And I believe that I am brokenhearted now that you are gone," sings Holcomb on the pensively beautiful highlight, "Sweetness," which doesn't address the usual relationship woes but his younger brother Jay, who suffered from spina bifida and died at 13. Try listening to it now. Combined with Hardin's vibrant production (much in the form of his own electric guitar and keyboard work), Washed in Blue is indeed a blue mood cleansing. Only in his early 20s, Holcomb might want to hold off on those seminary plans of his; major label money just may pay for it in a few years. Drew Holcomb has a CD release party 9 tonight at the Hi-Tone, 1913 Poplar. - The Commercial Appeal-Memphis
“On his full length debut CD, Washed in Blue, 22-year old native Memphian Drew Holcomb shook off some of his alt-country introspection to embrace a more contagious pop sound, along the lines of David Gray or Ryan Adams. But he’s also let songwriters like Steve Earle, John Prine, and Robert Earl Keen inspire his solid song structure. He may be young, but Holcomb knows the difference between pop cliché and poetry. His voice takes on many personas, but at its most effective it echoes Grant Lee Phillips gruff swoon.” - Metro Pulse- Knoxville
“On his full length debut CD, Washed in Blue, 22-year old native Memphian Drew Holcomb shook off some of his alt-country introspection to embrace a more contagious pop sound, along the lines of David Gray or Ryan Adams. But he’s also let songwriters like Steve Earle, John Prine, and Robert Earl Keen inspire his solid song structure. He may be young, but Holcomb knows the difference between pop cliché and poetry. His voice takes on many personas, but at its most effective it echoes Grant Lee Phillips gruff swoon.” - Metro Pulse- Knoxville
“While Nashville may have the market cornered on cool alt-country chicks – Mindy Smith, Alison Kraus, Gillian Welch and so on – Memphis is gaining ground when it comes to the guys. To Cory Branan, Lucero’s Ben Nichols, and Micah P. Hinson, add Drew Holcomb, whose world-worn voice belies his age. For those who think songwriters like John Prine are a dying breed, Holcomb’s new disc, Washed in Blue, makes a great case for reincarnation.” - Nashville Rage
“While Nashville may have the market cornered on cool alt-country chicks – Mindy Smith, Alison Kraus, Gillian Welch and so on – Memphis is gaining ground when it comes to the guys. To Cory Branan, Lucero’s Ben Nichols, and Micah P. Hinson, add Drew Holcomb, whose world-worn voice belies his age. For those who think songwriters like John Prine are a dying breed, Holcomb’s new disc, Washed in Blue, makes a great case for reincarnation.” - Nashville Rage
The crisp acoustic guitar that strums with melancholic fortitude on Lost & Found announces a new rootsy voice in town, Drew Holcomb, whose anthemic twists and decidedly classic rock feel turn his 5-song EP into a surprisingly strong and confident debut.
Not one to downplay the heavy Southern slur in his voice, Holcomb could easily be lumped into the alt-country camp, though he’s just as likely to draw on Neil Young as he is Steve Earle.
Holcomb did his musical woodshedding in, of all places, Edinburgh, Scotland, which has an ancient volcano, Arthur’s Seat, in the heart of the city—it’s a fitting image since the Memphian’s music also displays a quiet majesty that hides undercurrents of something deeper and more powerful.
As such, the best tracks—the minor ode opener “Nothing Left,” the shimmering “Long Gone Away,” and the beautiful closer, “Sola Fide”—position Holcomb not as the latest in a line of Jeff Tweedys but as the Mid-South’s David Gray.
Executive Produced locally by Paul Ebersold (3 Doors Down, Sister Hazel, Skillet) at his facility 747 Studios, this subtle stunner was produced and engineered by Scott Hardin, who provides tasteful electric guitar and piano throughout. - The Commercial Appeal- Memphis
The crisp acoustic guitar that strums with melancholic fortitude on Lost & Found announces a new rootsy voice in town, Drew Holcomb, whose anthemic twists and decidedly classic rock feel turn his 5-song EP into a surprisingly strong and confident debut.
Not one to downplay the heavy Southern slur in his voice, Holcomb could easily be lumped into the alt-country camp, though he’s just as likely to draw on Neil Young as he is Steve Earle.
Holcomb did his musical woodshedding in, of all places, Edinburgh, Scotland, which has an ancient volcano, Arthur’s Seat, in the heart of the city—it’s a fitting image since the Memphian’s music also displays a quiet majesty that hides undercurrents of something deeper and more powerful.
