Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors (2019)

One Liner:  Gentle Americana love song mastermind

Wikipedia Genre: Americana, alternative rock, folk rock
Home: Nashville

Poster Position: 12

Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  I have this weird memory of this guy, that many years ago a friend of mine mentioned him as though I should know who he was, like he was a very large name - but I had no clue.  Which, of course, stuck in my craw and made me nervous that I was losing my edge.  Then, he came to ACL with this band in 2015, and I must not have seen the show, despite enjoying the sound, because I don't recall that at all.

The tunes are tight folky rock harmonies.  Ten albums available on Spotify (if you count the live disc), so he's been around the block for a while.  He sounds a lot like David Gray to me, but with rock-ier, fabulous backing tunes.  He's a Nashville guy, and met his wife and band-member Ellie Holcomb, as well as the other guys in the band, as they all lived in the same neighborhood in East Nashville, thus the band name.

His music has also been pimped on a ton of shows, which makes sense, this music has the sound of tender moments on TV dramas.  The most streamed track in the pack is a lovely love song named "What Would I Do Without You," with 12.8 million streams.

The dude straight crushes the love song, man.  That track comes from the 2013 album Good Light.

There is a vaguely Christian tilt to some of these tunes - I recall a prior note that he worked with Young Life a lot in Nashville, but his current Wikipedia doesn't mention that.  His wife signed with a Christian label and there are a lot of articles describing her Christianity, and it sounds like she doesn't necessarily tour with the band anymore, both because of their kids and also because of her own solo career.  Which is too bad, because her vocals are great.  But their first album includes a song called "Hallelujah" that sings about sinners and saints all singing songs out loud at some sort of concert or maybe a Jesus party.  "Mercy," from the 2009 album, also has some overt religious stuff.  Makes me think that these guys might have fronted a non-denominational church a time or three.

My favorite of their albums is 2015's Medicine - fun, playful folksy rock and tender melodies with a lot of soul.  Here is the album opener, "American Beauty"

And he just keeps going.  "Avalanche" is a lovely love song in the Ryan Adams vein, "Tightrope" is a fun rocker, "You'll Always Be My Girl" aims for the Avett Brothers and Rhett Miller crown of best off-the-beaten-path wedding first dance song. A waltz at that!  This is really a fine album.

Damn, man.  So freaking pretty.

His live album is also very good - hearing the crowd absolutely live and die for these tunes is neat.  That is especially true of the closing song, "Tennessee," which is a love song to the state and you can tell this pack of rabid fans, seeing a native Nashville band at the world-famous Ryman theater, are extremely on board with lyrics about being born here and raised here and I'll make my grave here.  Just gave me goosebumps to listen to it again, and I've never even been to Tennessee.

One cool thing about his tunes - he sounds like a million different things throughout the catalog.  David Gray ("Lonely Anna," among many others), of course, but also Drive By Truckers at one moment, Bright Eyes at the next ("I Like to Be With Me When I'm With You"), Ryan Adams later (so many songs, but check "Nothing But Trouble" and compare to songs on Gold), and then even stuff like the Lumineers with loads of harmonies and piles of different instruments.


Cool artist that I'll check out if I get the chance.