As such, the best tracks—the minor ode opener “Nothing Left,” the shimmering “Long Gone Away,” and the beautiful closer, “Sola Fide”—position Holcomb not as the latest in a line of Jeff Tweedys but as the Mid-South’s David Gray.
Executive Produced locally by Paul Ebersold (3 Doors Down, Sister Hazel, Skillet) at his facility 747 Studios, this subtle stunner was produced and engineered by Scott Hardin, who provides tasteful electric guitar and piano throughout. - The Commercial Appeal- Memphis
Here's another welcome addition to Nashville's extensive roster of musical couples: East Nashville singer-songwriter Drew Holcomb and his wife, Ellie, whose tenderly woven harmonies shine throughout Passenger Seat. Drew's mild, husky tenor and Ellie's delicate soprano lead Holcomb's band through charming hunks of country rock and soaring ballads with a pleasing pinch of alt-country grit. Their delicate interplay helps set the band apart from so many similarly veined local peers, and illuminates the quality of their no-frills rock." - Dave Paulson - The Tennessean
Who are Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors and where have they been all my life? I put their Passenger Seat disc on without any preconceived notions and was delightfully surprised by their tight, rootsy sound. This album marks the arrival of a major singer-songwriter talent. And not many have bands to back him as cool as these Neighbors. -Robert Oermann - Music Row Magazine
It's sheer unadulterated joy! It's the wind through the open windows, the smell of mountain air clean and crisp, the startling brightness of the afternoon sun on the shining towers of a passing city. It's the smiles and the caresses and the laughter and the radio, loud and magnificent in the music it spews forth. It is triumphant!
-Steve Wyldsmith - The Daily Times
Holcomb's songs are marked by the lyrical naturalness and rock sensibility of Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and artists that are generally lumped into the Americana genre.
-Wayne Bledsoe - Knoxville News-Sentinel
Those that discovered Nashville-based songsmith Drew Holcomb via his 2005 full-length debut, the wistful gem Washed in Blue, are in for a surprise when they hear his latest, Passenger Seat. While his gift at confessional song craft still haunts the interiors of his tunes, Holcomb has welcomed something new to the mix, unadulterated joy.
The joy of marriage to his longtime sweetheart, the joy of fronting his own band, and the joy that comes in discovering the power of music as a shared experience.
“Making this record is why I got into music,” says Holcomb, who will release Passenger Seat on his own label, Magnolia Music, on August 12. “A lot of really good music these days dwells on ‘I’m alone and that’s the way it is,’ and my life experience has not been that. It’s been people walking along beside me and that’s been really powerful. I don’t have to drive alone very much literally and figuratively.”
Made in Memphis with Grammy-winning producer Paul Ebersold (Sister Hazel, Landon Pigg, Three Doors Down), and featuring wife Ellie Holcomb on vocals, the ten original songs of Passenger Seat find Holcomb exploring more than ever before the pop side of his musical persona. Aware of his reputation with fans for the introspective and confessional, Holcomb says he was ready to communicate in a bigger, bolder way on his new album.
“The thought process is I wanted to make a driving record, something that people want to hear in the car. For me that’s when I listen to most of my music, when I drive.”
The album’s title comes from the track Love Is Magic, the sunniest song Holcomb has ever written, and one that sets the tone with monster hooks and lines such as: “It’s a beautiful wonderful marvelous mysterious thing . . .” Elsewhere, Holcomb gives Ryan Adams a run for his Americana money on Fire and Dynamite, and delivers a hand-clapping power-pop delight in the song, Hallelujah, written from the perspective of a 15-year-old kid at a rock concert. Sings Holcomb with laconic detail on the latter: “Some say music can save your soul, others say the Devil loves rock and roll/All that boy sees is the girl in the second row.”
Holcomb’s knack for keen observation runs through the entire album, including such portrait tunes as Jamie, whose addictions find him “running and gunning for the gates of Eden,” or Eleanor, the lead character of Late Night Drama Queen overcome by her own hipster mentality. “They are all the things they rail against,” says Holcomb. “And I can be like that too, unfortunately.” And older fans will be glad, if that’s the right word, to know the songwriter remains a master of melancholy, as on the wrenching divorce tale, Heartache Heartbreak, and the haunting ballad Lonely Anna, co-written, as is the closer The Wire, with his wife.
The Wire, in fact, may be the best song of Holcomb’s young career. Starting out like Lou Reed taking a walk on the wild side, the mood quickly shifts, a song – and album – that becomes Holcomb’s walk on the beguiled side, drunk on the richness and promise life has to offer.
-Bill Ellis - The Commercial Appeal
Who are Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors and where have they been all my life? I put their Passenger Seat disc on without any preconceived notions and was delightfully surprised by their tight, rootsy sound. This album marks the arrival of a major singer-songwriter talent. And not many have bands to back him as cool as these Neighbors. -Robert Oermann - Music Row Magazine
Discography
Medicine - 2015
Ten Years, Ten Songs, Solo Acoustic - 2014
Good Light - 2013
Another Neighborly Christmas - 2012
Through The Night - 2012
Chasing Someday - 2011
A Million Miles Away - 2010
Passenger Seat - 2008
A Neighborly Christmas - 2008
Live From Memphis - 2006
Washed In Blue LP - 2005
Lost & Found EP - 2004
Photos
Bio
The night we played Bonnaroo a couple years ago, I sat with my younger brother Sam, my wife Ellie, and a few other dear friends, reclining in plastic lawn chairs in the midnight Tennessee heat outside our tour bus, drinking wine and listening to music. After a decade of touring, (over 1700 shows) and making records, it’s easy to forget the magic of music. We took turns introducing each other to new bands and artists, talking about our lives, our dreams, our failures.
Music has always had a medicinal quality to me, and that’s why I started writing songs and touring in the first place. I first needed the medicine when I was seventeen. I lost a brother that summer, 1999. He was a great kid, lived life from the view of a wheelchair, and was gone without warning a few days before his 14th birthday. I took lots of medicine that summer, from Radiohead and Bob Dylan, from Pearl Jam and Otis Redding, from Bob Marley to the Temptations, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers to Rage Against the Machine. I played the guitar in my bedroom, learned songs I loved, sang along in my car alone or with a friend.
A year later I went to college and I became an addict. I was introduced to the medicine of Patty Griffin, Whiskeytown, Springsteen, Tom Waits, the Jayhawks, Wilco, Beck and hundreds more that could fill pages. I went and saw their shows and played their records over and over and over. The honesty, the intellect, the stories, the raw emotion, the rhythm, the vulnerability; it all made me feel like I was not alone. Music was a way of saying, “me too,” a way of finding hope and meaning in the sorrow and confusion of life.
Somewhere in those late college years, I started writing songs, at first feeble attempts, but it grew and grew, and I got better and better. I booked shows, I made myself vulnerable and stood onstage and sang earnest songs about love and joy, pain and tragedy. I convinced myself that making medicine was something I could take a swing at. After graduating, over a cup of coffee, I asked my dentist father what he thought about my dream, and he asked me one question,
“Son, are you going to work hard at that?”
“Yes sir.” I replied.
“Well let’s go to the guitar shop and I’ll buy you the best one I can afford.”
I hit the road, and I hit it hard. I found a band of agile, competent musicians whose musical library is vast and deep and demanding. Along the way, I married the girl I always wanted. She quit her teaching job and joined the band, toured with us for seven great years. We started making records, and spent the majority of the last decade on the road. You may have heard our music on TV. We’ve had our songs on dozens of TV shows like Nashville, Parenthood, How I Met Your Mother. We have toured with artists like the Avett Brothers, John Hiatt, Needtobreathe, and a host of other kindred souls. We have sold out our own shows in places from Chicago to Austin, LA to New York, London to Denver, on stages we never dreamed we would play, and selling over 100,000 records in the process, all while staying independent. Our music is simple and heartfelt,
built to inhabit people’s day to day lives, like so many of the records I have loved over the long haul in my own life.
Medicine is by far the best music we have ever made. When I played it for a respected friend, I asked, “What do you think?” The response was,
“It sounds like it’s always been there.”
We recorded the whole album in eight days, co-produced by the band and Joe Pisapia (Ben Folds, KD Lang, Guster, Josh Rouse) at Joe’s Middletree Studios, in East Nashville. We recorded one song at a time, until it was finished. No studio tricks, just me and a great band working together, creating, having fun, embracing the sorrow. It’s always been about the song for us, a community of musicians surrounding that song and bringing it life, trying to make it sound like it has always been there.
Making medicine,
Music, it makes you feel good, makes you feel understood
like you’re not alone, not a rolling stone, you’re not the only one on the road.
Band Members
Links
